Chim Chim Cheree

Well, out of the blue we decided to restone the fireplace. It had always been in the plans to someday do but I didn't expect it anytime soon. So it was a pleasant surprise when Danny told me to start getting ideas of what I wanted a fireplace to look like. *A special thanks to Pinterest for all the wonderful ideas!

Here's our wonderful stone guy. So talented! Not much English but we made do. I'm convinced Danny can make friends with any blue collar worker. He watched him work and found out half of his life story. I stayed in the kitchen and worked on Christmas crafts.

Here's before . . .                                                                          and here's after! What a difference, huh?!

 

One more picture with the mantle on. Danny hung the mantle himself with a tip he said he got from a conversation he had with one of my friend's on facebook. So BIG thanks to Daniel Vath for that tip bit! And while I'm at it . . . thanks to my Papa for the railroad tie from his wonderland of junk! :)

Floors Again?

We were told by several sources that the beautiful wood floor that I loved was not good to live in. It was meant to be the sub floor. Hence, why air came through it and the whole house shook when you walked. Sadly, I agreed to look at new flooring . . .  if the price was reasonable. Finally, after searching and searching, buying and trying, and a few mishaps along the way we found the perfect deal.

At first, we were talked into laminate flooring. However, it wasn't as easy to install as they promised, even for my talented, do-it yourself husband. And I personally thought it looked too fake. It would look good in a brand new house, but not our simple country house. It's just not our style. I like authentic looking - remember I'm use to solid wood.

So we left that place, drove out to a place in Mesquite, and Danny talked me in to buying the next to lowest grade floor they had. (That sounds like a ridiculous thing to do. But have you even seen Danny excited about an idea, he just looks so cute! Who could say no to that?!)  He had resourced that type of flooring ON THE INTERNET!!! (BY HIMSELF!) It had good reviews, they just commented that it has more knots than a higher grade wood. However, since we were planning on staining the wood those extras knots should give it more "character". I decided I could trust him, he hadn't led me wrong yet. And it was by far the cheapest. (I like saving money when I can.)

Alright, now we get to go through the sanding, staining, sealing process again . . . this time, we get to install it as well. Here we go:

Here's all the wood.

This is the installed mat we put down first. We used duct tape to put it down. However, we ran out pretty fast. Lucky for us, I had PINK duct tape on hand! :)

Here's how the floor is installed. It's a nail gun that puts the nails in at a slant so that you don't see them. I thought that was pretty cool. And as fun as this tool looks it's not that easy to use. I couldn't quite hit it hard enough and almost messed up the board trying. So we let Danny do that part; I just helped line the boards up.

Remember BamBam from the Flintstones? Don't you think he'd love a tool like this? Too bad we couldn't get him to do our floors.

Here's what the floors look like finished and up close!

Touch Ups

We had some paint touch ups that we wanted to fix before we finished the floors.

Note to self: When doing touch ups make SURE you have the right color (especially when you've used a slightly darker color in another room)! When your gut tells you it's NOT going to dry much lighter STOP and don't keep on painting.

The end.

P.S. I've now gone through and labeled our paint lids with which rooms we've painted that color with. Hope this helps :)

What Color Would You Pick?

This was the original door, and the star window on the door was one of the things I loved about the house when Danny was looking at houses. However, like many things in our house, when we fixed "A", "B" went wrong. And thus, the door would no longer close after the frame was adjusted.

 I really wish I had taken pictures of how we had to "lock" the door for several weeks by wedging a screwdriver through the door handle to keep the door shut and "locked" while we were gone. What a sight! It was a wonder no one broke in. God was definitely watching over us those weeks!

All that to say, we got a new door . . .

. . .  and now, several months later, we (or actually I) need to paint it. It has to have some coat because we bought it on discount without primer or the base. The question is what color?  Danny's no good at this. He says this is my area. So I decided to use my resources. And with that being said . . .

What color would YOU suggest our front door be?

Red - to pull out the color in our red tin roof and match many color themes in our house

Brown - to match the outside trim and someday shutters

White - to match the siding and keep the look simple

I like things to match, so no John Deer green or bright orange. No thank you! I'm probably gonna stick with one of these basic colors. I just can't decide if I want it to POP or blend in.

Oh, and as much as I love Texas I'm NOT going to paint our door like the TX flag. I'm just saying. That would be too much!

Thanks! Your opinions are appreciated!



Let There Be Light

I know it's been a few weeks (or months) since the front porch was built, slowly but surely. The light fixture box no longer has to slide around in the back of my car! We have a porch light! And a beautiful one at that!



  

Don't you LOVE the way it shines!!! You think that's great it's even better in person! 

~It's the simple things in life that make me smile.