No tears SHED here!

I have a love/hate relationship with this shed.  I am not 100% sure why the previous owners decided to place it pretty much smack dab in front of the patio.  When I'm relaxing by the fire pit, hanging in the hot tub or hosting dinner on the patio...I gaze out at the gorgeous waterfall of our pond.  As I turn my head slightly to the right...there it is...OUR SHED!  (That's the hate part!)

(Here's the love part...)  Do you know how much junk gardening and pond gear that this baby holds???  This shed protects all of our outdoor furniture during the winter.  It is a fun hide-and-go-seek spot for the kids.  And the roof is covered in sweetly scented wisteria in the summer that makes it look like a quaint little cottage.

With a sloppy paint job from before we moved in and window boxes falling off...I decided to use the sunshiney day to spiffy up the shed with some paint.

Here are the colors I used.

Shutters:  Krylon Spray Paint in Navy Blue
Shed:  Sherwin Williams Macadamia
Trim:  Sherwin Willams Bright White

I tried to work with the white trim and the tan background...just did some touching up!  I am happy with the glossy navy blue shutters.  I am excited to find some great outdoor artwork to hang on the door.  I am also on the hunt for some shorter-in-size window boxes.  Can't wait until the nightly temps in the 20's and 30's warm up so that flowers can be added!

Before:

Boring brown!  If you look closely, previous owners painted out of the lines!  Paint from shutters ALL OVER the shed.

I decided taping was NOT worth the time since I was painting the WHOLE ENTIRE shed!

Loving the navy blue shutters!

My helper!

Close up!

Crying out to be spruced up for sure!

Say goodbye to the heart window!

Progress...

The good news is that for the price of a couple of gallons of paint, our shed is looking brand new again.  Here is what we have left before she is all ready for her BIG final reveal pics...

• window boxes filled with colorful flowers
• molding to the upper window
• trim wisteria vines on roof
• outdoor artwork for side of shed (DIY style!)

Thank you mother nature for these past few gorgeous days filled with warm sunshine!  How refreshing it is to move outdoors and get some of our outside projects checked off of the list!  What have you been doing outside lately?  

Color Me Green

Spring is here!  (Or at least it is supposed to be!)  Everywhere I look (except out my freezing cold windows) I see signs of spring.  Whether it be in the form of a robin, daffodils beginning their climb or buds on the trees...spring is everywhere. 

While my wall paint colors seem to be some shade of greige (you know...walls are painted in either beige or grey).  I love adding color in the form of accents.   Our laundry room/mudroom/entrance that most people come into is painted in white and Sherwin Williams Whole Wheat.  Little bit boring.  Little bit too neutral.  Decided to punch it up a bit.  Spring is here, right?  I went with some green accents with green painted doors and couldn't be happier about the results.  It might not feel like spring outside yet...but at least it looks like spring inside!

Take a look at the transformation...

Remember that we started with this...

We are still waiting on a rug and then we will be ready to show the whole thing off!  Have you added any color to spring up your world lately?  

  

A Peak at Easter

I know I'm not the only one with spring fever...hoping that these photos bring some warmth and cheer! With the kids still making up days of school missed from Hurricane Sandy, we had a very abbreviated spring recess.  We began our days off with a visit to DC.  It was a quick trip so that we were home in time to celebrate Easter with our families.

Monogram 'Wreath'

With a couple of horrible inches of snow gifted to us over the weekend, I am looking forward to spring more than ever!  I am turning my attention this week to our front porch.  It has some evergreens still left over from Christmas and was giving our entryway some much needed color over these last few months of wintry weather.  A bright pop of a red berry wreath adorned our front door and happily greeted many who entered our home.  I was feeling a little bit in a wreath rut lately.  I wanted to shake things up a bit on the doorstep and wasn't exactly wanting to go traditional when it came to the front porch this spring.

I DIY'ed myself a 20" unfinished wooden monogram (like this one here) using some leftover Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old Ocre and a green satin ribbon.  I know this doesn't look like much, but at the end of the week, I am hoping to give those planters a little spring makeover and fill them with some bright pansy's.

What I am crushing on about the new 'wreath' is that it not seasonal!  I am also loving that the ribbon can be changed up or added to for a fresh new look!  I did hit it with a coat of urethane spray just in case we get some driving rain that sprays onto the porch.

What have you done lately to 'spring' up your home?  I see robins flitting around in our yard.  I see bulbs beginning their journey out of the frozen mulch.  Now if this snow could just melt!?!

Random Monday

I'm not going to lie...it's been way to long since my last post. I am excited about so many things...so get ready for this random post.

First off...I am typing this post with my thumbs on my phone. Not even a pretty edited picture to go with it! The reason for this is that our computer crashed about two weeks ago. The new and improved one is arriving late this week and I can't wait to get my hands on this new girl who doesn't freeze every time I try to download a picture or type a sentence on this blog!

My DIYing has really slowed a bit due to some job interviewing (had a 2 hour second interview in front of a panel last week) and also because of the fact that I found out I have pneumonia. Thanks to my sisters insistance, I finally went to the doctor...which was hard because going to the doctor means admitting that I'm sick. And we all know that mommies have NO time to be sick.  The funny thing about pneumonia is that once the antibiotic kicked in and I could breathe again, I thought I could get up and so something...but doing one little house chore lands me on the couch exhausted for hours! So things are getting done at a snails pace over here...just so you know!

But there is an upside to all of this lying around. And that is lots of DIY network television! Yup my friends, I am sick, delirious  and dreaming of some pretty crazy amazing projects around here.

So please forgive my absence for a little longer...in the meantime know that some pretty fantastic home projects are heading your way in the very near future!

Happy Almost Spring��

Spray Painted Vent Covers

Happy Last Monday of the Month!  Hope everyone had a fun-filled weekend.  It remains very cold here in Bucks County.  And while I have been dreaming of warm weather, planning Easter dinner and deciding which flowers to eventually be put in our flower boxes, I have been using these chilly days to get some inside stuff completed.

I know I haven't put together a reveal post of our refinished hardwood floors.  While I work on finally getting that out to you, I thought I would share with you a little spray painting I did last week that has made a BIG impact.

Our vent covers were beyond sad:(  Our fancy 'new' floors really did make them look even worse than they did before.  Dirt, rust, chipping paint were just some reasons I wanted to purchase some pretty new covers in an oil-rubbed-bronze finish. But at nearly $30 a pop, it was going to cost us almost $250 for the upgrade.  Instead, I grabbed for a bottle of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint and got to work transforming the vent covers.

What easy and affordable updates have you been making lately?  Even though it is still February, I have an awful case of the winter blahs and spray paint making things pretty just so happens to help:)

Black is Back

Black is back.  And I think we all know that even though it was temporarily replaced with chocolate brown for a bit...it never really went out!  As I think about each room in our home, I cannot think of one space that does not have a little bit of black in it.  For me, black is dramatic.  And it is for this reason that I recently painted out our front and back doors in a deep, dark, charcoal.  I know I am certainly not the first one in blogland to paint my doors...but I am glad that I finally did!

Before and After:

 This quick little project makes a BIG difference in our entryway.  Looking forward to updating the color of the door to our mudroom shortly.  I am thinking green or violet!  Today I will be spray painting away...  Love making quick little changes around the house.  What have you done lately that took you no time at all?  xo