Summer Backyard Makeover

I am a little behind on my gift projects and my blog posting. And when I say "a little", I mean, stupidly, embarrassingly behind. These past couple weeks have been crazy hectic and I just haven't been able to get myself organized. I'm getting ready to go back to school in a few weeks, my stepdaughter was visiting from Texas (and Big Daddy and I finally got to meet our little 5 month old grand-daughter!), I've been plugging away on a few projects (posts on these to come soon!), I'm leaving in a couple days for a week-long road trip (woo-hoo!), AND we hosted a BBQ for my in-laws to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversery this weekend. Yeah, I've been a little busy.

In addition to all of this and in preparation for summer and aforementioned BBQ, Big Daddy and I decided we needed a backyard makeover. First, a little history: I hate yard work. I mean, really hate. I would rather have an ugly, weed infested yard that I hate to spend time in than to do yard work. And that has basically been what's been happening for the past several years. In the past, we have rarely used our outdoor space just because it has been so ugly and so much work that I didn't want to bother with it. Because I hate yard work...did I already mention that?

So we decided that this year would be the year to get the backyard in ship shape. I had a lot of grandiose ideas but I wanted to keep the makeover within these parameters:

1. Reuse as much stuff as possible
2. Spend as little money as possible
3. Turn the backyard into someplace that relaxed me rather induced hyperventilating fits.

And that's it. Sounds simple enough, no?

Well, simple, I guess. Time consuming and exhausting, definitely.

First, we hired a landscape company to come and rid the yard of about 5 years of neglect. I wish I would have taken a before picture but I was just so excited that someone else was going to be doing all the crap work, it completely slipped my mind. And then Big Daddy and I went to work with cleaning up everything else. Here's a few before pictures:



This is the deck area immediately outside the dining area. It's a long, narrow deck that leads to the backyard and deck and is really just a weird and unusable space. Here's a view looking towards the back deck:


Yawn.
Here's some more "Before" pictures of the back deck:











The gazebo used to have an old non-working hot tub in it. It hadn't worked in a few years and it was too expensive to fix and/or replace. So we just left it there. Until a couple moths ago when we finally had it removed.

And now for the after pictures:



Yes, that is a putting green. No, it wasn't my idea. Big Daddy is just beside himself with giddiness over this addition. When we went to Home Depot to get the supplies, the sales guy was high-fiving Big Daddy and telling him how awesome he is for putting a putting green in his yard. Seriously.







This is an actual golf course ball washer that we found at Goodwill awhile back for $15.....nice!



















A million times better, no? The main things we did were lay bark throughout the back yard, add the putting green, paint the deck furniture and gazebo (it used be a butt-ugly redwood color), added a few plants, and got rid of a ton of crap. And now I love it. And just as soon as it stops raining and warms up a bit, we can actually start enjoying it :)

The Big Reveal: Adelaide's New Room!

What a crazy, busy couple of weeks I've had! A few weeks ago I decided to go back to school (starting this summer) and I had so much to do to prepare to just APPLY to the program. Buttload of paperwork? Yup. Financial Aid? Working on it. Placement tests (even though I have my Bachelor's, too much time had lapsed)? OK. Medical Terminolgy class? Er, uh, no. What's that? All the courses all full for spring term? I guess I'll just have to take a challenge test and hope to pass it and waive that requirement. I mean, how hard can it be to teach myself a whole term's worth of information in one week? Turns out, pretty hard. I spent an entire week with my nose inside of a textbook and it paid off....I'll be starting classes in June! So, along with all of that, let's throw in trying to finish the sewing room, trying to eke out (unsuccessfully) a few projects, a sick dog that had to have surgery, a migraine, a few nights of insomnia...well, let's just say I've had my hands full.

But, I was able to put some finishing touches on my/Adelaide's room today and I'm ready to show it off! There's still a few things I need to do but I think it's good enough for now. My main goals in re-doing this room were to make it functional, make it enjoyable to be in there, and to spend as little money as possible. I'm talking like zero, zilch, nada. We did replace the floor with neutral carpeting, bought new paint, new shelving on the walls, and new curtains. We also replaced the old baseboards with brand spanking new ones. And when I say "we", I mean my favorite nephew, Adam (thanks, Adam!)
Everything else in the room I either already had or bought second hand and spiffied it up.

So, let's take a look at few before and afters, shall we?

Before:

This is what it looked like when you walked in: dark, dreary, and just an all around hot mess. This is what it looks like now:


Light and bright! I love it! Do you remember this heart attack-inducing disaster?


Gah. Make it go away. Now it looks like this:


The pictures on the wall are prints from the Robot of the Month Club that Big Daddy gave me a couple years ago for Christmas:


These are probably one of my favorite gifts I've ever received....every month for a year I received a new print of a robot doing some sort of activity: knitting, getting a physical, making a snowman. They just make me laugh. Although, not sure if I like them on this wall or not. Maybe I need to paint the frames? Oh well, another day.

How about these ugly closet doors?

How about some wicked awesome curtain panels instead?

Inside the closet before:


After:

Because we have no choice but to put the litter box in this room, I moved it into the closet so it's out of sight. I think the cats like the "privacy curtains", too. And those blue bins on the shelves? Upcoming projects I'm working on:


I plan on spray painting all the bins with chalkboard paint on the front in order to label everything but that's for another day as well.

Lonely armoire before:


Moved to the other side of the room and gussied up:




Hahaha! Dingleberries on the lampshade! I do love me some dingleberries....

Here's a picture of the wall across from the sewing table:


So organized! This gives me such a happy feeling....*sigh*

A shelf I took from another room:


View out the window:


Super cool, vintage kitchen storage bin for flour, sugar, etc. now being used to store sewing stuffs:


On top of the bin is a cushion I made for Alice the Malice:


She likes to hang out with me when I'm working on projects and help. And by help I mean roll around in the fabric, attack any thread or ribbon I'm working with, and just causing general mayhem. Hence the moniker "Alice the Malice". I also found an old doll bed at Goodwill a while back that I turned into a little bed for Alice to hang out on when I'm working away in there:


She loves it:


OK, she doesn't look all that enthused here but, trust me, she loves it :)

So that's Adelaide's new room. Can I just say how much I love it? Um, I love it. A lot. Every time I go in there, it just makes me happy. Now, time to start working on some projects. I'm a little behind...I'm still working on Easter presents for the grandbabies (yes, I said Easter), and a nephew's birthday present that needs to be done in one day, a birthday gift for a friend who's birthday was this past weekend, and get started on Big Daddy's birthday present. Yeah, a little behind.....

Extreme Home Makeover: Adelaide Edition

I started working on a few Easter gifts a couple weeks ago and then got very, very sidetracked. The room that I've dedicated to do all my sewing and crafts has also been acting as an office/storage/catch-all room and quite honestly, it just wasn't working. There was soooooo much STUFF in there! I was constantly moving things around, stacking and piling things, and spent so much time just looking for stuff, that it took the joy out of actually doing a project. So I decided to put a hold on some gifts and treat myself.

It was time to clear out all the crap from the sewing room/office and start all over. And it has definitely taken some time. Lots and lots of time. And I am still not done. But I will give you a little sneak peak at what I was dealing with before:



I'm still working out how to take a good picture. But this is how it looked as you walked in the room: messy bookshelves, Montel the Turtle's tank, and a cat box (don't judge!). Blerg.



And here is sad, little Adelaide. On a borrowed sewing table. With god-awful booger-green paint on the walls (I happened to think it was quite chic ten years ago when I painted it).



Oh. My. God. Just looking at this pictures makes me break out in hives. Seriously. Look at all that crap. What was I thinking??? But now all of that is just a memory :) The room is not done yet and I don't think I'll post a reveal just yet...I need to do a few more things to it first. But here's a during picture:



Already, it is MILES better!



Poor Adelaide....all alone and banished to the hallway.....don't worry, girl, we'll get the band back together soon.....