Porch Redo and a Lego Birthday

I've been pondering the idea of painting my wicker porch chairs black, and it finally got the best of me. I took the plunge, and now I'm wondering why I waited so long. I'm really loving it with the freshly recovered houndstooth pillows. The Alabama fan in me is subtly popping out. Ok, that word, subtly, just looks so weird. That IS the right way to spell it, right? Or did spell checker just fail me... 

Anyhoo...moving along.

Here's a shot of the porch before I got the itchy spray paint finger...

And here she is now.

I was tickled pink to find the porch swing on craigslist for a mere 30$! My hubby was less than tickled about hanging the said bargain swing. What started out as a simple hang-up-a-swing project turned into a discovery of lots of rotten wood, pulling it out, and repairing it project. Good times, I tell ya. 

 The newly painted chairs are *subtly* sporting a touch of Alabama pride, too. 

I'm well aware that the wicker is totally falling apart. But a few cans of Krylon fit in the budget much better than new porch furnishings at this time. Maybe next spring...

Those of you that know me, and my flip-flop-wearin' summer-lovin' self, will be so proud to know that I actually planted some fall flowers. Go, me! Baby steps, people. Soooo hard to let go of warm weather...

 After a trip to the pumpkin patch, we brought home our pumpkins and had a paint party. I painted mine white to go in the ORB planters.

We got a little more creative with some of the others...

Thanks to pinterest for the fun idea!

 Jackson and I had birthdays last week. We celebrated with a little lego party, per his request. He wanted lego star wars, but we made a compromise and settled for just plain legos instead. Whew. I had a hard enough time making a regular old lego cake - not so sure how I would have fared with the star wars. 

He was pretty happy with it, so it was worth the effort ;) Actually, I kinda had fun playing with the fondant. It was my first time, and I must say it's rather addicting! All I need is another hobby. You know, for all my spare time...sigh...

Jackson turned 8, and Mommy turned thirty-something. 

But who's counting?!?

The Parsonage. Part Five.

The Office.

I love this little room. 

(It was supposed to be MY room...

until the little guys discovered all the fun and games on lego.com.  *sigh*...I'm learning to share.) 

It did have a rather humble beginning. Complete with dark paneling,  rusty orange colored carpet, and a terribly warped ceiling fan that we nearly knocked off every time we opened the back door. Who hangs a ceiling fan right in front of a door?! But it's all good, because it was a great excuse to get the cutesy little chandy to replace it! And now the door opens free and clear without banging a thing. Score.

I painted the walls "Rainwashed" from Sherwin Williams. LOVE that color. We also ripped up the carpet to expose the hardwoods. The hardwood is very old and worn and really should be refinished, but I like it. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

The chalkboard is an old cabinet door that I painted, and the memo board is made from an old thrifted picture. Some folks fix everything with duck tape. Me? I use paint and burlap. Works every time. 

The Parsonage. Part Four.

The Kitchen.

When I read those articles on how to make the most of a small kitchen, I laugh right out loud. Because, every time, their "small kitchen" looks so very spacious when compared to this one. If you look up the word "compact" in the dictionary you'd see a picture of this room. 

Very compact. 

But it rocks at efficiency! 

Here's the before...

It wasn't *bad* necessarily, it just wasn't *me*. 

Oak schmoak. Makes me croak. 

And so does mismatched appliances, just for the record. 

And wallpaper. 

And REMOVING wallpaper... bleh

Let's get on to the "after"... 

Lots of white paint, some aqua paint, "new" appliances, and some trusty oil rubbed bronze spray paint on the hardware really made a huge difference for very little moolah. I took off the cabinet doors under the sink and added the curtain just for a little extra color and texture. But I can see them going right back on as soon as the new little man gets mobile! We've added a new vintage looking faucet since this piccy was taken. Forgive me for being too lazy to take a new photo...

Here's the before pic of the other side:

 And where there's a before, there must be an after! 

Actually these are more like "during" photos. We still have to put the new floors in. 

Maybe then I'll take a new photo for ya. 

The Parsonage. Part Three.

The Dining Room.

Better known as Grand Central Station. 

It's not *finished* mind you, but it's come a long way!

From this:

To This!

The walls all got brand new sheetrock, paint, and crown molding. Then we added the pantry cabinets for extra storage. There will eventually be a built-in window seat connecting the two cabinets. I can just picture it! The chandy also got a much needed update. Don't ask why it's not hanging in the middle of the room. I have no idea. But yes, that does bother me. Many light fixtures in this house are like that. Maybe our next chandy will have a chain long enough that I can swag it over to the center of the table. 

This is the before piccy of the other side. This was taken after we'd started taking down the old sheet rock. Love that tongue and groove. These kind of walls are all throughout the house - we never have to search for a stud! You can whap a nail anywhere and it will stay. right. there.

After:

Now if I could just get those new floors I've been dreaming about...

The Parsonage. Part Two.

Let's revisit the hall.

One of my favorite makeovers in the old parsonage!

Are you ready for the before pic?

Think dungeon.

Or cave. Very dark cave.

And don't say I didn't warn you.

*covers eyes*....I can't bear to watch...

Lovely, eh?

I mean, have you ever seen so much paneling?! So much DARK paneling? 

*Enter paint.*

WHITE paint.

Gallons and gallons and gallons of white paint.

(And a perfectly old cast-off church pew, also painted white.)

So. Much. Brighter! Love love love it.

The preacher built the nifty wall shelf/ledge thingy for me. Isn't it a beaut?! He was all for it because he knew if  we didn't have the shelf, I'd hang ALL those frames on the Wall. (Gasp!) He has this strange fetish about holes in the walls. Weird. He's threatened to build ledges all over the house. 

Now let's see the before of the other side...

Yes, the lights were ON. But you'd never know it. I'm not a big fan of darkness. Oh, so you noticed?

And now, the white version.

Honestly, the hall seemed to double in size 

when we painted it! 

We'd love to hang new light fixtures, but I haven't figured out exactly what I want in there yet. It can't be anything that hangs down much - there's lots of traffic in there. Lantern style lights would look cool, but I'm afraid they'd bump heads. We'll keep thinking.

The stairs were also in need of some attention.

My grandfather built this staircase many years ago. I really love it, and didn't want to change it much, so we just freshened it up with a new paint job.

Also on the old to-do list is new flooring - I can just see this hallway in walnut colored planks. I'll have to start saving my pennies for that one. Because when we do flooring, we plan to do a LOT of it - the hall, the dining room, the kitchen... yeah, I'll need quite a few pennies. But I can keep dreaming, right?!

Next up (for part three of the parsonage) is the Dining Room and Kitchen, so don't touch that dial!

Woopsie. I think I just dated myself with that one...

The Parsonage. Part One.

I'm *finally* starting to work on a few photos for the tab up there that says "The Parsonage". Yeah, it's the one that has said "coming soon!" for about a year now...  Soooo, even though you've all probably seen the old parsonage a gazillion times, I thought I'd post some of the pics here, too. 

First Stop - the Living Room!

Let me just say again how glad I am that I went out on a whim and threw all that blue in there. Made all. the. difference. in. the. world! Besides, burgundy and gold were just Sooo last year... or was it last decade.... Adding the blue accessories and paint was a cheap and easy way to update without tossing our furniture. 

The "comfort gray" (by Sherwin Williams) walls have sparked an ongoing debate in the old parsonage. The preacher says it's BLUE. I say it's greenish gray. Others think it's just plain green. Whatever it is, I LIKE it! 

And now for a pictoral story of the living room evolution...

Stay tuned for part two!

For Weston's Fan Club...

I've got a few projects in the works, but things take me longer to do nowadays! Having to relearn how to do everything one-handed. Soooo... till then, I'll post some baby pics!

My 3 little guys.

(This pose was actually plan "B". They were supposed to be all stacked up, but the baby's belly is so rolly polly, he kept rolling off. Every. Single. Time.) 

I'm trying to take a monkey picture every month to see how much he's grown. 

He's growing SOOO fast!

Mommy's little Alabama fan :)

 And just in case anybody was wondering who Weston looks like, I put together a few comparison pics with his big brother Jackson. 

It's almost like having the same baby all over again! He looks JUST like Jackson did. If only he *acted* like Jackson did...  He's not near as good a sleeper as his brother was. But he's still a sweetie!

Summer Time Pick-Me-Up

One of my little guys brought me a bunch of crepe myrtle blooms from the back yard this weekend. (Bless his sweet little heart!) I want to enjoy them while they last - they are all quickly fading away...

...just one more bitter reminder that summer time is nearly gone. 

Bummer.