Productivity

When we got home from out cruise and our house still hadn't sold we decided to was time to get to work... again. This weekend we got started on some projects that will take us a couple weeks to complete. We power washed the gazebo and back stairs preparing them to get stained.

The first coat of stain!

We also have an awesome plan for our kitchen counter tops but before we jump into that, we decided to practice on a desk in the garage. First we sanded and primed.

Then we painted a base color and spray painted some stone fleck to add some color and dimension.

Then you finish it off with an epoxy sort of mixture. This is the hard part of the process. It means constant babysitting for about 4 hours. Continually wiping edges and using a blow torch to get the bubbles out. Lots of watching and care.

After about 4 hours, it stops running and you can finally stop babysitting, although it still won't be dry for about another 4 hours. Here is the comparison of the finished side and the side we didn't touch. We only did half the desk in case we totally blew the first half and needed more practice. Luckily so far it looks like we aced it!

We think it looks gorgeous! It will make our counter tops look like a solid surface and perhaps get us on the road to a sale, and living together again in Missouri! (BTW pictures don't do it justice, it is just so pretty, but it doesn't seem to translate in the pictures)

Little Changes, Big Impact

Tonight we switched out the huge ceiling fan in our kitchen for a more appropriate kitchen light. The picture doesn't really capture how drastic the difference really is. When we first got the house we thought the ceiling fan was awkward, plus Jason would have to duck to go under it, but we eventually got used to it and barely even noticed it was there. Now with trying to sell our house, hopefully these small changes will make a big impact!

Before

After

This light matches all of the others throughout our house except it is about 3 times as big, making it a lovely focal point in the kitchen!

Random Items?

No, these are not random items. You put all these items plus a few more together and you get some pretty cute homemade home decor!!

We bought this set a few months ago but just hung it up this week in our living room. So cute!!

The "bling organizer" Jason made me for my birthday. I LOVE it! It is such a cute piece of wall art for our bedroom, plus I love looking at my cute jewelery!

This is an awesome collage of scrapbooking paper and wallpaper. It is really cute. Even though Jarom sleeps in this room I'm still making it cute for Paisley. Maybe one day they will trade and Paisley can get her "purple" room back.

Paisley needs a place for all her cute hair accessories! This will get hung in her room so she can pick which flower she wants to wear each morning.

This is a combined effort of Jason and me. I designed it, Jason did all the math to make it mostly symmetrical. This is how it was painted...

But this is how it is hung. Pretty tricky. As you can see with the blue tape spot, we will be touch up painting our living room walls soon.

And as always here is a very cute boy and a happy helper! He loved handing daddy the hammer!
Paisley is becoming a very good sharer. They like to ride the scooter together! Pretty cute!

Teaser!! Here is the beginning of the next project!

Spot the Difference

Besides that they were taken at difference times of day there is a difference in these two pictures!

I love our mailbox... area

We have very cute flowers climbing up our mailbox post. It is so pretty. I love to go out there and get the mail or drop mail off and look at how beautiful that part of our yard is. Other parts of our yard have issues and aren't as pretty, but we are working on it. But this beautiful first impression of our yard right here is fantastic! I can't take credit for it, we inherited this pretty flower with the house, but I'm so happy for whoever decided to plant it right there, and I'm so glad it decides to keep coming back bigger and more beautiful every year!