Twitterpated with Yardwork

First, let me say I haven't felt as alive as I did this morning when I walked outside in the sun with a light mist going on. I was wearing flip flops, so the little blades of grass were tickling my toes, and everything just felt so... Incredible.

I love spring. I love the smells, the sounds, and temperature  It's the perfect time of year. But our house doesn't really have a lot of spots that are very outdoor friendly... So I really wanted to make it my goal to make some good outdoor spaces that we can use.

First up... We have this corner of the house that is just... Terrible. Everything about it. There's some trash, the AC unit and heating oil drum. But there's so much potential! It's a little nook that you can look out into from three different rooms in the house! 

 

Never mind the peeling paint... We'll have to fix that at a later time. But this is what I'm working with. My first thought was to get a lattice and some vines and create some sort of barrier between the world and the AC unit. Frankly, it didn't feel like it did that much. But I'm hoping that once the vines start really growing up and sprouting flowers that it'll look nice.

So what I think I'm going to do next is take some nice outdoor pots and find some pretty flowers to sort of bookend my vine situation. Not sure what to do along the long edge of that space just yet... Maybe a bench.

I also worked on this little fella' over the weekend. Meet the world's ugliest picnic table. It lived in our backyard since we bought the house. I have no idea how old it is, and it was fully covered with this ugly tearing tarp (you can still see it on the seat in the picture above). So we ripped all that off, and started spray-painting it. I know we should have sanded and primed it and done it the right way... But... Well... We just don't do things the right way sometimes. And after a few coats, it's starting to look a ton better. 

Have you ever seen cushions on picnic table seats? I feel like that would be really cool and comfortable. I also have this crazy idea of painting something on the top of the table... but I'm not sure what yet. We'll see!

I'll post more updates as we de-uglify our outdoor spaces!

Weekend Challenge: Sunroom

Our sunroom has always been one of our most used, and yet most neglected, rooms in the home. Every party we host, the sunroom becomes the music and dancing center, and so it was important to us to keep the room open. On a daily basis, the sunroom has always been our cats' favorite place to lounge, and I have slowly been moving my crafting supplies into the room...

Step 1? Clear out everything.

Unfortunately, this room evolved into a space to store all of our wedding goodies until we found real homes for them. Cutting boards, picture frames, a deep fryer, glasses, car repair kits... A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

Step 2 - deep cleaning. Something I learned - vinegar is a seriously badass cleaner. I have a spray bottle of 2 parts water, 1 part vinegar that I use as a general cleaner. The old owners of our home were smokers, and vinegar has done wonders.


Step 3 - My first rule when redoing a space is to only bring things back in that you want to live in that room. I know it sounds like common sense, but this is something that most people forget. And once you end up with a pile of stuff that doesn't fit in the space anymore, it becomes a lot easier to purge the items you don't need.

I'm really happy wit how the space turned out, even though a lot of the changes are temporary. We're going to need to drag everything out again to repair the walls and paint, but damn. Already a big difference.

And you see that horrible ugly light fixture? I'm so blessed to have an electrician for a husband... He put in a beautiful new light on a dimmer switch, which is going to be awesome for entertaining!

I found these pillows at Home Depot in the garden center, but they really helped me figure out my vision for this room. Once I do a little more and get the paint on the walls, I'll post another update!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Day Off Challenge: Living Room

I have today off for Presidents' Day, but Husband had to go into work, so I figured I'd contribute something worthwhile to society. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I got up early and got to work right away... 

No, I snoozed my alarm several times. Watched some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and had some snacks. (Healthy snacks, mind you - a huge bowl of various fruits!)

But all was not lost! I totally got up off the couch and did some productive things! My main project for the day, after figuring out how to get Pandora running on the PS3, was cleaning the living room. Believe it or not, this state posted below is actually not *too* bad compared to how it's been... But either way, it needed to be unfucked.

Just in case you couldn't tell where the problem areas were... Well, I highlighted them. Ahem.

So let me break down what I did to tackle this project step-by-step. This is for all of you that seriously hate cleaning. If you're a veteran cleaner/organizer, I promise you won't learn anything from me. Not on this post, anyway.

Step 1: Music. Put on your favorite motivational music. I like the Summer Hits of the 90s genre station on Pandora. Whatever gets you up and moving! 

Step 2: Dishes. Remove ALL dishes from the room and put them in the sink (or better yet, dishwasher).

Step 3: Couch. I cleared everything off the couch, fluffed it, febreezed it, and then neatly returned the pillows to their home. Always start by giving yourself a clean, comfy area to sit so that way you have somewhere comfortable to hang out and tackle that pile of papers that you've been meaning to go through but just haven't had the time...

Step 4: Coffee table. Our coffee table is where everything in the world lives, and it gets cluttered very quickly. Remove EVERYTHING from it (inside, outside, on top, etc) and move it somewhere else. Now clean the table. Noooow, you can slowly move things back. But keep in mind: does this item have a better home than the coffee table? If so, put it in its better home!! If you're lucky, you'll end up with a nice clean coffee table with nothing on it... Maybe now's a good time to find a new candle to burn. :3

Step 5: Floor. Same as everything else... Pick up everything and move it elsewhere. Then go through it. Find homes or trash it. This is a good time to vacuum, unless you still have a lot of surfaces to tackle. 

Nope, still not done. but here's my in-progress shot. I still need to tackle a few surfaces and then attack it with the carpet shampooer.