Budget, Decorating, Encouragement, Faith, Frazzled, Jesus, Joy, Painting, Renovating

White Washed Brick {and a battle}

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Something about me saying I was going to try to not spend extra money in the month of September must have made the devil mad, cuz he has been throwing all kinds of stuff my way. Ha!  My friend shared this scripture on instagram this morning and yes, this and so many other truths are what I have been leaning on through this mess.  

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  Psalm 62:1-2


You may have seen this picture from last week.

When my washer drain backed up all over the floor, and in the kitchen sink.  Well…
The very. next. day. my dryer stopped heating…
 
At this point I was over it.  Not panicked in the least – me and my Lord don’t crumble that easily, but I needed something to distract my attention from the piles of laundry.  So, I dove into a project that has been swimming around in my head for a while.
 

I have never been a fan of painted brick.  I don’t know why, it’s just not my thing. With that said, I do not like the color of the brick on our house.  It has that same orange glow that everything in the house has.  It’s fine outside – I mean I can live with it, we painted the trim in such a way that it seems to tone it down.  But, inside – ick.  I knew I would never paint it, but then over the past year I have seen several white-washed looks floating around.  I was intrigued.  I liked that, depending on how much paint you used, you could still see the brick look.  So, in light of my current circumstances, I decided why not – what else could go wrong- right (never say that by the way ;)).  

I went to the garage and found some leftover white paint I had (the same paint I used in my laundry room), a container, a brush, and a rag.  I decided to try a really small amount of paint at first, knowing I could always make it darker, but never lighter.  So I used a ratio of 1 part paint to 3 parts water.  Not enough paint. So I ended up with a 50/50 ratio, and that got me the look that I was after.  I have seen white washes that are really close to just painting, but I really just wanted a cloudy top coat to tone down the color of the brick.  Here are some pictures to see how it went.  

living room fireplace
 
Here’s a before just so you know what we were starting with – orange brick.
white wash
Nope that’s not milk 😉
white washing tools
The tools – a cheap brush, and an old clean rag.  I did dust off the brick before I started, and brushed out the corners, but nothing else needed to prepare the surface.
white washing brick
Just brush the watered down paint on, let it soak in for a little bit (maybe a minute or two), and then wipe it down removing the excess paint.  The longer you let it sit, the more will soak in and the harder you wipe, the more paint you will remove.
white washed brick before and after
Just know – it’s a messy project!!
white washed brick before and after

Here’s a side-by-side before and after.  Just a subtle change, but really exactly what I wanted.  No more orange glow and it seems to make the corner feel a little big bigger.  

white washed brick fireplace surround
I’m really happy with the end product.  The hardest thing about this process was not letting my perfectionist self try to over work it.  Reminding myself frequently that the beauty of it lies in the imperfections.  🙂
Good news!!  As I was writing this post, my handy hubby finished fixing my dryer!!  Now, I have to face the mountain of laundry awaiting me – can’t hide my head in the sand forever…or can I?  🙂
 
Blessings to you and yours!!

Curious to see how this room looks now? Check out this post

painted brick fireplace surround

and this post!

 DIY floating mantel
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Faith, Family, Insta-Friday

Insta-Friday {Sept 13th}

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This week has seemed long and wearing to me.  Maybe it’s because last week was short.  I don’t know.  Anywho, sharing me week in my insta-pics

My girlie was invited to be a part of her friends quinceanera celebration.  Isn’t she pretty :)?

My big boy attended a baseball showcase camp at my Alma-Mater OSU.  Stillwater is such a lovely place.

We have been draining the pool all week, and today we started taking it down.  It is quite a process, but I am happy to take it down and have the yard for the kids to use the other 9 months out of the year.

I pulled my sewing machine out of my closet to work on a couple of spruces around the house.

When I was pulling fabric from my stash for a project I discovered this.  I am a starter of projects, not always a finisher.  The bloggy world inspires me and motivates me to finish things, and it is a GOOD thing!

This happened.  Water backing up everywhere.  Which meant I couldn’t do laundry, or run the dishwasher.  UGH!!  After about 3 hours of plunging, snaking, and liquid plumbering, the clog was gone and no more back-ups.  Thankful for a hubby who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty – saves us a lot of money.

This kid made us immensely proud this week.  He is a National Merit Semi-Finalist!!  He has been blessed by God with incredible smarts, a thirst for knowledge, and an amazing ability to return said knowledge.  God has big plans for him and we are enjoying watching them unfold.

I have to say I’m kinda glad it’s Friday.  🙂
Follow along on instagram @denisegwood

Hope your week was blessed!!  Thanks for stopping by friends 🙂

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Budget, Crafting, De-cluttering, Organizing

Corner Cubby {more organization}

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As I was waiting for the paint to dry on my back door yesterday, I happened to catch a glimpse of my little shelf in the corner.

Corner shelf unorganized


This shelf is wonderful.  It fits perfectly in the space without being in the way, and it holds lots of things that we might need in the back yard that I don’t want to store outside (since we have no roof or cover over our patio). It gets much more use over the summer as it holds a lot of pool stuff and some outdoor play items. When tidied up it looks like this.

Corner shelf filled with things for the backyard


The bottom bucket holds various back yard sports items.  We have a lot more, but these are the basics they use a lot.  The second bucket holds doggie things.  Pool towels on the shelf, and the basket above holds smaller pool equipment, my garden gloves, a pair of my sunglasses (I got tired of using my regular pair for outside, because I would always forget to put them back in my purse), and of course sunscreen and bug spray. You can see the dog food canister next to it and the smaller paw print item above – more on that in a sec.

But, since the pool is coming down as we speak (kind of – a slow process), I decided to go ahead and rearrange the items until next summer when the pool goes back up.  *A side note on the pool.  We have one of those blue metal frame pools.  It might look very redneck in our backyard, but it provides wonderful entertainment on those unbearably hot Oklahoma days, and when the summer is over, I love that I can take it down and use the whole yard for the other 9 months of the year. *

So, now the shelf looks like this.

Corner shelf storage for backyard supplies


All contents are the same (aside from the pool equipment in the small basket which will be stored away), just rearranged.  

As I was sorting through the things in the buckets, I decided on a different solution for the doggie treats – instead of in the box, buried in the dog stuff bucket.  I had some of my trusty plastic containers from walmart left over from the garage organization project, so I grabbed one.

dog treat storage

I printed out a paw print from my computer just like I did for the food canister only smaller.  (pardon the pink look of the printout, I need printer ink)  

paw print template


Traced it on the back of a piece of my chalkboard vinyl. (no I don’t plan on writing on it with chalk, but it was the color I wanted and it was in my closet – free {no spend month :)})  

paw print traced on vinyl


Then, I cut it out and stuck in on.  

dog treat canister


Easy peasy and oh so cute!!  Happy organizing and crafting!!

Pulled this out of the closet today to add some personal touches to some store bought items – with fabric I found in my stash of course ;).

sewing machine
Will be sharing the finished products with you soon!!


Blessings to you friends and thanks for stopping by!!


 

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Encouragement, Faith

Remembering

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I know there is an overall awareness of the date as we all begin our day.  Being an Oklahoman makes me hurt a little bit closer today.  I was living in Oklahoma City the day that the Murrah Federal Building was bombed – April 19th.  And the thing is – you can’t forget.  It doesn’t take effort to remember what happened on a tragic days like these – because you saw it, heard it, witnessed it.  When you hear the date your mind automatically goes to that place.  For me it’s the visual images I saw as I watched it all play out on the television.

It’s days like this that make me even more thankful for God’s grace and mercy.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  Romans 8:18


When I was in NYC this summer I was able to visit the memorial and a restaurant that was right across the street from the towers.  Life is about story.  We all have a story, and we should share it so others will know.  The places, these pictures, tell a story.

This sweet, precious man was working in his restaurant on that day and shared with us how the whole back of the restaurant (all windows) was blown out.

There are pictures hanging all over the walls, from families of victims – people who would eat in his place everyday.

The memorial is a sight to be seen.  The new towers are glorious.

We did not go into the museum, but I got this shot through the window of the piece of steel they found that looks like a cross.

One special thing was their survivor tree.  We have a survivor tree in our memorial in Oklahoma City.  Hearing the story seemed to join the two cities together, and made NYC feel closer to home.

But in all these things we overwhelming conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:37-39

Prayers for all those who were directly affected by this tragedy in New York City, as well as DC and Pennsylvania.  And may we all never forget that through it all our God is good.



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Budget, Decorating, Painting

The Lightening Up Continues

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Several months ago I shared with you a simple project – how to turn tablecloths into drapes.  In keeping with the goal of lightening up my house and taking it more in the direction of a coastal feel – because I love the beach and the way I feel when I am there.  When I shared with you the pictures of the drapes, it was obvious to me what the next project needed to be, so 8 months later I finally got it done.  🙂  Here’s the picture before with the drapes.

Can you see in the corner of the picture, something that just stands out like a sore thumb?  It’s like I tell my kids when I am teaching them how to sort laundry.  If it doesn’t look like it fits in the light colors pile, then it probably goes in the dark colors pile.  Well the door didn’t fit it my new light color scheme.  So, I pulled out my white paint that I used on all the other wood work so far, and got to painting.  

I know there are a thousand (well maybe not a thousand) different ways to paint a window or door with panes, and they are all a pain.  I hate to tape, I very rarely use it unless I am trying to achieve a certain look like a stripe, or a chevron.  But, just for everyday regular painting, I have a pretty steady hand, and I’m not patient enough to spend time taping.  So for me 

Instead I use this when I am all finished.  It’s just a razor blade with a handle. (I’m sure it has a name, but I have no idea what that name is.)  

I would suggest scoring the paint in between the glass and the wood, if the paint is thick there, to prevent the paint from peeling off the wood along with the glass. I actually used a craft knife for this so I could get in the corners.  

Then just place to blade at an angle against the glass and scrape away.  I finished the first pane, and as I was taking a picture to show you the finished product…I saw this…

Apparently, when I painted the other side of the door several years ago, I skipped this step.  Ha!!  I decided that I would go ahead and do both sides since I had the tool out.  🙂  And here it is all done.

Love!!  Here is a before and after side by side.  I love the way a little paint can have such a big impact.

This No Spend September thing is great!!  It is forcing me to get things crossed off my list that have been there for a while.  Sometimes I just need a little nudge.  

Blessings!!


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