it finally happened.

I told  you a week or two ago about the shutter project for the house.

There were 18 in all, and they were VERY faded.

This is the before picture.

I did like the color, and at one time, our front door was the same color.  But about a year ago I painted the front door red.

Obviously, when we started the project, and all 18 shutters arrived on the ground, I wanted to make them match the front door.

I liked the red on the door, but I'm not so sure about how it all looks now, so you'll have to let me know your opinion.

After.

The kids call it the ketchup and mustard house.  Funny.  But not really.

It took 3 coats on each of the 18 shutters.  It felt like a REALLY LONG project.

The other project I was working on involved a potential "coffee bar" area.

Brent and I LOVE coffee, but I was tired of where our coffee maker used to be, (in a corner, in the way of dirty dishes when they were on the counter, and way to close to the stove.)

So...

I first started with a sign. 
When my cousin Emily moved to Wisconsin recently, she gave me a white painted barn board with chippy paint.

I was going to use it for a shelf in the kitchen above the stove, but decided to do this instead.

I got out my sharpie marker and some black craft paint.

I wrote COFFEE, then painted it in, and let it dry of course.

Till it looked like this.

Then I took some sand paper, and distressed it till it looked a little MORE chippy.

Then I added some sawtooth hangers to the back.

And hung it up.

Under my "new" coffee bar...

These shelves used to just house some of my antique collectibles, but I made it more coffee friendly.

Coffee filters in a very worn PYREX bowl, coffee grounds in a glass jar with a chalkboard coffee sticker, and our new coffee maker (which I had to purchase Thursday since ours decided to take a poop the night before.)

I even added the vintage coffee mugs my mom found for me at Goodwill.

It's out of the way from other people in the kitchen, and it's just right. 

So, two big projects done. 

Feels good.

A work in progress

Our house is 8 3/4 years old.

Sounds silly, I know, but we moved in when it was completed in Feb. of 2006.

Grace had just turned 6 and was HIGHLY upset that she couldn't have her 6th birthday party in our new house. (We had it in the rental house we were living in.)

She was even more OUTRAGED that Evan did have his 5th birthday party at our new house in March.

We'll let bygones be bygones.  It's water under the bridge and 8 3/4 years later.

That being said, along the way we've upgraded many things...(our house was a modular spec home that was moved here and we added the porch along the front and the garage.)

We've changed light fixtures, door handles (from brass to nickel), I've painted all the kitchen hardware (from brass to hammered black,), we've painted doors, walls, and added a patio.

When our house was put together on our land, it had aqua shutters which have faded badly over the years.

Since Brent was working on making all our windows more airtight, he decided it would be a good idea for the kids and I to paint all the shutters.

So that's what we've been doing for a week now.  (in our spare time, which is why it's going so slowly.)

 I got the paint to match the front door I updated last fall, and each shutter took 2-3 coats. 

I painted the first coat on the last 4 today.  22 shutters total.  Slow work friends, SLOW work.

The kids now tell me since Brent has put up two of the sets, that the house now looks like a ketchup and mustard house  (yellow siding, red shutters.)

Funny.

Since the windows are being fixed, that means the inside of the windows needs fixing too.

Brent has taken off all the skinny fake oak trim (which I HATE in new houses) and we will replace it with thicker trim, painted white, and the inside wood around the windows will all be new too.

Yeah, more painting.  (insert sarcasm here.)

Right now, we just have ugly windows inside.

We're moving in stages people. 

Time and money are always the issue.

At least SOME areas of the house are staying the same.

I have more plans, but they are slowly being processed.  In my mind, and on paper.

I'm also in the midst of planning a 50th wedding anniversary party for my in-laws.  That is also time-consuming.

I guess this is what it means to be home owners, right?  Always changing, always updating, always maintaining.

We'll keep you posted.

Renovation

The other day the kids and I were running errands.

Out of the blue Grace says, I think I want to paint the desk in my room.

"OK." I said.  "Um, what color?"  (Her taste is running a little on the ecclectic side lately.)

Her room right now is aqua.  A very BRIGHT aqua that she picked out, and which came out even brighter than I thought it would.

When we got to Lowes she picked out a pale pink.  I was very hesitant as to what the final outcome of these "accessories" in her room would be.

After chores and strawberry picking and a Church meeting for me Monday night, she and I went out on the porch to start painting.

We started with her desk, which led to her desk chair, and a magazine rack, AND a bookcase.

We let everything dry overnight until the next morning, when I heard it raining hard, and ran out to the porch to move everything in before it got damaged.

While I was busy today, Grace (taking a cue from me I guess...) moved everything back into her room and rearranged it as well.

It doesn't look as bad as I thought it might.

While we were painting, I took pictures for the before and after.  She said to me, "So, this will probably be on the blog, right?"

"Yes.  Probably." I replied.  "Are you ok with that?"

"Sure." she said.

Good, cause here it is.

Tried and ???

These past three days, my cousins and I tried something very different for us...

We bought a booth at our local flea market, and sold the crafts we've been working on for months.

We had a cute booth with great stuff if I do say so myself!  And our display rocked!

BUT, Memorial Day, which was supposed to be the busiest day of the year...turned out to be terrible.  It rained the ENTIRE DAY and hardly even made it to 60 degrees.

We didn't sell much.  It was a bummer.

I had to go back to work for the next two days, so my cousin ran the booth herself, and the second day turned out to be not much greater than the first.  Again, rain, and slow traffic.

But just look at how cute everything is!  We had a mix of things we made ourselves, and antique vintage things, and adorable onesies that my cousin with a brand new baby made.

I would've bought everything in our booth if I was the one visiting it.

We had the best "booth" neighbors too...a retired couple who were very interesting and super nice.

It made the VERY SLOW day on Monday go quicker with them beside us to talk to.

As it is, we will be at the same flea market for 3 days in July, 3 days in Aug, and 3 days in Sept.

I hope it is better...I hope we sell out...that would be an accomplishment.

The things I have left over will go in my etsy shop...except for the larger things that would be very expensive to ship.

We gave it a try...I guess we can slap ourselves on the back for that!

A Trip and some treats

Tomorrow I'm headed with Evan to Chicago for his VERY LAST field trip before heading over to the junior high/high school next year.

We're headed to the Museum of Science and Industry.

I'm excited.

He is too.

I'll share some pictures when we get back, but before then, I want to share some "treats" with you.

In my rare spare time, I've been trying VERY hard to build up my inventory for the first 3 day stretch my cousins and I have at our local flea market.

It's the end of May, and I'll be honest, I'm freaking out a little.

I'm worried I won't have enough stuff for three days, but I'm STILL working.

Here is a preview of some of my favorites.

Are any your favorites?

I still have plenty of other things up my sleeve, but if you have any suggestions, let me know!