Silence Equals Productivity

Wow, it's been quiet around here, and I apologize for not giving any warning. My husband had the past week off on vacation and I didn't find out until 2 days in advance.... because that's just how we roll, lol!

During that week we got a lot done. I will be sharing pictures soon but just wanted to post a quick update. Right before my husband's week off, I got the front door painted, some pots painted yellow and the front garden cleaned up, it looks so much better.

After that, we tore out a 616 square foot unused garden which was full of weeds. This garden took up a good chunk of our backyard but luckily it was at the very back. It was full of random plants and vegetables, we had no idea what anything was and everything was taken over by the weeds. Needless to say, we had to rent a rototiller to get everything out of the garden. My husband's boss lent us his trailer so we could rent the rototiller. Now we're just waiting for the grass seed to grow!

One of the best things about having the trailer here is that we took 3 loads to the dump! You have no idea how good it feels to be rid of so much stuff that was just stealing space in our shed and yard! We had old roofing materials that we'd thought we'd use and never did, so that all went.

The biggest thing we did during the past 10 days though was building a deck! It wasn't really even planned, but the old one wasn't usable and was very narrow. My husband and I are both sunburned even though we used sunscreen, we were just constantly outside and it's hard to keep up with reapplying sunscreen in the middle of a project.

Unfortunately we had to lose some trees and a large boxwood in order to clean up the big garden and to also put in a deck, but I am ok with that. We did manage to transplant our other boxwood.

So, there you go, that's where I've been. It's been full steam ahead for the past two weeks and now I just have to take some more pictures, upload and edit them and share with you all!

Oh, and we both also celebrated our birthdays the weekend before last and mother's day as well, talk about hectic!

Have you tackled any long-planned projects lately?

DIY Chalkboard Table

diy chalkboard table

A few months ago, I purchased this little table from Kijiji. For $15 I bought this table and a little side table from the buyer and they delivered it for free. I planned to use this table in my living room for my son to play on, but it sat in our spare room for a few months while I decided how I wanted to paint it.

Here's how it looked before. It's solid wood but seems someone painted over it with a watery dark brown paint.

I came across a post while reading IHeart Organizing where Jen posted about a table she painted with chalkboard paint. I thought her table was so cute and perfect for my space, so I decide to take that route for my son's new play table.

The chalkboard paint at the store was $25, so I decided to make my own using Kammy's Chalkboard paint recipe, which is 2 tablespoons of Plaster of Paris to 1 cup of flat black paint. I can't wait to use it again, I have lots of product left to make more!

I mixed up a bunch of colours that I had on hand to create the light olive green colour I used on the base of the table.

I'll post more pictures of it in the actual playroom, where it now resides after months of being in the living room. I just have to set up that area of the playroom first.

Have you made your own chalkboard paint? What did you paint with it?

Have a great day!!

I am linking up to the following parties.

Partial Playroom Reveal

Today I am sharing a partial playroom reveal. I still have to make some art for the walls, but I can happily say... the painting is DONE! The Ikea Lack shelves are hung! Hanging them gets easier and easier the more you hang these suckers!

Painting baseboard with wall-to-wall carpet

The baseboards needed a fresh coat of white paint. I did an online search for tips to paint baseboards with wall-to-wall carpet. The tip I used was to place packing tape on the carpet and about a 1/4 inch up the baseboards and then push it down under the baseboard. It was hard to do in some spots because of the tight fit between the baseboards and carpet, but I didn't get paint on the carpets, so I am happy.

There's other projects I need to work on for the playroom, such as the shelf above. I found it on Kijiji and the seller delivered it for me. I only paid $25 for the shelf and that included delivery!

I plan to use it for all of my son's books. I just don't know what colours to paint it. (btw, my husband saw it and said "isn't it ugly?"... he should know I plan to paint it and he's usually impressed with the results. I say.. "MEN!" ughh! lol)

One thing I couldn't see in the sellers ad was how the left side of the unit looks. If you enlarge the last picture above of the shelf, you'll see some peg holes for more shelves and some other hardware... yes, on the OUTSIDE of the shelf!

Ikea Komiker Entertainment Center

I did a search online to find out why it's like this, and finally, after endless searches I found that this unit is just ONE part of the Ikea Komiker Entertainment Center (see to the left, not my picture BTW). No big deal, I'll just fill in the holes before I paint it.

The plan in my mind is to paint the outside and door of the shelf either gray or white, and the shelves and inside back and sides the same yellow as on the wall. That plan may change though...

Other projects in the room that are already completed and I will be sharing soon include a dresser turned reading bench, and a chalkboard table.

My husband still has to switch out the old light switch and electrical outlets in the room, unless I get so tired of waiting and do that myself too!

What colour or colours would you paint the shelf? (btw, us Canadians spell "colour" with a "u"... I am not spelling it wrong, but it looks weird even to me, just don't want anyone thinking I am spelling it incorrectly over and over and over again, lol!)

Linking up to the following parties.

Planned Outdoor Projects

I have some outdoor projects planned using the above paint supplies. I took my son for a walk to Lowes the other day to pick-up the supplies, which came to about $40. Which isn't too bad.

We have a white siding house with a white front door... boring. I've always wanted to paint the front door a dark red, but my husband hates the idea. Well, any colour is better than the white. So, I took a picture of the house, opened up Photoshop and painted the door 5 different colours and showed my husband. Once he saw the door with colour versus white, he was converted, lol.

We agreed on a medium gray-ish blue. I tried to find a similar colour at Lowes to the one I had created. The colour I chose is the one at the top of the paint chip card below, "Serene Stream".

I don't know when I'll start on this project, it's cold here again and it's supposed to snow... SNOW!? I thought we were done with that... sigh.....

Here's a hint what all the spray paint is for... amongst a few other outdoor things....

I am still working on the playroom, the ceiling painting did not go well, it's streak central up there. I am having a real hard time applying even pressure and being sure I covered everywhere. There wasn't much colour difference between the light blue that was up there and the new white. I tried a roller with long handle, and tried removing the handle and just going on the ladder, both are equally difficult. I knew I'd dread this part since I've painted a ceiling before, but that one was much lower and easier to deal with.

What have you been up to?

Clearing Out the Clutter

I swear, nothing feels better than getting rid of stuff. I have so much stuff from when my son was born up until now, and he's 2.5 years old. I have recently sold a glider with ottoman, a jumperoo and baby clothing. I put the money away for my son, either for new clothes (well used clothes since I don't buy NEW, lol!), new toys, or items for his bedroom or playroom.

I like this because I don't have to ask my husband about buying anything because I have the money put away from my hard decluttering and organizing efforts! My husband really doesn't seem to mind what I use the money for, but if I were to bother asking him, I always just get a shrug and an "I don't know... do what you want"... grrr!! Which is frustrating because I'd have actually liked a true opinion on the matter!

My favourite place to sell my items is on Kijiji. For safety's sake, I always meet the buyer outside my home during the daytime with whatever item they're purchasing. My street is always busy with traffic so I feel safest being visible for these transactions. You can never be too careful!

Back to decluttering and organizing, I love organizing, in fact, I got hooked on it after finding Jen's blog, IHeart Organizing. Her blog is chock full of beautiful pictures and great ideas. By looking at some of the spaces in my home, you wouldn't know I actually enjoy organizing! It's because of the decluttering part, that's not so fun. Before I discovered blogs, and long before those hoarding shows, I had the mentality that you're supposed to keep everything you acquire... eek!

Not that I have anywhere near a hoarding situation, but just a lot of disorganization and things I really don't need to keep. So slowly but surely, I have been paving my way through boxes from prior moves that we haven't even bothered opening in 2+ years!

My favourite part is hitting the dollar store for cute bins and baskets and getting to organize what I must keep. I'll share the first area I started to organize a few months back, but these are only the BEFORE pictures, which I will not watermark because...oh the shame! lol! Come on, don't laugh at me... please??

This is an Ikea wardrobe we have but barely used since moving, so everything and everyone is in there.. ok, there's really no one in there... or is there? :)

After clearing everything out and making a trip to the dollar store, I brought home these bins to organize and group some of the related items to their own bins.

And that's as far as the picture taking went, I'll share more pictures of the organized wardrobe later on.

Do you like getting rid of stuff and organizing? Have any tips to share?