Ramblings of Renovating Part III: Front Porch

Time for the front porch. I fell in love with the potential of the front porch the moment I first walked into my house, but after several failed attempts at painting the floor without it chipping, I gave up. Now, I have a wonderful place to sit back and enjoy a book and a glass (or bottle) of wine with friends.

The only "before" picture I have is one of Dingo chasing a mouse out the door. But you can see, there was nothing spectacular going on.

We painted the natural wood slate walls and red brick, a sage green. On the floor we used garage floor epoxy in a color called cedar. The trim and natural wood ceiling were painted (12 times) a bright white. Note: When painting never before treated wood and covering water stains, you MUST use oil based paint. Second Note: Oil base paint is the messiest stuff on the planet.

Dingo added the blinds which really makes it feel secluded from the neighbors and I added many plants, my grandmothers old dry sink and her Queen Anne's Lace painting she bought while vactioning with my Grandfather in the Smokey Mountains.

I don't know why I like the glass chessboard so much, but when the light hits it during the day, it makes some incredible shadows on the wall. Dingo loves the fountain but I think we need to hit Goodwill to find something more "natural" versus "modern". Natalie, Dingo's cat has found a new watering hole.

We covered Dingo's ugly, old, orange chair with a comfy blanket and I added curtains made of Floursack Towels, screws, picture wire, and no-sew clips. I had held on to this super cool 1970's style orange light for years and it has finally found a purpose. And my new collection of cacti donated my MIL t0-be goes perfectly.

Ramblings of Renovating Part 2: Bedroom

Onto the bedroom! I got the bright idea of before and after pictures right when we were finishing up preparing the bedroom. So here is the bedroom as a nice blank canvas.

Not much to look at.

The finished product: MIL to-be once again helped repaint the room and bought the quilt set, IKEA bedside table lamps and painted my old endtables white. We found a way to fit a huge bed into a small room without overwhelming it.

FIL to-be added the mirror to the door to help make the room appear big. It worked!

Love my Harry Potter broom accent in case I need to get somewhere fast!

Ramblings of Renovating Part I: Bathroom

Well my friends, I am beginning to wrap up the major house renovations Dingo and I have undertaken the past few months. I am in love with the results and with a few tweaks here and there (with a little help from our registry) I think everything will be like a brand new home for newlyweds to enjoy. Even the garden coming along quite nicely. But first, I will share the newly renovated bathroom. It was so gross (the color) that I couldn't post the before pics because I just didn't take any. So here you have the result.

FIL to-be added a new light fixture, taking out some ugly outdated old ones and created a better fixture for curling irons and such.

My MIL to-be bought the IKEA extendable mirror and had the best idea of using brighter lights to take the struggle out of putting on my make up.

I used a frame found at Goodwill by MIL to-be and reframed a print of Chicago's Water Tower and the two of us painted the ceilings a sandy brown. I INSISTED the blue ceiling so that it would feel like I was sitting at the ocean while taking a bath. I love it.