A Tractor Wheel, a Fence, a Tree Swing, a Shiny Floor, a Retro Laundry Room and Railing

I know you are wondering what these items have in common but it has to do with some projects we have been working on for the last month. It has been awhile since I have posted what is going on at our fixer upper because we have been very busy. AGAIN! I am beginning to think that this house will never be totally finished.  The major renovations are done and now we are paying attention to the little details to make it a home. I am going to give you the quick version of what we have done recently:

My husband built a fence to hide the air conditioner and pool pump.

I stained it to match the cedar columns on the front porch.

He took the rim from an old tractor wheel and made a fire pit. 

He actually found all of the the rocks on our property. 

He spread a load of gravel around it and spray painted the inside of the wheel black.

Then he planted a row of cypress trees.

One day I heard a noise outside and found he had started another project. 

Later on we had a tree swing.

The garage was one of our last projects because we were using it to work on other projects. The entire garage was painted, new cabinets installed, and the floor was painted with an epoxy coating.  He put 2 coats of an industrial sealer. I must say that I am so happy to open that garage door and see a clean and organized garage. 

Look at that shiny floor!

We are using this garage mainly as a workshop.  Believe it or not, our cars are too wide to fit through the garage doors.  One of the disadvantages of an older home.  A new garage may be another project one day. 

The laundry/craft room is finally done.  Now I have a place for gift wrapping, sewing, and of course "laundry".  

My husband installed a new counter.

I painted the doors to the storage closet with chalk board paint, The grandkids love that. 

You know that gap between the washer and dryer and the wall?  He built a shelf to cover that gap. 

I made an under sink curtain to hide the ugly pipes. 

This room becomes a play classroom when our oldest granddaughter comes over, so I added the eye chart that used to hang in my classroom. 

This is why I call this a retro laundry room.  Look at the tile on this floor.  Very reminiscent to a 1960's classroom floor so I finished it the way the school custodians always finish classroom floors in the summer.  I saw it done many times over my 30 years of teaching.  It was cleaned, sealed and waxed with FIVE coats of industrial floor wax.  Yes, FIVE coats.  

Look at that shine!

Just this week, we finally added the railing to the basement.  Just took us a year to decide how we wanted it to look. This is the railing while I was staining it.  

Come back later when I will be sharing some Christmas decor from

Homes of the Shoals.