DIY Projects and Other Stuff

There's a whole lotta projects going on around the Deaton homestead. What is it about getting tax money back that inspires you to spend it instantly??? I'm a DIY kind of girl. I especially love painting projects. Painting transforms things. Here are some of our current projects:

PROJECT ONE:
We recently "renovated" the boys bedroom but absolutely NO PART of me wanted to paint. We got them metal bunk beds about a year ago and have had miss-matched furniture and comforters in their room. I was more than ready for a room makeover this spring. I found them matching comforters at Wal-Mart and decided to pull two different shades of gray out for paint color. Isaac's artwork displayed for your viewing pleasure. He will happily decorate any wall and print out full color pages from your computer printer for FREE, Any takers???

Matt volunteered for the paint job and made the walls look fabulously gray--really gray is not my color but it looks great with the black/silver metal bunks. I also wanted to do something different with their clothing storage. I wanted something multi-functional and knew if I bought a matching piece of furniture, it would be co$tly and non useful in the future. I opted for a garage storage unit and plastic bins.

PROJECTS TWO, THREE and FOUR:

Crackle spray painting kitchen/bathroom knobs, light fixtures and flower pots. Who knew you could spray paint brass? No offense to you brass lovers out there, but I cannot stand it. It's amazing how a can of $6 rustoleum can makeover brass. I had almost a whole can leftover and decided to repaint my flower pots.

PROJECT FIVE:
Oh brother, Karson is now getting even harder homework. I'm not trying to complain because I applaud the school in their efforts in helping children work at their academic level; however, the last thing Karson feels like doing when she gets home (from an 8 hour work day) is homework. I can't say that I blame her. I mean, after all, she is 7. On top of the new homework which, by the way, consists of choosing five different tasks along with spelling work and reading are things such as: make up a new story with the same characters, write two (+ or -) word problems and showing answers with pictures and a number sentence, write addition facts for 18 and 19, and so and so forth, she has a project due in May. The project asks the kids to pick something living or non-living and tell five facts about it on a poster, in a diorama or triorama. Each child has to pick something different. I'm thinking Karson might pick something simple like a flower, fruit, or cat/dog. She picked AFRICAN ELEPHANT.

At first she wanted to do a diorama, but I convinced her to do a poster since we don't own an AFRICAN ELEPHANT. I love her creativity.

PROJECT SIX:
I couldn't help but blog about our brand new carpet again.

I love it and cannot wait to recover the kids room this fall. Why the fall, you ask? I feel like it would be a good time with two kids in school and we can save up some money due to this project...

PROJECT SEVEN:
I saved the best project for last. We're putting a cover over our back patio. The sun blazes down in our backyard which a sun LOVER like me adores, but I don't like it for the kids and spending time outdoors in the summer. Our patio furniture and grill have suffered from the elements and need to be replaced. I didn't want to fork out the money to replace them though knowing that they would be ruined. Granted, we've had our current set (and grill) now for 10 years, but I want something nice and pretty.

My parents hired a general contractor Grayson Young to cover their back porch a few years back and highly recommended him. I called about three weeks ago, got plans drawn up, contract signed and deposit paid--and viola...the project began on Monday.

I made the mistake and told Miles that we were getting a porch swing. He has asked every single day if the swing is finished yet??? We are all very excited about our mini-addition. Hopefully, everyone can come out for a barbeque when it's complete!!!