Budget Minded Modernist
This one took me a bit by surprise…..The exterior tour took almost 50 photos and I didn’t even cover everything. I guess doing this little internet thing is good for getting perspective on how much has actually happened in 2 years.
There’s plenty more to do…of course!!!
Trying to get back on the tour this week…next up……Ye Olde Dining Room.
Plans for in here might involve removing the chair rail. It is out of place with the architecture methinks. No other room in the house has it. I think the previous owners wanted to trad up this room for coziness. I wanted to paint it black to hide it, but since I wanted the rest of the trim white, I thought that would look weird too. I still love the matte black in here, but that rail is GOING.
The rearranging of artwork and the like has had us patching and touch-up painting the walls everywhere. It’s worth it to have a clean slate to start again. Ah, the freedom to be fickle, renewed.
I made the latest addition to the dining room wall to brighten things up around here. I did it ages ago, and finally got it set during Michael’s 40% off framing sale. Even with the whopping discount, it is obvious I need to learn framing. A necessary life skill required for my life, me thinks.
I’m finally back on the tour and have added the kitchen…you’ll get to see the new shelf all in place! For new readers, we did the entire kitchen ourselves with the exception of tiling the back splashes. At that point we were over it.
The kitchen is actually not finished, but it’s been good enough for the past year and a half while we tackled other, more interesting projects. We really need to get on that.
To see the kitchen before and now, go here.
Now to update the living room…
The ModFruGal household is in full-on Halloween mode now…we spent the last week road tripping around the Southeast while the Things were out of school, and we are now scrambling to get everything done.
I’ve been on tombstone duty, and it’s a real time-sucker, but fun and I think it will be totally worth it. I’m already thinking how many more we can crank out for next year…when there’s more time!
There’s a ton of good interwebs info on DIY tombstones…one of the best sites I found here. These guys don’t mess around. In the interest of time, I have morphed many of their ideas to take certain shortcuts and wing it the best we could. I’m pretty pleased with the results so far.
Through trial, and not so much error, but dorky persnickity-ness, I prefer to base coat the foam before carving out the epitaphs. Print out your info, pin it on and grab the x-acto knife and go. This takes awhile and there is a learning curve..but isn’t that always the way…with anything?
Once the name is carved, I paint it in with black craft paint and a very small brush. Then a final coat of faux stone spray paint and you’re done. There are purists out there who would hiss at me for not using a heavy latex base coat on everything to prevent marring the foam, but I think those abberrations make it look old and weathered so…I don’t. Plus..that whole time thing…
Here’s one I just finished today…
We’re also making a few cardboard ones since we had a big pile of broken down boxes waiting to be recycled, so we figured, why not? They’ll do, but the foam ones are the biz.
The CC has been building the pinata…It got its black coat today and is starting to look snazzy.
The CC has also discovered our magic weapon this year. Reflective tape. We had a couple of rolls and the CC started making these eyes out of them with coat hangers to scatter throughout the forest…I love them! Not just a pretty face that guy.
Oh, and it makes the Werewolf look a helluva a lot more menacing.
So I really need to get back to work. Thing Two and I just stained the new back steps (Yay!) and I’ve got 3 more epitaphs to carve so I can paint before the impending rain (BOOoooo! Although we need it.)
I haven’t been able to show you the completed brassy acquisition since the house is a total disaster. We haven’t eaten in the dining room in ages – it’s covered in Halloween projects.
More later my friends, much more……..Whaa Haa Haa!
Update: Here’s a couple of extra photos of the carving process I did tonight. Note to self: “Cracked” is NOT an easy font to carve…unless you don’t mind cramped fingers!
One of the many things that has us a bit crazy lately is that we are rushing to add those finishing touches to the deck that we mentioned here, here and here.
It has to be done before Halloween so that children unfamiliar with the place don’t fall 3 feet off the deck onto the pine straw patio. Yes, we are hosting a Haunted Forest shindig, so time is a-ticking to keep the kiddies safe…except that I may scare them all away cuz I’ll be wearing this. Too bad.
So what are these “finishing touches” you ask? More hog panel, of course, since we ripped out that old railing during the staining, and…well, while you’re there…let’s move the steps and expand them!
Since we’re all feelin fall-ish, I thought a snow shot of the old railings might be soothing…
OK, so here’s how it’s been going…some new hog panel up, some fugly lattice still hanging out to taunt me…your days are numbered so enjoy your limited life….
New steps will center on the door where all those tools and crap are….
But the ground isn’t level so the CC poured a concrete pad….. (can you BELIEVE the mess?)
and last night he got the first treads up….
…and here it is next to the old steps, which should be coming down shortly. Getting close, but yet so far….soon!