A back porch make-over

For those of you who have a Country Sampler magazine this picture in on page 67 of the September issue. If you don't have one then I wanted the rest of you to see the pictue that was my inspiration. When I saw this back porch with a cabinet similar to one I already owned, I knew that I was going to try to mimic the feel of the picture. I do not collect old scales (nor do I want to) but I had plenty of other items that I could use. So I wanted to share the before and after picture. I had many distractions yesterday but by the end of the day...I am mostly done.


I had this little white cabinet on the porch that dh had purchased at an aution. I liked it so I painted it and placed it right outside out kitchen door. When I took the picture I had started to take everything off so you don't get to see it exactly as it was but I wanted to you see what the change was going to be like. I am taking this cacinet to my garden shed to be used there. I had alot of work to do to make my back porch look more like this magazine.




This is what my porch now looks like. I had a cabinet in a different room that I moved to the back porch. I searched my house and basement for item to put inside and for the most part I think it is done. Well, I didn't hang anything on the door of the cabinet just yet but I am still deciding what I want there. So What do you thing? I was trying to get the feeling of the picture...not to match it. How so you think I did?

The beginning of the end

For those children in our community, yesterday was the end of summer. They were rounded up and placed in buildings for 7 hours a day and thus their summer came to an end. Our school year is not starting until next week but we are beginning to start the process that is the end of summer. We started draining our pool. The water temp. had gotten too low to make it comforable to swim. Even though we are still having warm days our evenings are just too cool so I started to drain it a little early this year.
This is just one of the early signs that summer is over. I also ordered all our school books and our oldest has started her junior year at the university...yet another sign.
We are finishing up some of our summer projects but there is still much work to do on my dh building. It has slowed down since he had to spend a few weeks finishing up the rental properties but with that almost done I am hoping that next week we can start to bring in the stone for his building and for our new driveway.
I am so ready to put out my fall decorataions but my girls are saying it is just a little too early....Oh please let me put them out, girls. LOL
And finally, I wanted to show you more of my cross stitch project...some of you wanted me to share more...so here it is...still in progress but getting much more close than it was. Sso, what do you think?
I have much to do, so until next time, be blessed.

Some finishing touches but done!!!

Well, the house is finished hurray! It took us three long days but we did it. I waited until everything was done and then I tackled the porch floor. I used an oil base paint on it so it has taken it a little while to dry. I only have one coat on so far but I thought I would show you how it turned out even though I don't the other coat on yet. It looks funny without any decorations on it...but they will be coming soon enough.

As you can see, I have started to put a few things on the porch now that the cement has dryed. I even have a few items inside...lol. Today after all the lessons are done I think I will have the girls help me carry some more stuff from the garage so we can start cleaning it out too. Every since our building collapsed our garage has become a storage bin....just a path to walk through so it will be a relief to begin taking things out. My electric and water lines have been dug underground and as you can see we have started to put dirt around the building but must wait for some much needed rain for it to settle down. I am seriously thinking about painting the big doors on the front of my garden shed....rust. The same as the trim on the house. It would make quite a statment won't it? What do you think?
We are still working on dh building. It is going slow for two reasons. First, we dug in all the underground wire and plumbing and now it is too soft for a semi filled with 20 tons of stone to back into where we need it to be. We have been watering the area to get it too settle and it is better so maybe we are getting close. The second reason is that dh has been working on the last few things that needed done at the rentals...we had four broken window...now how does that happen??? Anyways...just a few recepticals to go and then he can return to working on his building once again. He is just too busy.


We are finishing up a few outside items with a fresh coat of paint...it does look so nice. My Mother painted these for me.



We are off to lessons and then I will visit all of my blog friends until then be blessed.

just a few minutes

Well..as I said we did finish the painting in three days then we continued to paint a fence, two chairs, outside lawn funiture, the cellar way, and the list goes on. I bought porch floor paint today so then I will post a pic of the house completed.
Until then I thought I would show you a pic of something I am working on...can you figure out what it is going to say?? Maybe you have seen the pattern..it is so cute. What do you think? Any guesses?

Painting done

Well...we finally started another big job at our home...painting our house. I really hate to paint and the thought of starting is overwhelming. But my dad pushed me into starting so my goal was to finish painting in three days. So I put on the old paint clothes...bought new brushes and convinced the girls to get involved. So my mom and dad..and my three girls started painting and after 10 hours of painting I was still painting on the front porch...how discouraging. So on day two my oldest daughter had to work so we were down to 5 painting for the day...but the girls completed the bottom third of the house all the way around. They were very excited about being done with their share...but I had only finished the front porch and half of the south side...my feet hurt and I was exhausted but I was determined to finish in 3 days. The entire time I was painting my dad was in the bucket truck slinging paint....moving ever closer to our goal...
So while we were painting on day 3...out back they were digging in the water and electric lines...what a mess our yard has become. I know that there is nothing to be done about it but sometimes I get overwhelmed with the amount of work there is to put it all back together.
Many of you commented when I was discussing changing the color of paint on our home so I took your advise and left the colors the same...it did make the painting much eaiser and now that we are done I am happy with it. I still have the porch floor to paint but that is oil base paint and will take much longer to dry and so I decided to wait until Monday to tackle that job...then i will post the finished house!
We did meet my 3 day goal but that was painting for 10 hrs one day and 7 the second day and 12 the third day...I guess I must be a goal oriented person because I knew I was not stopping until it was done on the third day.
So....now that job is done...on to the next one. What have you been up to? Until next time, be blessed.

Cement

Yesterday was the day set aside to have cement hauled in to my garden building. What a busy day it was. I want to pick up some of the tools and after my dh got off work the cememt arrived. They really worked hard to get it smoothed out and finished before it set up.
That is a pic of my dad on the right and on the left in the gray is my dh.
It took most about 4 hours in all to get all the cement in the building and then to smooth it and work it into perfect form.
I am so lucky to get my building down first.

Show and Tell Friday

Well, today is a cool and beautiful day unlike the ones we have been having so when I went shopping the morning and I saw this beautiful painting I knew it had to be mine.
The moon shine on the barn makes me feel like autumn and I love autumn so I knew that this would be the first autun decoration in my home this year. My pumpkins are growing slowly because it just will not rain so I'm not sure what will happen with that. Last year I had such a large selection of sizes but it seems many loved the giant pumpkins. But this painting made me think off all the fun we had and all the beautiful weather we had last fall...
Anyways, I bought it and it is now on my mantle waiting to be hung. I don't have time now to decide on that but I will post a pic of it in its' new spot later.
So today I am joing Kelli at for Show and Tell Friday...hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you stop by and see her fairy garden...it is amazing. Be blessed.

More auction items

This green bowl was just to fabulous to let go. When I saw it at the auction I knew it was perfect...I think it will show up in my autumn decorations this year....we will see.


I fell in love with this set of salt and pepper shakers. I think with a little TLC they will clean up and be a beautiful addition to our holiday table.



We have been so busy with the new buildings that time just seems to slip away. Tomorrow I am taking a break from my outside work and taking my Mother to the doctor. She is feeling a little better but they are going to draw some blood and go from there. If she is feeling good enough we are going to do a little window shopping before we return home. It will be nice to spend the day doing something a little different.
The other building is coming along they think they may be done by Friday...possible Monday. I will post a pic when it is done. DH is pouring cement in my building soon and then I will post a pic of it too.
Some of you have been so busy doing such wonderful and creative things. It is so nice to see what you are up to....be blessed.

Auction treasures

These are a few of the treasures I found at the auction. There were so many pictures that I thought I would wait until tomorrow to show you the rest. I thought you might be getting tired of all the pictures of the building projects so here we go.



I waited almost all day long for this box of pillowcases. They had the most beautiful handwork on them. This one has some blue and pink embroidery on it and I thought of my sister who is making one of her bedrooms a country cottage style. Hope she likes them.

I know, I know, these are jello molds but they were in the box of stuff I bought and I thought they would make great candle holders. Maybe spray them with adhesive and sprinkle some clear glitter and hopefully I will have a couple of fabulous candle holders.....


I thought I would set these little crockery bowls around the living room and bathroom with potpourri inside. Two of them were the same and one has a few flecks of off white on the side. There is a slight crack in the side of one...but I love old vintage items so to me it just means someone used it and there is a story to go along with it.


I went to a local auction this saturday and I found some treasures. The elderly couple that had lived here pasted away last year and so the family was getting rid of the unwanted items. Most of their stuff really did not bring much money. I was happy with my finds. This crockery jug was just so cute that I knew I wanted it for my kitchen. It was the most expensive item I purchased at $12. I washed it up and put it in the corner of my coutertop for now.
Until tomorrow, be blessed

The building is complete

Well, I am back trying to load the garden shed pictures. I have had such trouble with blogspot that the building has been complete while I was trying to load the progress pictures. LOL Anyways, it is all done but the weathervane. I suppose they will put it up tomorrow. On Friday they actually started by dh building. The posts are now set so on Monday they should be putting up the rafters. They think they will have it done by next Friday. That would be so great. The inside has been smoothed out and now I will have to water it down to get ready of cement. We will put cement on the front porch too for an easy transition inot the building.
There is so much to do...We have started putting the dirt around the outside to allow it to settle so I can landscrape it...I haven't decided if it will be all shrubs or a few flowers mixed in...but I think I might put a small water garden beside it just for fun. If you have any suggestions just let me know. I am open to any ideas at this point. I wanted to share a pic of one of the sunflowers that is at the end of my garden. It is my favorite color of sunflower...it so says fall is coming. I will try to post pics of my auction treasure tomorrow. Until then,be blessed.

No pics today

I am having so many problems trying to post pictures of my building. Is anyone else having trouble posting pics?
I went to an auction today and wanted to share my new treasures with you...but blogspot is not working with me.....
My mother and I had great weather, good prices and lots of fun. I will try to post again tomorrow but this is the second day where I can not post pics....it is so tiresome. Be blessed.