Category Archives: DIY

Back porch re-do

5 Replies

We finally decorated our back porch.  It’s been a few months and I figured I’d post pictures!  My original inspiration came from Pinterest (of course), however, we made a few adjustments along the way.

before

Our porch when we moved in

parts

Pieces and parts to hang the rods on the aluminum

curtain

Drop cloths and curtain rods. Initially we tried the PVC and paint for the curtain rods, however, because we opened and closed them depending on the sun, the paint easily peeled off despite priming. FYI.  The curtain rods were rods we already had in the living room that were the wrong size and needed replacing.

details

Lovely flowers to look at (our FINALLY blooming hydrangeas…a fun rug and accessories to liven up the place!

open

Voila! Our view the majority of the time.

closed

Our view when the sun is going down and in our eyes! Don’t mind the wrinkles in the curtains, I don’t!!

And so concludes our tour of our decorated back porch.  Eventually, I’d like to get some comfy furniture, but for now this is a good (and FREE) fit for our family!

May-hem…the gardening version

1 Reply

Friday again and that brings us to Jen (who’s got a publisher!!!!!! for her book!!!!) and her peeps.  Can you say book tour???  Yes.  Yes, I can!!  Of course, let’s let her enjoy her newborn and finish up this crazy little month of MAY!

And with the craziness of May…what WAS I thinking of pulling off the annual “Every day in May” blog-a-thon again?  I totally and completely retract that post, statement and thought.  It’s been a big fat FAIL, in fact, this QT is basically consisting of photos of our garden and spring in full bloom here.  Check ’em out and if you have some tips for us…throw ’em out in the comment section…(I do LOVE some comments) because we are mostly winging it in the gardening arena!!!

Without further ado about nothin’…..our garden (otherwise known as “Who knew Hubby had a green thumb” AKA “How will we know when it’s ready for harvest”).  Enjoy!

IMG_4416

I hope these babies do as well as last year….MAN we had cucumbers every other day!!

IMG_4417

Lettuce. I guess it’s ready when it’s bigger?

IMG_4418

Peas. Experimenting. They are almoooooooooost hooking up with the lattice to climb.

IMG_4419

And….yeah, not really sure when to pluck these. Clearly not yet…but…..yeah, not sure when.

IMG_4420

We’re not even sure WHERE the broccoli is going to show up. Another fun experiment, because we can eat some broccoli around here!!

IMG_4421

Disregard the weeds that we need to yank, but that isn’t grass folks….and sadly, I don’t really remember WHAT kind of onion it was….I’m leaning toward green onion, because I do enjoy those. Hmmm, time will tell.

IMG_4422

No explanation needed. These did well last year. We got a little flooding last weekend and spotted a few (unwelcome) visitors, so they’ll be getting the Sevin treatment tomorrow….and hope for the best!

IMG_4423

check out those ITTY, BITTY oranges!!!! First year we’ve had ANY sign of life out of this tree. Super excited!!

IMG_4424

For kicks, we figured what did we have to lose except a little part of the yard that does nothing!

IMG_4425

My hydrangea!!! First year of blooms since I planted it two years ago!!! Looks like the flowers will be pink! LOVE. THIS. PLANT!!

And so that was more than 7….I know….it’s been a long week!  Thanks for humoring me 🙂

Have a blessed weekend !!

Closet Re-do #1

7 Replies

We live in an older house…70’s ranch-y style.  It’s truly perfect for us, not too big (because I don’t have a maid ya’ll, just 4 kids and sometimes we have to go behind them) and when we bought it, it was move-in ready–my favorite kind of house to buy.  Semi-sorta updated, at least no orange/green/yellow in the kitchen and an assortment of neutral colors, which are perfect for US.  Anywhoooo, the down side is that apparently in the last 20 some years we (collectively as Americans) have garnered a lot of “stuff” and “need” more closet space than was available back in the 70’s.  Our current list of to-do’s is for us (and I really mean my Hubby) to finally deal with the bedroom closets.  We started with the boys closet, mainly because they are boys and if it got goofed up they really aren’t going to care so much (the girls will be next and we will save the most important–ours–for last).

For the boys, their dresser (in the closet to save space) houses the majority of the clothing, but they have a fair amount that gets hung.  The clothes that get hung knock all their miscellanea on top of their dresser over and behind and creates a chronic MESS.  The top of the closet was just a shelf and tons of dead space.  We wanted to give them some more storage and maximize that dead space.  We opted on cubbies and worked around the brace in the middle of the shelf.  We are pleased with the outcome and hopefully these fellas can manage keeping their stuff in one spot and not lose chargers, memory sticks and all that other stuff.    Without further blah blah, here’s the pics and once we finish the girl’s I’ll post that, too.  I know, you can hardly wait.  Try and contain yourself. 😉

Empty closet BEFORE

Empty closet BEFORE

 

New cubes

New cubes

 

Maximizing the dead space on the shelf

Maximizing the dead space on the shelf

well, we had to put the closet stuff somewhere...

well, we had to put the closet stuff somewhere…

 

side by side view of the B&A

side by side view of the B&A

 

AFTER....hear the angels sing??? I do!!!

AFTER….hear the angels sing??? I do!!!

 

A useful shelf space now!

A useful shelf space now!