Outdoor Space Renovation : Siding, Screens, and Sofa

Okay, my blessed husband and I have been working our tuckuses off getting this space put together! We have made great strides and the hardest part is done...the screens!

Let me remind you what the porch looked like before...

Take note of the ripped screens courtesy of Mr. Woodpecker:)

Here are pics of my very own "Ty Pennington"...
Some screens were easier than others! All in all, re-screening was challenging but definitely doable. Now that we have done it ourselves, I don't think that I would pay someone to do this in the future. It was fairly easy, but definitely a two person job and very time consuming. It took us 4 hours straight of both of us working to complete the project. One of us had to hold the the screen taught while the other person stapled the screen in place. We then had to nail finishing strips in place to frame the screens.


It is coming along nicely, but something that has been bothering me about this space is this wall of vinyl siding. This is what you are facing when sitting on my lovely "new to me" outdoor sofa. The wall looks like this...Totally uninspiring. It just bothers my eye immensely! So I decided to do a white wash on the siding to give it a very Cottage-like appearance. This was my inspiration photo...
And this is the result...I really like the way it turned out. It was pretty simple to complete. I simply watered down white outdoor paint until the consistency was like this...



And then I just painted over the whole area making sure that everything was covered. Now this is vinyl siding which has no depth whatsoever versus the real wood in the inspiration photo which has lots of depth. So I had to build in the depth with additional layers of paint. How? I'll tell you...after letting the first layer of white wash dry, I dipped a tiny bit of my brush in the full strength paint. I then brushed the paint over the area in an erratic manner. I repeated this step until I achieved the desired look.

So now for my Craigslist outdoor sofa reveal! And let me say, I have been looking for this exact piece for YEARS but could not justify paying full price for it. It is the Pottery Barn Seagrass sectional and I had given up all hope on ever finding it on the cheap. But I did...and like I've said before, I'm still riding the bargain shoppers high!
We still need accessories and some artwork...I have some Fab&Frugal ideas for those. But hey, we've come a long way baby!

Treasuring Your Treasures

First of all, so sorry to everyone! I have been on a little hiatus! But don't think that I have been resting on my laurels. I have some huge reveals coming up that you will not want to miss!

So I have been wanting to do something creative with some special mementos ever since my precious son was born 2 years ago. You know how you hold on to their first little onsies, hats, binky's, etc...just to end up throwing them in a box in the attic never to be seen again? Well, this is a mini project that you can do to honor those special mementos. I bought a shadow box picture frame and gathered up my scrap booking supplies and precious mementos.


Look at the size of that onesie!! It is almost the same size as the 5 x 7 photo next to it! I can't believe that this guy... was that small! He is actually wearing that onsie in his newborn photo that I am using for this project. I had to add in the hand knitted hat and the binky that he received in the hospital. And as you can see in the above photo...he is a binky addict!!! So I couldn't leave that out:)
gathering my supplies...

I cut designer scrapbook paper to size and used it as a background for the frame.



I added nifty little brown satin picture corners. And they are self adhesive...love that!


I then arranged everything in the shadow box frame...


I secured everything with pearl tipped push pins.


Sweet...


I also did a very simplified version that I LOVE too. Sometimes the simpler the design, the stronger the message...

For the sake of equity, I must say that I will be doing this for Brooke too, but they only had one frame left at the store. Plus, I figured that I better do Bobby's before I lose these mementos in his closet which is rapidly becoming the "great abyss"! I still have Brooke's mementos tucked away safely:) Can you tell that I have Mommy guilt over this?? :)


Here is a preview of some amazing projects that are coming up...

Cruddy Cabinet Re-do

Moulding Magic

Venetian Plaster

Mural Painting 101

And, of course, the big Outdoor Space Reveal ***hint--you saw a little glimpse of it in an above pic!

And...The much requested Counter Top Painting!!! All to come soon:)