Before & After

One of my favorite websites is designsponge. I look at it almost daily for inspiration and ideas for decoration or remodeling.

One of the coolest features on the site is the 'before and after' section.

It does feel like our entire house is a monster 'before and after' project - but while hubby is tearing up countertops, drilling in walls, and cutting tile, I've got to have something of my own to do, right?

Here's my first real Before & After:

• 5 chairs on Craigslist.
• New fabric from Ikea.
• New paint and varnish (and several brushes).
• New staple gun.

1. Removed seats from chair.
2. Remove backing.
3. Sanded and painted chairs.
4. Applied new fabric to seats
5. Reattached backing to seats
6. Varnished newly painted chairs
7. Reattached seats to chairs
Voila!

Kitchen Collage

The Best Things in Life Are Free

As a newly married couple who bought a house in "the worst economy since....", we haven't made a lot of 'new' purchases since we made the BIG purchase!

This is why craigslist is the best thing ever! So far I've bought (very inexpensive) dining room chairs, a living room chair, a patio table and chairs, and pavers (to lay an extended patio in the backyard). I have also found a free desk and a free BBQ.

As soon as the weather started getting nice all we wanted to do was grill in the backyard! After weeks of stalking craigslist and doing drive-bys (only to be too late) we finally found a BBQ. It's not the prettiest thing - but it was FREE! And after a good scrub-down it cooked up a delicious pork loin!
A couple of weeks ago friends were over and helping us brainstorm about what to do with our yard aka weed garden. The first thing I wanted to do was get rid of the monster hand-made swing set that came with our backyard. At first, I felt sort of bad about hating the swing because someone clearly made it lovingly to share the evening sunshine. One of our friends suggested we post it for free on craigslist. I said, "who would want this ugly thing?" and she said, "well...YOU guys wanted THAT thing (referring to our ugly BBQ). I laughed and realized she had a point. So the very next weekend I posted this picture and 'FREE - U-Haul'. And wouldn't you know...we had three inquiries in less than an hour! The swing set's new owner came to dismantle it and take it away in less than three hours!

The Best Pre-Birthday Weekend EVER!

I never paid much attention to landscaping before becoming a homeowner. And it seems a little crazy to me that I'm having conversations with my parents about the best composting bin to buy and how to set it up with equal parts of greens and browns. But that's all beside the point...look at what we did this weekend! The Beasleys cruised into town and opened a 10-gallon can of woop (you-know-what) all over the yard! BEFORE picture of our abundance of overgrown juniper bushes.

The BIGGEST worm ever!

The roots!

Making progress...

Can you believe this? It's gone! Well, it's actually in piles now in the backyard. But before we finished Erin uncovered a HUGE nest of spiders in the middle of the juniper bushes...and I saw two of the BIGGEST spiders I've ever seen in my life (NOT JOKING)...but literally saw hundreds of spiders while trying to tear all this stuff up. So so so yuck!

Goodbye to the HEROS of the weekend!

Weekend Warrior

I have so much to blog about this weekend. But first, I'll set the scene. It's 8:20pm on Sunday evening and I'm sitting with my handy dandy hubby in the waiting room of the ER - because he needs a tetanus shot. Yes, I said it, tetanus. I won't get into the nitty gritty of how it happened - but let's just say it was an old nail and a flip-flop and the nail won.

He says the good news is that he wont need another tetanus shot between now and the time this house project is finished!

Before & After

I know, right?! I wouldn't put my food in the first closet either.

Butt Strips

Did you know there was a construction tool thingy called butt strips. Not joking. I'm not really even sure what they are used for - but my handy dandy hubby began stapling these strips to the exposed wall behind our kitchen sink. The ultimate goal is to tile this wall - but first we must install Hardie Board (it helps the tile stick better, I think). The butt strips are probably installed to make the wall a little more even, making the Hardie Board install a little bit easier.

Either way, the strips are in, the Hardie Board is ready to be installed, and the tile is cut. We just might have a completely tiled kitchen by the end of the weekend!