SANDBOX

This summer I decided to make a sandbox around the large mulberry tree in the backyard. Not much grass will grow under the tree because of the shade and the dogs. I still need to find some sort of material for the dirt part of my yard.

Of course, a sandbox is no fun without children. Hudson and the great niece and nephews broke it in when they came to visit at Thanksgiving.

Braydon - "This is the coolest sandbox ever!"

Later that day - "The sandbox is cool, but this tree is WAY cooler!"

What can I say, Braydon. I can not compete with Mother Nature.

THE EXTRA BEDROOMS

In a post I made back on 3-22-2010, I showed the guest bedroom make over. Here is a before and after shot as a reminder.



BEFORE

AFTER

I never followed up on the office/3rd bedroom that we have. I still have not finished this bedroom because I am not sure what color to paint the walls.

Here is the office BEFORE I switched out the beds. (You can see the shelving material stored on the floor.)

Here is how it currently looks. I added a pop-up trundle I found on craigslist so the kids would have more places to sleep when they all come for a visit.

I did frame the kid's artwork. If you look closely, you can see some color samples painted on a board on the floor behind the weights. I was thinking of painting the room some shade of gray, but I haven't completely decided what to do.

SHELVES

In a blog I wrote on 3-23-2010, I showed pictures of upcoming projects. One of these projects was the built-in bookcases in the living room. Below is the finished product! We finished the shelves in the summer of 2010.




Below is the BEFORE shot of the wall. One of the main reasons I wanted shelves by the door is so the table would not become to catch-all for everything that comes through the front door. I wish I could say that the shelves have solved my problem, but sadly my table still looks like this most of the time.

I found a place in Ft Worth that sold a variety of plywoods. I liked the Knotty Alder because the natural look. Robert and I picked up the wood on a trip to see the kids.

I tried several stains, but in the end I chose the natural look and sealed it with several layers of polyrethane.

THE DOORS

The idea of renovating our living space began with replacing the door that led to the back porch. There were several problems with the French doors. First of all, they were taking up precious wall space in the laundry room where I wanted to put a pantry. Second and more importantly, you had to go through the laundry room (which was usually in a state of mayhem) to get to the back porch.

The solution was to replace the laundry room French doors with a plain steel door, and add a door with a view to the kitchen where there was a window.

We adding Duet 6:3 to the header as a reminder of everything the Lord has blessed us with. This was to be covered up with drywall as the kitchen was finished. We ended up at a standstill at this point because:

1. We wanted to be sure we had the money to complete a kitchen overhaul.

2. We were scared to death of what we might find when we began opening up wall.

3. I was concerned our marriage might not survive the make-over. Robert and I put in the doors ourselves. And we basicly disagreed with HOW to do everything.

The kitchen and laundry room walls stayed in the following condition for two years. (This project was actually done Spring Break 2009.)

We did complete the outside of the doors. One of the problems we ran into was having enough of the original steel siding. We created a built-in fire box to conceal the problem.

The finished porch. Robert and I had actually overhauled the backporch in 2008 with new decking, covered columns, and a better drainage system

2011 - The Year of New Beginnings

My daughter asked me today what my New Year Resolutions were for 2012. Funny, I haven't even had a chance to think about the upcoming year because I was very busy in 2011 finishing up some much desired goals that I have had for many years.

2011 has been filled with many renovation projects. I have somewhat documented some of our projects, but have been too busy to actually post them. So the next few post will be an attempted to recapture 2011.

Hudson's Quilt - Finished!

HUDSON'S QUILT (day 1 and 2)

I started making Hudson a quilt during my Christmas break. Here is my progress after two days.

I only have the top pieced together, but as they say ... It is not a quilt until it is quilted. I am hand quilting it because I am having serious issues with my sewing machine. I will post pictures after I have finished quilting and binding it together.