Before and After Party: Festive outdoors!

Hey all! Whew, we have Internet back! I actually started a different post last night for today�s Before and After Party, but when I drove up to our house this morning after running errands, I changed my mind.

I love love LOVE the front of our house at Christmas. I was so taken with it, especially with all the pretty snow, I wanted to share this instead today.

I usually have the same recipe to our outdoor decor every year, but I changed it up just a bit this year (that would be easier).  :)

I started with a couple $3 big honkin� sparkly bows from Big Lots on our spray painted coach lights:

They�re a little droopy, but I LOVE the pop of red!

Our porch hasn�t changed much:

I showed you how I hang the greenery every year here. Last year I added the red ribbon and ornaments and I love that festive touch!

The wreath is a basic (fake) evergreen with the beautiful amaryllis wreath from Target wired on top:

I drooled over that red wreath for weeks and got it on clearance a couple seasons ago.  I love how layering them combines the green and red, makes it super full and gives some padow!! to the front porch. ;)

For years, I�ve hung lighted wreaths over our windows, but this year I was inspired by a picture in a magazine and wanted to try something new. I ADORE our shutters, so I wanted to play them up.

I took some simple small wreaths and just looped some basic red ribbon through to hang them from the top and bottom:

I just used one tack at the bottom and top to hold them on and they�ve held up great. (This spring I need to replace some of the wood on the shutters and repaint them � they�re starting to look a little worn!)

I usually put some greenery in the window boxes, but goodNESS it got cold fast. I�m just going to deal with the frozen kale. ;)

And that�s it! We feel all smooshy and googly when we drive up this time of year, especially with the lights on at night. :)

The snow totally completes the look, don�t you think?:

:)

So here�s my before and after for the month of December � our windows in the past (which I do love!)

And the slightly simpler version this year:

And our porch before, as it looked till two weeks ago:

And now:

Funny how the temp has dropped about 50 degrees in two weeks! I could barely stand to be outside long enough to take these pictures. YIKES. It sure does feel and look like Christmas around here! ;)

So what have you been up to? I can�t wait to see your Before and Afters! And don�t forget to link up to Kate�s crafty party tonight! I need to get busy!

Remember to link up to your post, not your general blog address!

 

 

Thank you to my sponsor!:

Making the old new again (spray paint love)

Well, since it was seventy-stinkin�-five degrees here today, I figured I may as well take advantage of it and spray paint something.

In my flip flops. And tank top.

Grrr.

I know�it�s awesome and all, but I�m already missing my sweaters. I was just getting used to cozy again. :)

Anyway, when we built our house, we upgraded the elevation, (exterior of the house) but didn�t add any extras to the curb appeal � landscaping, lights, etc. So I did a few updates soon after moving in:

I took out the cheapy bushes that were about two inches tall and replaced them with azeleas and lillies, then added landscaping lights and bricks, and installed window boxes.

MUCH better.  :)

I also replaced our look-away-from-the-shiny!! brass coach lights:

OK, they weren�t even as nice as that picture. They were way too small for the scale of our house and they were practically blinding us with their brassy-ness. Brassiness? Huh? Whatev. They were ugly.

Anyway, I replaced them with much larger versions that were a pretty, dark bronze color:

Well, they were a pretty dark bronze color. It�s been about six year since I installed them, and they sure look their age:

In my book, the only thing worse than shiny brass coach light is a pink coach light.

Back in the day, they matched the light on our porch:

We don�t get much full sun on the front of our house, so I chalk it up to the fact that they were fairly cheap inexpensive six years ago -- $40 each I think?

So because I still love the size and design of the lights, I had a little idea in my noggin. On a recent trip to True Value, I checked out the fantabulous spray paint aisle:

I know. Stop drooling. It rocks. If you can�t find it there, you can�t find it anywhere.

I knew I wanted the lights back to their original dark finish so they would pop off the brick. I checked out a few oil rubbed bronze options and it turned out my old stand-by can be used indoors and outdoors:

Thankyouverymuch Rustoleum! And True Value! Kisses.

I thought I could just take the top off the light fixture and remove the glass, but that wasn�t working. I had to pretty much take the whole thing apart:

I set all the parts aside and cleaned everything well. Even more of the finish came off as I cleaned:

And this is the part where I am taking pictures of a dirty paper towel in our front lawn, realizing my neighbors are wondering why in the world is Sarah standing outside taking a picture of a dirty paper towel in her front lawn.

I would love to know what goes through their heads. You know what�maybe I don�t. :)

I picked up a roll of paper at True Value as well, and taped it up all around each light:

YES�I know I could have just taken the lights down. But that would have taken more time than just slapping some paper up there. And it was extra fun because the paper taped to the garage caused quite a few what-is-that-chick-doing? looks as folks drove by. :)

A sweet little girl from down the street even walked down to ask why I had paper all over the house.

It�s hard to explain the power of spray paint to a sweet five-year-old. :)

I put the parts aside so I could spray paint them separately:

I did two coats on everything � making sure to use very short, light sprays. I didn�t even use primer � I figured if the ORB paint ever wore off, I�d rather the pinky tone show through than white primer. :)

The result?:

Oh. Em. Gee. LOVE:

I ended up giving the glass a good cleaning � wow, they were nasty. Now the lights are about ten times brighter, which is a bonus. :)

They pop off the house now, AND they match the porch light again too:

I like the new finish even better than the old one, so I may spray the porch light as well.

I think coach lights this size in a similar look are going for at least $50 each now � so I figure I saved $100 by just painting them.

Can I get a hollaaa for spray paint? Whoop! Love it!

Now, I have no clue how this will hold up. Even though the can says you can use it outdoors, you never know�but even if they last till next summer, I�m totally happy with that!

It took about an hour to finish, so yet again, the investment was in my time. And one hour to save $100 works for me!

I think they look SO much better, yes?

Check out that clean glass! You can actually see the light bulb now -- I swear, it�s the little stuff that makes me so happy. :)

Have you saved some cash with spray paint lately? Spill it!

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

Thank you to my sponsor!:

Our Sanford and Son deck

Well�it�s time to show you the before and after pictures of our deck clean up! As you know, I like to show you the good and the bad around here. And this one was BAD.

After reading this, you will either be highly motivated�or just highly sleepy. ;)

I showed you how we upgraded our deck just a bit last year by adding some new furniture and a faux pergola to the seating area. We LOVED it:

I get a lot of questions about that pergola -- we got it from Menards. I especially love that it opens and closes � so during the day it keeps temps much cooler underneath, and at night we can open it up to see the stars.

But this summer the deck kind of went downhill�fast. It was so stinkin� H.O.T., we were just never outside. Our backyard gets full sun and it can get unbearable, even under the pergola.

I�m not what you would call an outdoors kind of girl anyway, so when you add the potential for sweat to that�well, I�m just not going outside. :)

Anyhoo, it kind of fell apart. So now I present to you�our crapified deck�

First up, our hot tub. We had this installed when we built the deck, and put it right by the back door. This is good for soaks in the winter, (proximity to the door), but not so good for as far as the beauty factor. It�s hard to make a hot tub pretty. :)

We hadn�t replaced the hot tub cover in five years, so it was disgusting. I mean�EWW. And, it was FULL of water � it took two people to lift one side of it because it was just soaked:

Let�s take a closer look, shall we?

Those little yellow things are great for propping up paint projects. And they had been out there since I painted our island doors seven weeks ago. I had pretty much just given up. :)

The table cover had been draped ever so beautifully over the railing since ohhhhh�.May?:

And the hose had been connected to the hot tub and spread out all over since the last time we drained it in ohhhhh�.March?:

Told you � pure AWESOMENESS!!!

:)

Earlier in the summer, we woke to a huge mess � the middle section of our glass table was in itty bitty teeny tiny pieces all over the deck:

We had planned on replacing the whole set, but the little Dave Ramsey voice in our heads told us to wait.

So wait we did�and we had a busted table on the deck all summer. :)

I especially love the next two areas --

HOT. MESS.

Do you hear the Sanford and Son melody playing yet?:

No? Do ya now?:

Maybe now:

I told you our neighbors were really proud.

But it gets even better!

Remember the DIY window boxes I showed you last year?:

Awww�look how cute they looked! Adorable huh?

Well. Huh. About late winter, they started looking a little rough. By spring they started splitting a bit. Just a tad.

By summer, they were full out disaster:

The shutter wasn�t lookin� so hot either.

Because it was as hot as the surface of the sun out there all summer, I left them�hanging. :)

Oh, and all three boxes fell apart. As you can see in this picture with the �new� outdoor rug from Home Depot that we left rolled up all summer:

Neighbors = loved us.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I used the help of my sis to clean up some of the out of control spots in our house, and this certainly fell under the �out of control� category.

It took us a few days to finish everything up, but it wasn�t hard. We just got rid of almost everything. ;)

The first day, we took about five trips to Goodwill, loading up the table, chairs and matching lounge. The whole set was in bad shape � missing glass, paint chipping off the chairs. And I had already repainted them all once a couple of years ago.

We decided since we�ll be DEBT FREE next summer, we�ll save up for a new set. YES.

Sis and I also took a trip out to the hot tub place to get a new cover:

Oh my goodness � SO much better! You cannot tell how bad the old one was in the pictures, but it was so nasty!

The table cover draped over the railing was FULL of wasps nests. We used a whole can of wasp spray while out there that day because they were everywhere. Because we weren�t keeping the table anyway, the cover was gone too!

After we built the deck years ago, we realized we never created access to the hot tub drain. We had a friend come out and cut the boards so we could access it:

Because I had installed hinges that were way too small and were not meant to be outdoors, they were falling apart and it had become a major safety issue.

True Value to the rescue! I picked out some heavy duty hinges that will hold up to the elements:

I know they�re not pretty, but they are necessary. Function over form and all that.

And oh yeah�this was my selection of hinges and screws at my True Value:

Fantastic!! I am like a kid in a candy store in this place! :)

My favorite part of the small town feel of this True Value is that you can buy individual screws � just as many as you need. They bag them up in the little paper bag � love it!! If you ever went to the hardware store with your Dad when you were little like me, this place would SO bring you back. ;)

Next, I took the beautiful window boxes down, and braced myself for the holes in the siding. UGH.

I do plan on installing new boxes at some point, but in the meantime I didn�t want the holes to be open to the weather, so I picked up some of this fun stuff as well:

I just sprayed it in the holes. A few things to watch for with this stuff � it GROWS. I know, DUH. But it grows a lot. You need very little. And it dries way darker than it looks. And finally -- it�s a one time use can, which I didn�t realize. It seals itself up pretty fast, so know exactly what you want to use it on before you start!

It did the job, but it made a mess! Some elbow grease and a razor takes it off, but I�ll finish that up in the spring:

I gotta have something to do out there next spring, right? ;)

I cleaned up the pergola area, tossed the dead flowers and packed away some of the items in the garage for the winter. We�ll put all of the furniture away in the next month or so.

I finally laid out the new outdoor rug � and after being rolled up in the sun for five months, it was bleached by the sun on just the edge:

I can�t let go of the Sanford and Son look completely. ;)

We had lighting installed on our deck steps years ago, and the bulbs have been burnt out for probably eight months now:

Each one only takes one bulb, so I picked up a few packs of the little halogen bulbs from True Value as well:

You want to make sure not to touch these with your fingers or hands when you install them � the oils from your hands cause them to burn out faster. I always use a paper towel or tissue to plug them in.

Now the deck is so empty�but I actually like it for now!:

It�s a breath of fresh air. I know by spring I�ll be itching to put a table and chairs back out, but it feels SO GOOD to have it decrapified!!

I feel like I�m ready to hibernate for the winter. ;)

There are still a few things we need to address though � one is the stain:

When you use treated wood � WAIT to stain it, for at least a few months. Our construction guy told us six months�after we stained it.

That was a great day. :)

If you do it too soon, it won�t stick. It is such a mess, and we�ve done it twice now. Next spring, we plan to use a power sprayer to really get the old stuff off, then do a couple of coats of stain again.

We still have to get the nasty old hot tub cover hauled to the dump:

Sis and I had to cut slits to get the water out of it! It was SO CRAZY HEAVY.

And the basketball goal has been moved down to the lawn:

Complete with random landscaping bricks to make it steady. Steady on the dead grass. Dead grass from the blazing hot summer.

Awwww yeah�.we still got some bah ba ba duh, bah ba ba ba ba ba dum in us baby! I know, you are so jealous of our awesomeness!

And now that song is in your head �buwahahaha!!

So that�s project one of the three we tackled � the garage is pretty much done and our closet was done, then it wasn�t, then it was, now it isn�t again.

I cannot keep it clean to save my life.

But I will show you! :)

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*