New Home Reveal - Project 2

As I promised, here are our backyard transformation pictures. I wish we would have taken some before pictures of what the backyard really looked like. When we arrived, we had a 4ft thistle welcoming us home. It looked like it had been growing for 3 years!! We had a picture of this, but I can't find it! So... the gloves when on, the shovel came out, and I got to work!

I have been busy pulling out all the grass that had grown through the edge of the rocks, planted more perennials, and stained the deck. I also stained the deck this past weekend to freshen it up. It feels like a whole new backyard!

After we stained the deck. Painting around those spindles was not fun!

We love the covered deck...


Our backyard neighbor - South Dakota cornfield!

More pictures of our newly stained deck. We used the color Natural Cedar. It looks 100% better.




We also are putting in a privacy fence for our puppy - excited to see they got started yesterday!


I will post more pictures when they are done. Tomorrow will feature my kitchen! Have a good day!
I am participating in...

New Home Reveal - Project 1

We have now been in our home for almost a month!! It's hard to believe time has gone so fast. With the home being a foreclosure, we have been working pretty hard trying to get it back into shape!

Each day this week, I am going to reveal a new room in my home. I plan on showing you the before and after pictures. I have been hard at work - and still have plenty to do. This will be my motivation to get everything unpacked!!

Today I will reveal the outside of the home. We worked VERY hard on the outside - especially this weekend. Enjoy!

Pulled out all the weeds in landscaping and added alot of perennials! I picked out a bunch of different colored flowers to brighten it up. :) I hope they grow alot bigger next year - they look so small right now!


Another view of home...

Right by the front door was this mysterious water hole. I wish I had a picture before we starting tearing this apart, but we don't. It was a hole on stinky water. A few weeks ago we scooped out the water, added dirt and planted a flower in it. After it rained, the hole filled up again and killed my beautiful flowers. So now it was time for Plan B this weekend!!

My husband first emptied all the stinky water from the hole. Here is Stuart digging out all the rock around it.


Still working...

An hour later, he was able to pull this part out of the ground. We are thinking it was meant to be some sort of pond, but it was left unused for over 2 years and did not smell good. I was so glad to see this gone!!

Stuart got pretty dirty - which I think he enjoyed.

After ripping out the tube and bottom that was holding the water, we filled it back in with rocks.

We then went out and found this beautiful blue pot to take the nasty hole's spot. I may need to find a smaller pot or two to sit next to it. I am also hoping the surrounding perennials will grow bigger around it.

And of course - our little helper! Wet!

We were also busy this weekend staining our back deck. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update - the backyard!

Linked to...

Puppy Love!

Now that the weather is finally nice, our puppy Bailey can run around outside. I couldn't help myself, I needed to take a few pictures of her!






Came inside after playing and still happy!

Painting Fun - Yellow Armoire

As I posted earlier, I decided to spend the weekend painting our guest bedroom armoire. The weather was perfect this weekend for painting and Stuart was out golfing, so no better time then now!

I forgot how much work it was to paint, but am happy with the end result! Instead of sanding it first, I decided to prime it first. I used 3 coats of yellow Dutchboy paint from Walmart, and bought the knobs from Target. After I was done painting, I decided to sand the edges to rough it up a bit. Perfect! The entire project cost $15.

Guest Bed:



The subject:



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1 coat of primer and 1 coat yellow:




Pretty knobs from Target - you can find these on all my painted furniture in our home



I now want to buy 2 baskets for the bottom shelf - for extra storage and to hide those cords! I will be searching rummage sales for them!





Have a great week!

Weekend Project - Yellow Paint!

This weekend I will be tackling a project I have been dreaming of for awhile! If you know me, you know I love yellow. I am going to paint an armoire that is in our guest bedroom - yellow! I bought the armoire for $50 (originally from World Market) about 2 years ago. Here are my inspiration photos. Stuart thinks I am crazy to paint it, but I am soooo excited! I should have project done and posted by Monday! Have a great weekend!

Blue Chair

While out thrifting on Sunday, I found this chair hidden under the store's holiday decorations. I knew I needed this chair - I loved the design of the back of it! After looking through a few magazines, I decided to try out a blue color!! The project cost only $7 and I LOVE my new chair in our kitchen!! The color looks great with my Fiestaware. :)

Front Door Decor

I was getting tired of the red wreath I had on my front door and decided and it time for a change! I found our last name initial "S" and Hobby Lobby - 50% - $5. I then found the art canvas board from Walmart - it was $5 for 3 of them. All of the other supplies I had at home. This project ended up costing me around $7!

Step one was spray painting the gold letter to RED of course! I then sanded it down and put a dark stain over it - two coats.


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I covered the canvas with some leftover fabric I used in our living room. Once that was finished, I used gorilla glue and attached the S to the board. I asked Stuart twice to drill holes in the board, so I could finish it up, but he was too busy for this one. I took matters into my own hands and learned out to use a drill! It was a very exciting moment for me! I hope you enjoy!

On a side note: check out all the snow we have! Last I heard, we had 31" on the ground - expecting at least 4 more inches this weekend. Is Summer here yet?