Curb Appeal

Happy Tuesday after a 3-day weekend! Everett had an extra day off school last Friday, so we took the opportunity to travel to the Oregon Coast. It was a heavenly break from the real world. We are having one of those periods in life where it seems things are more difficult than average. Right when you think the universe is balanced again, Alice bashes her head and ends up in the hospital. I'm spending a lot of time wondering when the carpet will be ripped out from underneath me, and I'm looking for that one thing that will put us on course again. In the meantime, I'm doing an A+ job ruining things in my path (breaking wineglasses, shattering my iPhone, staining all my white clothes, etc.). Let's just say that my personal curb appeal is not looking so good right now.

That being said, you can only imagine my disappointment coming home to grass that needs mowing, weeds that need pulling, and wallpaper that needs stripping. And so life continues, along with all the projects we have on our to-do list. But if I'm honest, these projects are what make me happy. I feel the most like myself when I am outside working in the yard, doing home improvement projects, or creating new things. It's all that other stuff that gets in the way...you know, like having a job and making money and stuff like that. Le sigh.

Despite all that, we are full steam ahead with our spring outdoor projects. 

The most obvious change we have made to our house so far was painting the front door. One other change that may not be as noticeable was that I painted the shutters a glossy black. They needed a little facelift, as the color was definitely showing age. This After picture was taken last summer, and believe me when I say it looks even better now! Especially since there isn't a weird smoke cloud looming over the city (this picture was taken when half of Washington and Oregon were on fire).

I planted dozens upon dozens of bulbs last fall, and those gave us a great show this spring. My mother-in-law helped me add some hydrangeas last summer, and those survived the winter. We have also transplanted quite a few hostas from our backyard to the front, and some hellebore I brought from the old house is thriving.

Finally, I spray painted a few pots I had on hand and put them on our front porch. The picture of the pots was taken over two weeks ago. Much of what is in there was grown from seed in our house, so they started off small. They look even better today with everything blossoming and spilling over the sides.

That's all for the front yard now. We have done a lot of work in the back as well, so maybe I'll remember to share that one of these days. In the meantime, send all #goodvibes our way. I'm hoping that vacation ended our streak of bad luck, but it can't hurt to keep praying!

Painting a Rocking Chair

The weather is warming, the rain is ceasing, and flowers are blooming. Garage sale season is finally here! 

Now we own some sawhorses (of which we share 50:50 custody with my mom), and a rickety old rocking chair.

I am a firm believer in paint. Specifically Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. You know what I love most? There are roughly 37 paint color options and that's IT. No staring at color cards and buying 3 different paint samples before settling on a color. You get what you get. Sort of...

We are going for "French Country" in this room, so I bought a can of Napoleonic Blue. Is there anything more French? Except it was a tad too Crayola for me, so I custom mixed it with a bit of Graphite from a sample that was available. By the way, I buy my Annie Sloan paint from Mel's in North Spokane.

I think my blue to black ratio was about 1/8 - 1/12. I just kind of eyeballed it.

I really love the result. It is so pretty in person, and it has a very custom feel to it since the color is truly a one-and-only-anywhere-ever. And of course I added a bit of wax to make it glow, and to protect the chalk paint. Then I did some distressing with sandpaper around the edges to give the curves some contrast. I've been watching Queer Eye, and I can just picture Jonathan yelling at this chair saying, "Highlight those curves, Queen!" while chasing after it with sandpaper.

The back pillow will eventually end up outside when we have our annual drought. It is technically an indoor pillow, so here it resides until the rain officially ends.

I'm so happy I could rescue this chair from its fate in the junk yard. There is something so gratifying about upcycling things: good deeds, saving money, turning something old into something new-er. This chair has watched generations of children grow, seen maple sprouts turn into a tree canopy, and now gets to be a part of our family's story. 

Chair news aside, it's been busy around here, as usual. The garden is coming together, and we enjoyed our first fresh-cut salad the other night. Lawdy I love the summer. Even though I am already covered in mosquito bites.