Outdoor Patio

Our backyard needs help. When we moved in, the fence was lined with overgrown bushes and weeds. There was even a cluster of weeds in the middle of the yard. Bugs were awful! So last fall, my hubby and his dad worked on removing ALL of the shrubs. Let me share a picture of that with you...

 Fugly huh? You can see exactly how tall and overgrown the bushes were in the upper left of that photo! I felt so bad because he got poison ivy, TWICE. Bad poison ivy but at least it was him and not me the girls. Sometimes I miss those shrubs. It blocked the view of the neighbors shed and the soccer fields behind us. Hopefully in spring we can get a privacy fence put up because, the current one has gotta go!

We are making more progress back there this week! On both sides of our sunroom we are pouring concrete. and there will be a sidewalk in front of the sunroom that connects them both.

Note to Self: Remove information sticker from the window! Oops.

This is right off the sunroom from the kitchen back door. A little down the line he wants to frame in his grill complete with storage and counters. Until then, the grill will sit a little off the patio and the space will house a lovely new patio set. I can't wait for that part. I have my eye on one at Home Depot. You cant see it but at the end of the sunroom is where we plan on putting a rain barrel!

This is where the sidewalk will connect to the other side of the patio. On the sides of the walkway that leads into the sunroom will be flower beds.

I'm excited about this spot. I am DIY'ing a large chalkboard to hang on the brick wall for the girls. Also, we're going to build a tall storage "shed" for outdoor toys and some lawn equipment. This is the side of the house where the garage is. Eventually, he's going to pour MORE concrete on the side of the house where he will park his boat and where the recycling bins and trash cans will be in their new covered home.

I can't wait to share more! We're hoping to get it done this week :)

Thanks for visiting!
Amanda

Playhouse Part 1

When we first moved in our basement left much to be desired. There was paneling all around, yucky carpet that needed to be ripped out and a dark brick fireplace. After discovering a leak and some mold when the carpet was removed, it became an area we worked on right away. Now that it's all clean and fresh my most favorite part is the playhouse my hubby built under the stairs for our girls!

I've always wanted to make it look more like a house but when he built it I was pregnant with our second, Ellena. Also, I had school, then a newborn, and then life. So needless to say it was left blank. A few weeks ago I got the itch to get started and so I did!

Never mind the inside of the house, that's further down the line! Also, never mind the unfinished fence. I ran out of vinyl!! By the way, I never knew how tedious it would be to put vinyl up on this house. I think the problem was the walls being textured. It took me two days to get where I am in the above picture. Although I am waiting on an order of vinyl, I still thought I'd share :).

The entire design was created using my Silhouette Cameo. I love to scrapbook, so I have had these images saved in my library for a long time. I love how easy it is to cut vinyl with the Silhouette. I used to own a Cricut, if you have one it'd do the job just fine! I still want to add a few more details to this side of the house. I'm thinking more garden bugs (butterflies, ladybugs etc...) and I also want to add clouds and a sun to the roof part.

There is still a long ways to go but I am hoping it'll be done by the end of summer. There is also a lot of touching up on the walls that needs to be done! We recently did a service change so the hallway leading to upstairs is still an ugly green, needs sanded, and repainted! So don't mind the random splotches of drywall mud, or areas that clearly need painted... like the window trim on the clubhouse! :)

Here are my plans for this baby:

-Finish the outside vinyl
-Paint the trim of the windows and the baseboards
-Create a flower box for the window and fill with fakes
-Create a working mailbox to be able to leave them notes
-DIY some curtains (I already have the fabric!)
-DIY a new kitchen (the current one is cheap and a spur of the moment purchase)
-Hang some art inside
-DIY a "welcome" sign or a playhouse name
-Add shelves inside?

Still lots to do but since I am working on a mini level I think it can be done by the end of summer. I can't wait to share it with you!

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda

Linking up: Yellow Bliss Road, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Embracing Change, House of Hepworths

Instagram Photo Display: An Old Shutter!

Instagram and I are like BFF's. I love it. A lot of my favorite pictures have been shared through Instagram and I enjoy displaying them around my home. I made a chevron frame a few weeks ago but I wanted something bigger to display more.

I found this old shutter at an antique mall but I don't have any before pictures! My hubby recently got a paint sprayer so he jumped the gun before I had a chance to take any. Just imagine one side a 70's orange and the other side a brown. Pretty huh? Originally, I wanted a taller shutter that I can put in a corner but this was perfect for the space off of my entry.

The color of the shutter is Rainwater by Martha Stewart. I love looking at the "oops" section in the paint department of Home Depot. I snagged two tester's of this color for $.50! I think it's a really pretty shade of blue.

Once my hubby hung it on the wall for me, I used my Canon Selphy to print some of my favorite pics I wanted to display.

I like my Selphy but the only beef I have with it is it doesn't print a true 4x6. The edges are perforated so part of the picture comes off when you remove them. It's ok if you don't have a border around your photo, like the one on the right.

This is what it looks like empty. I still need to touch up the holes with more paint. I think around Christmas I will use this to display Christmas cards!

I took my prints and some medium sized clothespins that I purchased at Walmart in the office section and came out with this:

Cute huh? I will share my entryway soon. It's sort of bare right now but with fall on the way I will have it decorate and looking pretty in no time.

Are you on Instagram? My user name is avillarreal140 if you are!

Thanks for visiting!

-Amanda

Linking Up: handymancraftywoman, itsoverflowing, creativelylivingblog, abowlfulloflemons, craft-o-maniac

Worlds Longest Yard Sale & Weekend Deals

Yard sales are my kind of thing. I love them. About as much as I love Frappuccino's and I love me some Frappuccino's! I was so excited when I figured out the Worlds Longest Yard Sale was happening over the weekend. It runs right through my town and traveling a little further north or south will almost always guarantee good deals. Since part of the sale was literally one street over I was kind of bummed I didn't read anything about it through our city flyer. I mean really, that's important information!

I didn't find a whole lot, I had my girls with me so traveling to where we did was a headache and I wasn't up for going any further. However, I did manage to spend a whopping $5.50! Here are some of my goodies:

I bought all of these embroidery hoops for $1! One whole dollar! They are about $2-$5 depending on the size at Joann's. I felt I scored a deal. I cant wait to create some of the projects I've pinned on Pinterest using these. I think a few might go in my daughter's play house which is what I'm currently working on! It's almost finished and I can't wait to share it with you.

I also scored these two trays! The top bronze tray was $.25!! I mean come on, a little spray paint and I can fully give it my heart. The bottom tray I snagged for $1 and I think it'll look good in my sunroom as well. Never mind the unfinished pallet table, I plan to share that with you as well... once I get it finished ;).

I forgot to take a picture of my other finds but I found a wooden box with a snowman painted on the front that I plan on painting over and using for storage/décor. I also found another wooden box and a few picture frames. The lady gave it all to me for $2.50!

I think that was a lot of great stuff for very little money!

On Sunday, I finally found the perfect vintage scale for my kitchen. I have searched for one for over a year! I've looked on Etsy, in yard sales even at the antique malls and haven't found anything. Well, I have found them on Etsy but the prices were a little hard to swallow. I got this beauty for $25:

I love it. They had a mint colored one but I figured this rusty ol' thing would fit my kitchen better. From the same store I also bought this side table. It looks so pretty in my sunroom, the décor is temporary but I think it looks cute!

I was going to leave the box my mason jars are on as is but that big brown spot is sort of bugging me! I guess that adds another project to my list! ;)

Thanks for visiting!

-Amanda