Monday, June 17, 2013

porch and garden makeover


These first two pictures of my front porch seem to be the post popular pictures on my blog.
They have been pinned and repinned hundreds of times.
I'm so surprised by that. 
It seems people like the bench and window table.

I do too.  However, the material covering the bench gets really dirty
and a pane in the window table cracked so it's now missing a pane.
We'll get that replaced but for now it's been moved safely to the garage.
That means I get to redecorate the porch! 



So, I needed to recover the bench.
I decided to go with a bright oil cloth that's easy to clean
and simple red and white everywhere else.
The little pop up red camping tables are filling in
while the window table takes some time off.

This fabric pattern is different for me but I like it.
It's a bit brighter in person and really perks up the place.


We also gave the front yard a lift.
We dug up most of the plants in the garden and started over.

The plants are already starting to fill in and soon
the garden will be full of red and white color.

I love my little front porch and garden.


Lantana in the bucket.  Lantana is the best plant for the
hot Texas summer heat coming up.
A little water occasionally and sun and they thrive.

We sit on the front porch when it's cool
and watch the birds at the feeders.

My husband's attempt at following a Pinterest idea.
See his little water feature?  It's like a miniature birdbath.




The new bright bench fabric goes well with the new door mat.
It's a nice welcome home.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

solar lights

My husband ran an errand last Saturday morning and 
when he came home, he had these solar lights for the backyard.
We've never discussed solar lights or any other lights for that matter.
I had no idea he thought we needed these.
We have a pretty bright porch light about where I'm standing 
to take the picture that lights up the backyard.
So, I asked my husband, "Why do you think we need these?"
His reply?  "We don't.  The dogs do."

Of course they do.  
What?
Yes, these lights are for the dogs.
Sometimes he has to let them out in the middle of the night.
He doesn't want to turn on the bright porch light
(for reasons that escape me) 
but he does want them to have a little bit of light
so they can see when they take care of business.
Whatever.

They do look kind of nice.

They only line this one fence.

I guess this will be the the main spot
where the pups take care of business...
which is by the back door...
not on the other side of the yard that we don't use much...
which means all of the dogs' business will be
right by the back door...
which means we'll have to watch our step off the back porch...
and we'll have an abundance of smell...
if he doesn't remove the dogs' business regularly...
because two of these dogs are big labs....
who poop logs...
a lot.

You may have noticed that I don't have a picture
of what they look like when they're on at night.
They give off a nice little glow.
Not actual light, just a little glow.
Not really any usable light to actually see anything by
but more of ambience...a glow
because every average backyard 
in which no entertaining takes place needs that.

So, if you read the last post before this one,
you'll know that we brightened up our main downstairs bath 
with a little makeover
and apparently we brightened up the dog's main bathroom
with a little makeover.
Awesome.
(yep, with a little sarcastic tone)

Sunday, June 2, 2013

on the bright side...

 The main bathroom downstairs used to be my son's bathroom as well as the main bathroom guests used.  It was decorated with a darker, more masculine theme with items special to my son.

We had a HUGE black "G" on the wall.

We had painted the cabinets black and changed the toilet seat to black.
These were necessary changes if I had any hope of this bathroom at least 
looking clean for more than a few minutes.

The plaid patchwork shower curtain matched his bed quilt.

My son's artwork hung on the wall.

The vintage black medicine cabinet was on the opposite wall.

My son moved to a bedroom upstairs a couple of years ago and
he has a bathroom up there all to himself (which is scary).
So, one of the things on my 2013 "to do" list was to give this
bathroom a little fresh makeover. 
We managed to brighten it up for a whopping 60 bucks. 

Here we go!  It's so much brighter and seems so fresh.
The shower curtain is from Ikea for about $14.

We got this shelf from our neighbor's garage sale for I think $15.
We painted it grey.

The towels are from Ikea too.  
Nothing says fresh and clean like white towels.
We already had everything else.

The little pot with our family's number 3
was a gift from a neighbor.


We kept the vintage black cabinet.

The grey bath mat and super cool new cream trash can
are from Ikea.  I think we paid about $35 for them plus the towels
and it was all on sale!



We kept the G and the black cabinets.

One day and a few bucks
really brightened this space up.
I think I hung the shower curtain a little high though.
Imagine it a few inches lower and we'll call this room done.

Related Posts with Thumbnails