Finishing a Goodwill Shelf

A looong while back, when I got my Pottery Barn shelves from Goodwill, I also got another shelf for the daybed room. I actually almost didn't get it because it was $10, but decided that since I didn't have to sand off any of the old paint (it came unfinished), and it had a few curves that I liked, I'd splurge.

I've gone through my pictures to try to find one that I took of this shelf before I did anything to it, and I can't. I purchased these shelves back in April or May, and because I have about 10 projects going on at any one time, it's sometimes hard to figure out which folder I put the pictures in on projects that take awhile. Sorry!

My T. Mom gave me a gallon of green paint when I was over there last, so I first painted this shelf with that (I do love me some free paint!!).

Of course that was entirely too boring to just leave it at that, so I spray painted my heirloom white over top of the green, and then sanded it down with my 100 grit sand paper to get the green to show back through.

While that was more interesting than just the flat color, and I was really loving the look of the characters of the wood showing through, it still didn't have the wow factor that I was going for.

To finish the shelf off and give it that extra wow factor, I dry brushed on the same turquoise paint I've used for my sewing machine cabinet and my other shelves, and then hung it in its new home.

Ahhh...SO much more interesting!!

I really love all of the colors in the shelf because it really does a great job at pulling in quite a few of the different bright and fun colors in that room.

I don't love the decor on the shelf yet, but it's what I had lying around, so it's what gets put up for now!

All I'm missing in this room is window covers, a rug, and building a corner table...and maybe a mirror.  Hmmm...I'm sure I can come up with something else, but I really love the way it's all coming together.

And just as a reminder of where this all started back in May, here's the before...

What a difference 5 months makes, huh?!  (To see each step I did in detail, see the following links : painting the floor, building the left daybed, building the right daybed, finishing old Pottery Barn Shelves, Re-doing a Sewing Machine Cabinet, Making the Yellow Pillows, and Making the Florally Pillows).

I won't be posting tomorrow, so I hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Blog Swap Today!!

Hey guys!! I'm super excited to be doing my first ever blog swap today with Lori from Paisley Passions. She's got such a fun and inspiration blog...I'll let her fill you in on the deets of it!

HELLO all of you Kara's Korner blog readers out there! I am thrilled to be guest posting with Kara on her super cute blog today!  I LOVE all of the inspiration she has on her blog, don't you???

My name is Lori, and my blog is called Paisley Passions.

I am a mother of five (four of which are teenagers!  YIKES!), wife, full-time college student, and a lover of all things "crafty".  I LOVE to create things!  My Paisley Passions blog is a place where I have an outlet for when my creative mojo starts flowing ;)

I have been out and about in blogland for a couple of years now, but I just started my Paisley Passions craft blog the first week of July 2010. It is so fun to have a place to share all of my creative projects and I love making new friends through the world of blogging :)  So, I hope that YOU will come on by and visit me.


On my blog you will find easy Home Decor projects like this:

Vanity Before and After

A few Fun Projects like this:

From Picture Frame to Laptray

And even some stuff like this:

Party Time Fun!

Or some holiday decor like this:

Trick or Treat Candy Chest

If you are ever looking for a Fun Blog Hop or a Linky Party to join in, I also have a Linky Love Library and a Blog Hop Library on my blog, so that the parties out in blogland are easy for people to find and join in the fun! They are free to use (and if you host one, come by and link it up!), all I ask is that if you find one that is new to you, that you let the host/hostess know you found them from my blog. As simple as that! :)

On Thursdays I host my own linky party called Thrilling Thursday.  It is a fun party where you can link up YOUR creations, or just come over and check out the creations of the other talented people out in blogland.  It is a great way to spark your creativity!





Thanks, Kara, for letting me guest post today!!!  I hope that all of you Kara's Korner readers will pop on over to Paisley Passions and say hi!  I would love to meet you!  :)

Fun ideas, right?!  Thanks Lori for blog swapping with me!


Happy Tuesday everyone!

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Pool Deck : Finally *almost* Finished!!!

I was so excited to come home from California to find the pool paver guys gone, and an awesome looking pool deck!!  I was actually more excited to see Chris and Kodi first, but the pool deck came second (or is it third??).

The reason why I write that it's *almost* finished is because we're still working on a few finalizing touches.  Because the pavers are set in with sand, we're still working on getting all of the sand to go down between the pavers.  Chris has rinsed off the deck a few times, so a few more good sweeps and maybe one final rinse should get the job done.  We're also going to re-screen the entire pool deck area, so we're busy getting quotes for the upper portion, and seeing how much they'd charge to do the lower half as well.  While we're big DIY'ers, the though of either climbing up the screen enclosure to balance on the screen beams or investing in scaffolding to climb across the pool just seems...well, a bit unsafe instead of just adventurous.

Enough with the words already, I know!  Here are some before and after's of the pool deck project that we started waaay back in July.

Before : Outdoor Kitchen Area : Taken July 2010

After

We still need to come up with a good design for the outdoor kitchen area, but the awful laminate counters being gone with the fresh coat of paint on both the ceiling and the wall, along with our beautiful new pavers is already such an improvement!

The side of the house where the pool equipment is actually went through multiple steps of a makeover from the very beginning.  This before picture was taken in April of 2010, before we dug up and added the rock garden.

This area went from the above to the image below...a much needed improvement, but the pink pool deck was a definite damper.

And here's where that area looks like today:

Here's a before of the entire exterior house area here:

After : Newly painted lights, house, trim, and pavers!

Before : View from kitchen area

After :

I'll end on a few extra pictures of just the pool deck.  It's amazing the difference it makes out there.  We couldn't be happier with our contractor, paver color choice, and the overall new pool deck in general.  Good riddance pretty in pink!!!

It's hard to get a picture without Kodi in it.  He's my shadow.  Hey...at least he's cute!!

We're so impressed and amazed at the quality of the coping work the guy did, so I'll end on a picture of that.

Hope you guys enjoyed all of the pictures!

Thanks to all of you who wished me well and congratulated me on my run.  The last 5 months have been hard both physically, mentally, and emotionally, but raising funds for such an important cause was so well worth it.  If you haven't heard of Team in Training, I really encourage you to check out your local chapter. Your life will be more fulfilled because of it ... I promise!  To read more about my effort, click here.

Happy Monday!

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Pool Deck Done (Minus Final Clean-up/Touch-up):  Day 5

Sorry for the delay in getting this up for everyone (including my fabulous wife) to see.  I see Kara told you that I have a somewhat fear of writing.  While that maybe true sometimes, I think Kara told you that just so I would post.  I don’t know if that played on my slightly competitive side of me or if was just straight reverse psychology but she has gotten me motivated to post to keep you up to date on our progress.

As you know, Kara is out in San Francisco running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon.    She has overcome several injuries over the past few months, so we are just hoping for a successful finish. Wait ....Wait...call coming in from Kara........wahoo.........completion in 2 hours 10 minutes!!!!  Way to go babe, I am so proud of you!  Those hills are crazy.  I can’t wait to hear all the details about your run.

On to the paver project…  We (well I) took off all the 1x2’s that secure the bottom of the post and the screen so the pavers could extend all the way to edge of the deck.  Unfortunately, for the paver guys it required them to thin set all the pavers on the outside edges of the deck.  This was the only way we could be 100% rid of the pink deck, so I would not have it any other way.    I also think it will help secure the screen posts as well when we get it all done.  

Thin setting in all the exterior pavers took two guys about half day on Friday to get them in.  Once complete the guys dumped masonry sand all over the deck.  Just when it was starting to look good they made it a complete mess again. Next, they used a broom and water to push the sand in between the pavers.  The best part of this is that if we ever crack a paver or stain one, then we can pull it and replace it.  All right, enough with the words.  Here is how it turned out. 

Here is picture of them pushing the sand between the pavers.

Here is another of the deck.  The color is very dark when the pavers are wet.  As you can see in some of the later pictures, as the deck dries the color really lightens up.

 Say goodbye to pink deck.

 Looks like need to re-install the pool equipment before Kara get's home...

They still have to come out and complete final clean-up on Monday which includes filling any empty holes with sand.  Yes Kodi, clean-up means they will clean the pool too!  He really misses it as you can see! 

We have some more work to do after Monday, but it really starting to look good. 

Chris 

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Pool Deck Redo : Day 4

These are the last pictures you'll get to see of the pool deck until well after it's completely finished.  So sad, I know.  I'm leaving this morning for San Francisco for my half marathon race, so I don't even get to see the final product until I get back.  That is, unless my wonderful husband decides he likes to blog and takes over this for a day.  I think writing intimidates him though, so I wouldn't hold your breath!

Hope these hold you over in the meantime!

So dusty and dirty, but it's really starting to come together!

I asked Kodi what he thought of it.  Today's the first day we've let him out here since Monday.  He wants to know what the heck we did to his swimming pool.  He absolutely does not approve of the big blue tarp there.  Sigh...kids!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a great week next week!  I'll be back the week after!

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Pool Deck Redo : Day 3

Coping...Check!!!  These guys have been out here from sunup till sundown working on getting the coping on the pool deck finished and good looking.  We have a ton of cuts around the spa and all of the angles of the pool, so it took an entire day longer than initially projected.  And those guys weren't slacking either!

Here's what the pool deck looks like as of 7 this morning...

Our spa deck from far away...this, by far, took the most work.

Check out the cuts and lines and details of the coping in this picture.  

This picture gives you an idea of what the finished project will look like.  We really like the look of the pavers with the coping!

And here's one shot of the entire pool deck.  They came in and installed the drain last night too, so today is a little bit more drain work, and then pavers!!  Woo Hoo!!  It always looks more like a disaster than good to start off with, but I see where it's going, and I like it!

Happy Thursday!

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Pool Deck Redo : Day 1

Yesterday morning at 8 a.m. sharp, the pool paver guy arrived. The first guy is a one man show that does all of the coping around the pool. He had this really cool big circular saw looking thing and walked around our pool with it to get the cap tiles off.

As soon as he stopped for a few minutes, we quickly took out Kodi's doggie door.  I wasn't worried about Kodi going out there while the guy was running that big machine, but the back pool deck is A MESS!!  Kodi does not approve of no doggie door either, just FYI.  He promptly woke me up at 5 a.m. by barking at me and then going and laying by where his doggie door normally is.

Back to the demo...after the guy had walked around to loosen up all of the cap tiles, he put a floating piece of Styrofoam looking thing in the pool and actually pulled off the cap tiles.

We're actually redoing the screen after they're done with the pool...our plan is to do the lower half ourselves.  So ignore the busted out screen in places.  We're also taking up the bottom poles of the screen (that lay on the pool deck) and having them paver all the way to the end of the deck, and then we'll re-install the beams on top of the new pavers for a more finished look.  It'll all work out in the end...trust me!

After all of the old cap tiles were removed, the guy cut and laid the some of the new coping.

  We have a lot of angles in our pool, especially in our spa area, so the coping guy thinks he's going to take till the end of Wednesday at least to get his stuff done.  Chris and I are ... well, to be quite honest, very anal about things being done the right way, and this guy was perfect for us.  He had this huge level that he used every time he added another piece of coping...for the top, and the front.

Progress is being made!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  Stay tuned to see what it all looks like at the end of Day 2!

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