A Shady Project

I think I might have mentioned at some point that the rental house has no backyard privacy. This is what the backdoor opens up to:

Having been a country girl for the past eight years, I could not handle the lack of privacy. So after a long and unsuccessful search for the perfect shades that I had in my head, I decided to make shades myself, my way (which does not involve sewing)

Fabric:

Adhesives (I ended up using LOTS more of the Heat n Bond):

Tension rods to hang up the shades - we can't drill on the porch structure, so we had to get creative:

I measured and cut the fabric and then glued the side seams with the invisible stitch:

Then folded it one more time and ironed it on using the seam tape:

Then did the same for the top and the bottom and glued it using the seam tape:

Leaving enough space for the tension rods to fit through:

The ends of the top and bottom hems were coming undone before the shades were even up. So I sewed it by hand to secure the edge of the seam:

Here are the before and after!

Originally all the sides were going to be covered - but it might be a little overkill... Did I do this all on my own, you might ask? Well, no! I had helpers!

And there you have it! My first official "crafty" project!

Last Week's Project

Last week's project was:

That's right, cleaning the fence - all 350ft. (give or take a few).

Note that the picture above has not been enhanced at all. It is shown with all of it's true colors. Quite amazing, I'd say.

Clean House

Today our poor house got a good cleaning. Both inside and out. Inside involved the usual washing, vacuuming, and dusting but for some reason this week there was an overwhelming amount of dog hair everywhere. I am quite thankful for my super Dyson vacuum cleaner (highly recommended to all who have dogs, or allergies, or just want to invest on a super awesome, powerful vacuum).

While I was inside doing all that, Norm was outside cleaning the porch railing... the wrap.around.porch railing. 

Step 1: Spray wood with diluted bleach

Step 2: Scrub with brush

Step 3: Rinse

Step 4: Repeat until completed

For obvious reasons, the dogs were barricaded in the back yard. Although they hung out by the barricade so they could watch Norm work. Here's Pellet hanging out:

Then there is Cali. She can't do normal things, always has to be the obnoxious one:

Here is a "before", "during" and "after" the cleaning. Amazing! 

Our railing is super white and shiny now. It's borderline painful to the eyes...

Picture Time!

The time has finally come when our house is [almost] back to normal. Here are lots of pictures of "before" (sometimes "during") and "after" of the project. Enjoy!

Before...
(disclaimer - the liquor is on the table because the liquor cabinet was in the process of being moved out to the garage)

During...

More During...
(this process took about 3 days of work)

After!

Before...

After!

Before...

During...

After!

Before...

After!

Before...

After!

Before...

After!

Before...

After!
(please excuse the model)

The Floor

Norm couldn't have put it better:


This is why we find ourselves living like this:

Pellet and Cali playing on the bare floor - before the went off to the pet resort


Cooking pancakes in the laundry room


Living room with dust in the air - side effect of the kitchen floor removal process


Here's the living room again after all the dust settled. Yes, that's the fridge in the back left and the stove on front right... The couches are covered for obvious reasons.

Painting

Our poor house has been due for a painting for quite some time... we haven't gone picking new colors or anything, we're basically repainting with a better quality (and washable) type of paint.

Day #1 - yesterday (Saturday morning, before Norm's work) was day #1 - we primed our bathroom and finished all the prep-work around the kitchen, hallway, etc.

Here's Norm ecstatic to go to work after priming the bathroom:


Yes - Cali managed to get herself up underneath the ladder (several times actually):


Day #2 - today we primed the hallway, and put the first coat of khaki in the kitchen and hallway as well as the first and last coat in the entry way. Enjoy videos and pictures of today!

We got creative and found a way to limit the "cage time" for Pellet and Cali, so we moved Pellet's cage to block the hallway while we painted the hallway.


This picture is redundant but couldn't go without posting it, check out Cali's tongue... she is insane.


This was the toughest part... our arms started to go numb...


Here are two videos of today, they show the progress!