Summer Projects

Well, it's been a while and I thought I should update you on all the things we have been doing this summer. Family first. Since I have already posted on the weddings, and vacation and 4th of July, we won't go there again. The month of July has been pretty laid back. We have been to the pool, hung out with friends, gone to the Mall of Georgia free summer movies, celebrated MANY birthdays and I even ventured out and took the



girls to Lake Lanier Islands with the Heller clan! They were so brave and rode every single water ride! Payton was ONE inch above the cut-off for riding and kept having to get measured, but she did great!
The girls also had their first Build-a-Bear experience when they were invited to Anna and Sarah's 6th birthday. They had a blast making their own bears and stuffing them with love ;)

Emma finished her swim season and is now embarking on the sport of golf! (Super Cute pictures to follow!) At the end of year swim banquet she was one of 6 kids who won the spirit award! She was very surprised and excited. We are proud of our little swimmer!



We only have about 2 weeks until we return to the grind of work and school(... or school and school)
so of course I wanted to complete all my summer projects. My biggest project this summer was to completely make-over Emma's room. I am done! (almost) I refinished some furniture that had been given to us by Kelly, got her a new comforter, painted the walls and added now curtains. The curtains I got at Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance for $4. They weren't long enough and they were boring white so I added some flair! All in all though with the free furniture the whole project cost about $150. That includes all the supplies, paint and comforter. I thought it was pretty good! Here are the pics.
I still need to put up some decor and fix her border, but those won't take too much time. I'm excited it has come to the end!

I was also inspired by Thrifty Decor Chic (in so many ways) to do a few things extra. As seen in her post here I made a table to sit behind our couch. She did it for under $20, but I'm pretty sure I did it for under $15. I am so proud of this little table and it really was quite easy!


In the same weekend I hit up this garage sale in the neighborhood next to mine and found that it was put on by some real estate agents who were closing down on their model homes and selling all the decor inside for CHEAP! SCORE! I got this


(obviously I need to do some tough up work on the wall)
















and these

and this

and these


FOR ONLY $15! I was proud. So now my little couch table looks cute with some cheap decor on it!

I was also inspired by Thrifty Decor Chic to add some flair to my back deck. YOu can go see hers here, but I obviously didn't have as big a budget for new furniture. (plus I LOVE my old furniture which was a DEAL from kroger at the end of last summer). I added some lights around the railing and made some custom shutters for the back windows as well as painted the back door. I love my deck now. It has more personality. Eric also worked hard that weekend putting in some stairs. He isn't really done yet becasue we need to put some sod down, but have to wait for the right season. A helpful hint also given by TDC is to buy the clearance flowers. they are almost dead, but if you add water they come right back. With my luck at plants I figured they would be dead soon anyway so why spend a bunch. I got flowers for the back deack in 4 different pots for $8. YAY!

At a different garage sale at the beginning of the season I also scored on this old UGLY hutch for $10. The guy was glad to see it go, and it was ugly so I can see why. Eric wasn't happy to see it come! I painted it black chopped off the top hutch part and now it proudly sits in my foyer. I love it! (hoewever I will eventually add some stencilling or new knobs. We shall see!

Lastly, I was also inspired by Southern Hospitality and Thrifty Decor Chic to add some beadboard to my kitchen island. Go here to see Thrifty Decor Chic... but that looked a bit difficult for me. Then I saw this at Southern Hospitality! This is more up my aisle! I mean, it's textured wallpaper and look at hers! So I did it. I'm not too happy with the results yet so I didn't post pictures. We will see. I might go back to thrifty Decor Chic (obviously my decorating goddess) and do it the difficult way!