After withstanding 3 years of brutal weather conditions, my poor wood patio furniture, which REALLY was once beautiful, looked more like something you'd throw away. I happened upon a $5.00 gallon mistint of deck stain in a beautiful chocolate brown color, and decided it was worth a shot. I sanded, then stained, and here's the result:
In the interim, my small contribution to MY craft room was to scrape off the dreaded popcorn ceiling. After that was done, DB removed the existing florescent lights and up went the sheet rock. Before he covered the beam, he got out his woodburner and carved a little message for me:
C'mon, everybody........... Awwwwwww.......... How sweeeeeeeet! I don't know who would ever want to de-construct this fantastic room once it's finished, but what a nice message they will get to see!
After deconstruction, DB built a partial wall so that a door could be added. His mother just happened to have an exterior door "lying around" that she had replaced recently, so we snatched it up and saved some money! DB also put all new wiring, with extra outlets for plugging in crafting tools, and dual light/fan switches. I suppose his experience from building his own house from the ground up was good practice for all he's able to do by himself, today.
I needed a way to look outside, right? Well, DB does it again! He added a window so I could have light, and a place to hook up an A/C when it gets really hot. Actually, the garage stays pretty cool most of the time, so I don't think I'll be needing the A/C much. With the additional insulation, I think I'll stay fairly comfy.
A 7-up bottle, circa 1983, was found hidden behind the old crappy paneling that DB promptly removed, thanks to my protests. So, rather than toss it, we decided to add to it our collected bottles from this renovation project. DB has been enjoying Tona beer as of late, and my son has been enjoying his Japanese fruity sodas (inside the bottle neck is a marble.... don't ask me what it's for or what it does; probably just a gimmick to get parents to shell out $2.77 for a soda). So, we placed it back where it was found, and sheetrocked over it.
What to do with wasted garage space? Turn it into a craft room! I love to craft, paint, scrapbook, and do photo editing. In the old house, I piled everything up all over the place because I didn't have a dedicated space for crafting. Before buying this house, we looked at a home that had a room in the garage where the owner would tinker with Hamm radios. I thought that would be a perfect craft room for me, but the price of the house was a bit steep for us. When we found this home and saw the makeshift benches and the partially closed-off 20'x7' area, we knew this had potential for being a great craft room! I could do a LOT more with 20 feet of continuous counter space, and the storage possibilities were fantastic. I'll be able to spread out and even leave works in progress out to finish later. And my DB would have the joy of walking into a clutter-free home every evening! Here he is, hard at work on the demo process:
Here is our new house, in a more wooded and quiet area..... or so we thought! This photo was taken in the winter, when we first saw it. It had a lake view and lots of natural light. Things sure are different in the summer.... the trees fill with leaves and blot out most of the light and lake view, but the upside is that it blocks the heat, too..... it's been nice payinglow utility bills during the summer! We finally got it after a very competitive bidding war. Our first night was just like camping.... We could hear the night insects as loudly as if we were sleeping outdoors! That took some getting used to. At night, our old neighborhood was very still and quiet. We have big plans, though, and look forward to making this home the shiny gem we know it can become.
