screened-in patio

Few months ago, we decided to screen in the back patio. We rarely use our backyard. The kids no longer had play equipment out there, and all it was good for was "dumping" grounds for the dogs.
I wanted to extend our living space. Use the patio, and backyard.
So, the beginning of this month...David started to peck away at it. Working from morning to night on the weekends. As well as the little bit of daylight he had left on the occasional non baseball nights.
The most exciting part of the plan, was to add a doggie door, and a fenced in area for the dogs. So, they no longer had the whole yard to do their thing in. Having to shovel dog poop every time you wanted to go out and play became a bummer.

Like so many things I throw at my hubby, he didn't have a clue what he was doing with the screening in of the patio. He looked at some pics, googled and took many trips to Lowe's. Did a little bit of "winging it".

And I couldn't be happier with it. He did a GREAT job!

Some pics of the framing process. As well as tons of junk all over the lawn, killing it in the process! I hate living in a "construction zone".

and my helpers....getting some of the painting done.

Here's a super old pic..about 4 years ago. Only real good "before". Again, we NEVER went out there, so it was all kind of a hot mess.

And now. Did I mention we killed the lawn?? Oh yes! Hopefully we'll get it back soon.

On the far end, the little fence will be painted white here in a few days. And my Sam's club garden kits will have something in them. We'd also like to add rain gutters, and maybe a little patio right outside the door there. But, for now..I think I'll let the hubby rest a bit :)

And the inside is also a work in progress. I have string lights to go up, fans to install, and curtains.
Oh, and the wicker love seat is temporary. David plans to build a little day bed. Wait..did I say he was going to rest??

Before...man, those kids are so little!

After..

 Opposite side

And here's the little $25 dresser I bought and painted for a planter.

Coming back to add a few more pics. David put up the lights and the fans, so we were able to enjoy a little Father's Day dinner with the folks.

It all got moved back to normal after. Just a few mins to move a few things out and table and chairs in. Plan to have dinner out there at least one night a week :)

Hydrangeas

From my mother's flower bed. Sooooo pretty!

 Also added in some cute, little coasters from Target today. And a fun new @ pillow :)

chevron rug..and slip covered sofas!

It took 12 weeks, but my I.O. Metro sofas are finally in!! I'm pretty in love with them, but living in fear of the light fabric. I know, I know...slip covers! Take them off, toss them in the wash. But, still..yikes!!!

Let's take a look back at what the room started like 6 years ago....

And now...

Picked up the chevron rug off of Rugs USA. If I can remember back to February..It was only $125.

Also had a little chair make over that we threw over against the wall.



Before

 After

laundry room makeover

So, we took the smallest space in the whole house. With pretty much ZERO natural light..and painted it BLACK! Black chalk board paint, of course! :) And I love it!
We purchased a new washer and dryer a month ago, and I knew we needed to do something "fun" in there.

This is the best "before and after" I'm going to be able to produce. I think the before pic was taken the first few months we lived here. The room had been painted. But, just the same lenox tan that's throughout the living and kitchen.

David pulled down the cookie cutter cabinet, that I NEVER used. Seriously...can't remember the last time I reached to the top of that thing. It was obvious by the 7 empty light bulb boxes crammed in there!
 I wanted open shelves, but didn't just want a boring backdrop. David put up those little, adorable subway tiles.

 The opposite side of the room, got a bead board treatment and some hooks for the backpacks and jackets. I'm not sure what I want to do above. I thought about some cork boards. But, for now...Asher has turned it into a mural of our spring vacation :)

And the remaining little wall :)

smoke

Is the new, lovely color that has found it's way onto my lower kitchen cabinets. I was never totally feeling the taupe. Always just looked like my lower cabs were dirty. Of course, now it looks like my dishwasher is dirty. Just that ugly staining that kind of dishwasher gets as it ages. We'll deal with it for a few months, then hubby has promised me a new one! :)

I had some reservations repainting what I'd just paid a guy to do for me a little over a year ago. But, I've been obsessed with the idea of going blue/gray long before I did the taupe. I played it safe, and it didn't pay off. I'm happy now. Least until the color scheme completely changes in my house again :)





                                                    Benjamin Moore Baby Fawn

Benjamin Moore Smoke

outside changes

I thought I'd wait to post on some of the things we've done outside, till the lawn was nice, green...lush. But, this here drought we're havin' in the Midwest is NOT agreeing with that plan. Dear Lord..send us some rain!!! It's awful!! And brown..and dead. Sigh.
So, I've snapped some pics and will go ahead and show off the few little things we did back in the Spring.

The door. Oh..the white, boring door.

 I took off the hardware, and spray painted it ORB. And David painted the door with a Valspar's Green Apple. Fresh, clean...cheerful. Lovin' it!
.

The following wk he knocked out a couple of sets of shutters, then we painted them black. All very inexpensive changes. But, big ones in our eyes. Both things are something we've been dying to do since we bought the place. 6 yrs ago!

 And you can see some SERIOUS tree growth over the years! And to think..the one on the right almost got yanked out for "failure to thrive", haha!

the evolution of a living room

Snapped some more pics this weekend of some of the changes that have taken place over the last year of our living room. It's been fun looking back and seeing how drastic our taste has change. All that red...yikes!! So, glad that phase is over :)

This space actually started with these little dinky white framed pictures. Here we thought we really stepped it up by changing the frames out to dark ones, LOL. gotta luv the plain, postage stamp of an area rug.

And this is where that rug was replaced. Of course, like everything..I'm over this rug. I've looked for awhile for a replacement. But, haven't found one I'm willing to spend the $$ on. Because, the next one isn't going to be just another "quick fix". We also ditched the recliner. This is the set up we use every Christmas when the tree goes in front of the windows. And I always hated putting everything back. So,  two years ago..we just didn't. We lived with nothing in front of the window for 6 months. Waiting, and shopping to find the perfect 
chair.

Now we have some big changes. Replaced the coffee table, which I'd been dying to do. And everything just took off from there. Once that awful honey oak eye sore was gone, the rest slowly started to get picked off.

The over bearing red curtains..poof! Gone! Replaced with nice, crisp white ones. The purchase of our little IO Metro occasional chair. And some pillow changes.

Behind the couch, we had this going on

And once things started to "lighten up", it went to this.

And then finally...the bookcases I've been dreaming about since we bought the place. Magically appeared!! Ok, not so magically. It was days of work for my hubby. Which BTW..I think he totally rocked it!

So, here's a little before and after picture recap

So, there ya have it. In about a year..it'll all change again :)