Take a seat...

This past Friday I didn't feel like cooking and we had a wee bit of a list so we rallied and drove through crazy rush hour traffic over to IKEA for dinner (Hello, fish and chips dinner for $1.99!!!) and some shopping.

 

Did you say dinner?

On the list? Some birthday/Christmas gifts for Clara...who was told the toys were for "somebody else." That works this year. A few things for Chris' woodworking projects. And a new couch...cover.

So, my parents gave us a couch as a housewarming present when we moved in about 4 years ago. And Chris and I picked the EXTORP sofa in "Svanby Beige". I know, BEIGE. People thought we were crazy. Admit it. You did too. And this was before the wee one was even a thought. But we loved it. It worked great in the space. And the entire slipcover was washable. Which I have done a few times in the past 4 years. Like when I spilled coffee all over the arm...yup, me. Or when the tot went all Michelangelo with a green marker on a cushion.  

Even though it is washable (and I still love the color), the frequency of necessary washing has exponentially increased as the tot is bigger, is faster with messy hands, spills more and generally gets dirtier than she ever has before so it was time. To get that new cover. We'd been eyeing them for the past year and saving the pennies. And then good ol' IKEA went and discontinued the "Svanby Brown" I'd had my heart set on and they were all gone at the two IKEAs in town. Thankfully, IKEA is a store of many options. So we opted for "Svanby Gray" which is PERFECT. Wanna see?

Here's the "before"...

"Svanby Beige"

Ah, the glamorous life. Vacuuming up "crushed Goldfish and junk" according to Chris.

 

And the "new" version. 

"Svanby Gray"

And, it's where I'm currently blogging from with the hubs and tot on the other end watching Tangled.

 

Oh yeah, we got a few other things not on the original list. Like some weird Swedish pop and under-cabinet lighting that Chris had been eyeing for years. He was so excited that he installed them last night while I slept on the couch. (Note: we kind of live on this couch). Might blog about those but didn't take pics of the process due to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. But I LOVE them. I can actually see on the counters. Okay, enough unsponsored IKEA love.

 

 

My Favorite Place...In this House Part II

Anyone ready to see the actual completed front porch? Say I. I. 

In case you forgot the "chocolate" brown sill from "before", here it is again...

And (insert drumroll) is the finished paint job. 

Here's the east end "before" complete with toddler photobomb.

And here (drumroll again if you please) is the east end, all pretty and cream.

We have fourteen windows on the front porch. FOURTEEN. We have screens for the warm months and glass for the colder months. Since fall decided to show up, we swapped out the screens for the windows after the paint dried and the backs of those windows are white/cream so it blended right in. 

In addition to taking on the full weekend project, I figured why not add a sub-project? So while the paint dried, I packed up my little helper and headed to Menards for some spray paint bringing the grand total for this whole front porch project to a whopping $6-7 bucks. The white paint on the wicker rocker was chipping and Chris had decided it was time for the metal star to be red. My dad informed me that some years down the road someone is going to buy that metal star and uncover 50 different paint colors. Come on, dad. This is only the fourth or fifth. I've lost count. The wicker rocker is a fairly recent addition and is pretty special to me. It was my Grandma's rocker and yellow tulips (she was the Pella tulip queen back in the day) remind me of her so I thought yellow was a fitting color. 

So yeah, that's the freshly painted front porch. My favorite place in this house.

And since the resident toddler has been trying to hijack this post the whole time I've been writing it, I thought I'd let her write you all a message...

fhjdvcccccccm/.

Have a good one. 

My Favorite Place...In This House

The front porch. My favorite place in this house. Great place to read. Play. Drink coffee. Escape football/toddlers. You know, relax.

The more time I spent out there, the more the multiple colors of brown trim with cream walls/siding annoyed me. 

Plus, the sill's brown paint was peeling and the resident toddler was becoming more and more interested in helping that process along.

I decided that this Saturday morning would be a good to put my paint-splattered sweatpants and tee back on - after a couple year hiatus - and get back on the home-renovation horse, so to speak. 

I busted out my birthday present from the first year we lived here (actually the first month), a Dewalt palm sander. And got to work. 

 

Better right?  

Then I scrubbed the entire porch (have I mentioned that it's like 20+feet x 6+ feet?) down with TSP-PF. No pics. Because, let's face it, scrubbing is boring. It did look a lot cleaner though. A LOT.

Next came the fun part. Priming the heck out of that "chocolate" (sure...) brown sill. Gripper + paintbrush + me = happy. In case I never said this before, a good paintbrush is worth the money. EVERY. TIME. I love Purdy brushes. LOVE. THEM. They just plain do a better job. And last forever if you take good care of them. Which you will. 

After I finished the sanding/scrubbing/priming, Chris, the entertainer of resident toddler, put said toddler down for a nap and grabbed a paintbrush to start the actual painting. The trade-off of toddler/parent worked out well. You see, Chris and I complement each other. According to him, he is a missile and I have to make sure he is pointed at the right target. According to me, I am a perfectionist and if I want to be picky about the prep work I have to do it myself or keep my mouth shut. Good thing I like prep work. 

The paint's almost the same color but you can see the difference on the wall under the front window. The window with the newly painted trim from a month ago. Color? Cooper Melon by Valspar. We had a gallon of exterior satin left over from the garage trim (yeah, yeah, some day there will be a garage post). This entire project cost us...zero dollars. Well, zero new dollars. I mean, we bought all the supplies at one point. With dollars.

So far so good. I'm blogging this as the paint dries and then we can put the quarter round back on and clean up. So a complete final picture will have to wait for now. 

Let's try this again...

I've been reading all the blogs about life, family, home repair, happiness, cooking, etc lately, checking out all the fancy pictures and wondered exactly how long it's been since I last blogged myself. 

Helllllllloooooo?

Um, wow. Over a year and a half. Awesome. Maybe I should just wait and make it an even two years. Or maybe I should get over it. And try again.  

This summer was another summer of weddings - awesome weddings I might add - so we weren't really home a lot therefore no major renovations this summer in the 90 degree heat. As major as we got was laying landscaping fabric/mulch and planting 15 tomato plants and a bunch of herbs (and summer squash that ended up being a bunny buffet...). 

And, did I mention we have a 2 year old? Said 2 year old recently stole my hammer and announced that Daddy's tools belong in the garage. I explained to her that Mommy has tools too (a whole lot of them!) and she was all like "No! It's Daddy's!!" Clearly, the girl needs to learn girls have tools and boys drool...I mean just that girls have tools too. 

Just to clear up a few things...

FAQs:

Q. Do you still shower in the basement? 

A. Sure do. Chris made a great curtain enclosure so you almost forget you're in the basement. I tell myself people pay big money for huge showers. Plus, not ready to shell out the $$$ for the bath remodel yet. 

Q. Did you fix your upstairs yet? 

A. Nope. We make it work for right now. Also, people pay big money for "open" living concepts, right? See A. above regarding $$$.

Q. What's the next project?

A. On my list or the Hubs? I am currently developing an unhealthy hatred of the playroom/guest room wallpaper. It's hideous. And all of you who say "It's really not that bad" are being kind. And lying. It's pastel-y swirly ugliness and it's days are numbered. 

Well there. I did it. I blogged. And I even included a picture. Go me. Maybe we'll do this again soon. I mean, don't hold your breath. But maybe.