{Post #937} Railing Removal

I have hated this railing since we moved into this house 6 years ago.  Every spring I would scrape and sand it down and repaint it (and that took some doin', let me assure you).  No matter how perfectly it was primed and painted, it still peeled every spring.  


One of our house upgrades this year is removing the wooden railing and replacing it with a new black wrought iron one.  Our flower bed installation might be happening Saturday, so my husband graciously removed the railing today.  Soon I will fill in the nail holes and repaint the wooden trim.  Tearing the railing off did not damage it too badly, which is nice.  At least we don't have to replace whole pieces of wood.  


Our house has changed so much since we moved in.  I wish I had a picture from way back then.  We had an ugly white storm door that I removed.  There were 6 large hardwood trees we had removed (don't worry--there are plenty left!).  One completely blocked the view of the front door from the street.  I painted the door and shutters this lovely red.  Halfway gone: 

Here is the new look without the chunky, peeling railing:

I saw some lovely bushes at Lowe's today.  I was there to get a vent something or other (it's on the left side on the ground in the last picture).  It is to put around our gas meter so the dirt won't get onto it.  I have to get another one as this one does not come out from the house far enough.  When I go back to get the other vent thing, I'm going to get two of the bushes I liked.  There weren't that many of them, and if they're like any other bushes and flowers, once they are gone, they are gone.  


I am going to post separately about a scrumptious granola bar I made this afternoon.


~Joan

{Post #803} Mailbox Re-do ~ Easy Peasy!!

I was inspired by this mailbox make-over.  It's from here.

Our mailbox (before below) needed sprucing up.  Since we had the same type of box and post, I figured ours would look good like this, too.  Instead of paining the numbers (as was my original frugal thought) I bought reflective ones.  My husband cut out the wood, nailed on the letters, and attached them to the post.

I cut the dry clematis vine off at the ground (not sure what will happen come spring), removed the gray Velcro straps that used to hold the vine up, and sanded the grunge off the post.  Then I wiped the wholel thing down and applied a coat of black matte finish paint.  I got carried away and painted our (nearby) lamp post, too.  Monday I will go out with the paint and a small brush to paint the screw heads black, but here is the finished product (taken in complete dark with a nearby streetlight for illumination...no flash to take the picture, but see how those numbers SHINE)...

{#760} Cure for Summer Boredom

I have been enjoying some extra time with the only two of my eight children that are home right now.  All my children are fun to be with, and somehow it is easier to notice when they are not all here!!

Anyway...with Emily's wedding coming up in less than two weeks and my oldest daugher coming home from being gone all summer, there are a plethora of small chores to do.  I made up a list, and we all (all three of us, that is) went through and picked ones we would be responsible for...it actually looks doable!

Yay for helpers!  Off to a great start this AM...

~Joan

{#759} Painting Pics

Here is my beautiful finished wall.  It probably doesn't look like much since you're not used to see it peeling off.  The box between the piano and my cutting table houses my quilts to be hand quilted.  The two of them have been there for quite a while!  Seeds of Kindness and "Highway Hearts".

My husband and three of my children are taking their turn to make a trip to Ohio.  Remember I took 3 kids last month?  It didn't work out with our crazy summer traveling schedules to all go together.  We thought it would be a better visit with two groups of 4 rather than one of 8. 

Below is the famous pull-out trash door that I mentioned yesterday.  It is one of the doors that (badly) needs painting.  The holes where the handle was originally were filled with wood putty.  You can see where the paint is chipped away from people gouging it violently with their talons when they opened the door, I guess.  That's the only logical explanation.



I have a multitude of projects to finish before Emily's wedding, August 13.  The reason for mentioning the trip to OH and the door above is to bring up my new favorite words..."Send the cabinet doors and the paint up, and I'll sand and have them painted for you."  My dad said that to me last night on the phone.  Glory, hallelujah!!  If I would have had the energy, I would have jumped up and clicked my heels together.  Emily promptly removed 10 doors and loaded them in the Pilot.  What a relief.  Suddenly, the rest of my projects look doable.

I take Susie to the airport crazy early tomorrow AM.  We are leaving here at 5:30, which means I'll be getting up at 5:29.  I hope it's not one of those nights where I keep thinking I'm sleeping in and wake up to check every 30 minutes.

I have another nearly-finished quilt over on my secret blog.  Hop on over there if you know where to find it!

~Joan

Everything. Takes. So. Long. To. Do.

People are always telling me they are amazed at how much I get done.  I don't think I get that much done, so those comments always amaze me. 

Guess what I've been doing today?  The top picture shows a section of paneling in our MPR (multi-purpose room) that replaced two bi-fold doors.  My husband walled in the room and cut a new door on adjacent wall of the room.  Shortly after the paneling was installed, I painted the room a lovely green...sort of light grayish green.  I.  love.  it.  Shortly thereafter, strips of paint started peeling off the paneling.  I had not sanded it to rough up the surface.  Well, I put it off for years, but the process had to be done!  Isaac and Rachel scraped off the old paint, Ben sanded it, and I primed and painted it.  The priming and painting were done this AM.  The paneling has those little grooves in it, so I brushed those, then rolled the rest of the wall.  It is nearly dry and looks m-a-r-v-e-l-o-u-s.  I started at 6AM.

My next project is to repaint 3 of my wall cabinet doors and the cabinet face behind it.  The problem with that?  The paint I used 5 years ago is no longer being made, and the color is no longer available.  Well, I went to Lowe's and had it color matched.  I am about to start priming the doors (wish I had taken a before picture...the difference between the old and new will, no doubt, be astounding).  The paint had been wearing off from around the hardware. 

There is one other door front that I will be painting.  Originally we had a "concealed" trash can.  The whole drawer pulled out.  There were several reasons I did not like it.  When I was cooking, my hands were usually dirty.  Hence, pulling out the drawer than opening the trash can nearly always transferred what was on my hands to the drawer pull and then the trash can lid.  The drawer also collected trash and spills inside (eeewwwwwww).  Wes had the pull-out drawer converted to a regular cabinet door and put shelves in.  Now it houses my crockpots.  At least six of them!

Off to prime those doors!  Wish me luck!

~Joan, the overambitious

House Improvements

We had some home improvements done while I was in FL.  They actually started the day before I left.  A cement sidewalk from our front steps towards the street, a sidewalk parallel to the house, steps down to the garage, and a new slab in front of the garage (goodbye wet garage every time it rains!).  I wish I had taken some pictures before they ripped out the old stuff.  It was truly hideous.  I appreciate my husband working soooo hard to provide this improvement.  The former parallel walk and steps were railroad tie-lined white pebbles [insert heavy sigh because of hideousness].  These pics are for my family that is far away to see...

Walk parallel to house front...

The formerly life-threatening steps going down to garage and new retaining wall...

We need to do a little landscaping now to fill in the spaces left, but it looks fantastic!!

One more post today, about my quilt progress.  Breaking them up so one won't be so long.

~Joan