Making Curb Appeal

We have been working in the yard of our fixer upper for the last 2 months.  It needed a lot of attention.We have spent countless hours in the hot sun digging, planting and spreading mulch and I have to say that we are very pleased with the outcome.  The first thing we needed to do was cut down some trees. There was a huge Mulberry tree next to the driveway that made a mess on the driveway and our cars! 

It really opened up the yard.  We put down  4 pallets of bermuda sod to fill in the patches where the trees were cut. 

Then my husband installed a pump so we can water this huge yard from the lake.

Can you see the white pvc pipe on the right side of the picture? I heard he encountered a snake while working on it too. 

We have planted flowers.

Hostas and lots of mulch!

Pea gravel in the pathways.

My husband then added lights down the driveway.  He made the posts to match the columns on the front of the house. 

The previous owners used the basement patio as storage.  

This is how the columns were originally.

My husband framed them.

Added insulation to the ceiling.

We stained pine boards to add to the ceiling.

Added a couple of ceiling fans.

He added a counter. 

I cleaned, stained and sealed all of the concrete.

We have even managed to entertain a little. That little porch area is very useful. 

I put a supply of suntan lotion by the door.  I am also thinking of painting the door a different  accent color. 

The table top was made by my husband a couple of years ago.  We used it at our previous house to cover the fire pit during the summer months.  You can read about that here:
Summer Firepit

Ya'll we are tired. We have been working on this house since last October.  There are a couple of other projects we have started but it may be fall weather before they are finished. 

Hide and Seek

Those of you from my generation and older (uh um) may remember the old Nutone intercom systems. 

In doing some research, I found that they are quite a collector's item now.  They are classified as "VINTAGE".  You can even find them for sale on Ebay.  I found this exterior one that sold for $30. 

It is similar to the one by our front door.  

It may be "vintage", but it is very distracting.  Every time I walk to the front door it is the first thing I notice.  We can't take it out because then there would be a hole in the brick. The only other option is to hang something over it.  But what?  My husband came up with an idea. 

He took some scrap wood from a previous project and added a galvanized letter. 

Out of sight out of mind.

While he was working on the plaque, I worked on a different project.  In the front yard there is a large bird bath. It's difficult to tell from this picture but it was "green" and over the years the color had faded. 

A can of stain later.

I dug up the old shrubs and added new mulch.  I'll add flowers later. 

I gave a little sneak peak of this earlier.  My husband created a new walkway.  

Then he added loads and loads of pea gravel while I spread the mulch.

All of the railing has been stained "slate".
Now for the fun part, planting flowers.

No Time To Rest

The last two weeks have been very busy at our little "fixer upper".  While my husband has been working on a project in the back yard ( will share when completed), I worked on several projects. 

One guest room is complete. Ready for company!

The front door is stained.

Remember the old door?

What a difference that new door makes. 

We painted and added a new swing.

Added new urns.  My husband built the flower box a few years ago.  

The project that I enjoyed the most was refurbishing this vintage kidney shaped dressing table.  The previous owners left it in the garage.  It was dirty and looked like a piece of junk.   

This is the way it is supposed to look.  I found this one on Google images.

I painted it and then gave it a good coat of wax. 

I found these tiered curtains at Target and then I cut them in half.  My husband stapled them to the table. 

Perfect for the girls room!

After all that, I even found time to decorate for Easter.

There is no time to rest, landscaping is next. 

I Finally Have A Girls Room

When we moved to be closer to our grandkids, it was my desire to create a "girls" room.  I wanted to have a place just for my granddaughters.  

I wanted to use pink and grey as the color scheme.  I fell in love with a duvet cover from The Pottery Barn until I saw the price tag.  Found a similar one for half the price from Amazon. The pink quilt came from Homegoods. 

Did you notice the picture that hangs above the bed?  My husband bought it for me.  He loves his girls!

This table has been used in so many ways.  It was once a dining table that belonged to my husband's aunt.  He cut off the legs and made a coffee table which was used previously in our son's college house, then in our sunroom.  Now it is a craft table for the girls.  

He made the crayon box too. 

I searched and searched for grey ottomans that were not too pricey.   Walmart.com  I like sitting on them too. 

Pillow pets for all and a memory foam doggie bed!  

I had so much fun decorating this room.  There is one more thing I am working on and it has to do with playing "dress up".  Stay tuned.