You know the saying, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure! I have found/purchased 3 old crates that I will be fixing up to turn into shelves, stay tuned for the update on that one. I found one in my grandma’s basement and the other 2 at a flea market, then I saw my idea for sale at Pottery Barn for $80/ea … so my idea is way more cost effective 
This weekend was the first weekend where Alec and I didn’t have to run in 10 different directions and we decided to be super productive! Yesterday, we woke up at the crack of noon (we’re real go-getters) and Alec mowed the lawn & was off to Home Depot to buy paint for the fireplace. I decided to be ambitious and re-organize the basement while he was gone. Alec came home to see his wife stuck in the middle of a huge mess, but I kept on going until all of the storage was allocated to the back “workshop”, all of the records were up off the floor and the kitty bathroom was moved into a better space. Success!
Two weeks ago, I had started the fireplace facelift by spray painting the gold-plated insert black – and Alec had followed up last week with a second coat. So it looked like this:
Although a HUGE improvement, it just made us want to proceed with the next step right away. Alec purchased paint at Home Depot, then sanded and painted the brick before beginning to paint. Here are some during shots:
The AFTER shot makes me so happy and I hope you agree that this was the right choice:
The mantel now sticks out like a sore thumb, so suggestions are welcome – but my rough blueprint in my head is leaning towards building out a larger, wider, grander mantel from the existing and either staining it (depending on the wood) dark or painting it… white? black? ideas? Maybe next weekend…
In other news, a kind old friend of mine, who owns a landscaping company, generously offered his time, energy and equipment to helping us attack our mess of yards. It took all day today (from 8:30 am to 5 pm), 2 professionals and 3 helpers (Alec, Devon & I) but it is finally a clean slate for us to make decisions about and to maintain. It is a drastic difference from what it used to be and those of you with children will now trust to let them loose in our backyard to play safely. I’m too tired and sore to go take “after” pictures, but I will share tomorrow … unless I can’t move at all.
What a productive, home-owning weekend… I’m proud of us and SO happy with the results!!
Our heads are overflowing with ideas for improvements to our first home and trying to make it all work with a small budget.
