Deck Spruce-Up

Our "new" deck!

O.k. I've been holding out on you. Over the last few months my posts have really lagged... for a couple of reasons, the biggest of which is that we have been working on some serious projects to share with you when time would allow me to finish them. Once of these was sprucing up our 12 year old deck.

Our poor deck. It was seriously in need of some TLC - or a sledge-hammer. I preferred the second option but once again that irksome budget thing decided to get in my way. Fortunately for us, Hubby works in the building supply industry. Funny thing is, on may occasions over the last few years "Fortunate" is not how we would have described it! Anyway, there is a fairly new product out there called Encore for wood decks and docks. What it does is basically turn your wood deck/dock into a composite encased deck without having to rebuild it! There is a similar product out there that I've seen at Home Depot called Restore, but the big advantage to me of the Encore is you can make it any color you want versus the limited palette of the Restore. Both only work on a deck/dock that is still structurally sound, though. There is a limit to the miracles you can put in a can!

This was our already rough looking deck when we bought the house several years ago:

The problems just continued to grow over the next few years. Everyday life with deep south humidity, trees, three boys, neighborhood kids and a dog didn't help! But, hey... that's what a decks for! So, out came the pressure washer and deck brush. I think Hubby spent more time taking off any peeling stain and "gunk" with our seriously underpowered pressure washer than he did actually painting it.

You can see a distint line here where he'd made it to as he was scrubbing the old off.

One day, Hubby is going to get a heavy duty pressure washer (wink, wink)
that could strip the deck right off the house! No scrubbing required!

This shot really shows how bad the seats and railing were looking. 

Stripped down and ready to go.

This was primarily a hubby project. We both worked on the first coat, but hubby did the second and all the railings. I have to admit, I had my doubts it could turn out this nice, but was pleasantly surprised. It's still not a cheap redo, but compared to replacing a deck, it was pennies on the dollar. Our's had hit the point that something had to be done and it simply couldn't be put off any longer. Structurally it was sound, but some boards were starting to warp and splinter and the stain was long gone. We didn't want any rot to set in so cue the Encore.

                                

This stuff is super thick and dries really quick, so you have to work fast and efficiently (especially in southern heat/sun!). It layers the entire deck surface with a thick gritty composite like coating without the plastic look. No more splinters or even obvious cracks if you put it on thick enough (and put a few hundred wood screw into flatten out warped boards!).

There was a good bit of prep work, as with the garage floor painting, but that is crucial for how well the end product holds up.  In order to get a good color match to the brick, I simply took a scrap piece of brick into Home Depot and had them match the color in Behr (Chocolate Sparkle!) exterior latex gloss (which has the most enamel/toughness) which was then added into the mix to tint it. On the railings, we simply mixed the paint with another product of their's called Polymatrx that extends the life of exterior paint.

So, for few hundred dollars, we have a new looking deck and you have a better idea how I've been passing time! There's more to come, so stay tuned:)

Garage Door Reveal

My "New" garage/side entry door. The door was painted Rust-o-leum Gloss Oil Black, a simple steel door
decoration was bought at Hobby Lobby, spraypainted white, then hung with neodymium (i.e. really strong)
magnets to the steel door. No screws, glue or hardware required! 

At long last, I have some pictures to show you of the rest of my garage redo. When I showed you my interior redo, I told you I still had some things to show you about the outside, but that the weather wasn't permitting me to get any shots in to share with you. Now, um...lets see...probably a MONTH later, I finally have some. Crazy how time can fly when you're busy!

Anyhoo, let's see those before and after shots, shall we?

Before - and Oh, so blah! Builder basic all the way.  I still plan to repaint the hanging light fixtures,
but I have to do things as time allows (i.e. when school is back in session!).

 Like my "New" garage door?

 I have to tell you, when my sister-in-law drove up the other day and exclaimed "You got a new garage door!" I couldn't have been more pleased:). Bingo! My old garage door has morphed into a set of carriage doors at a total cost of about $5.00 and some elbow grease. Can't beat that!

Up close view of the upper "hinges".

 In order to create the illusion, I did a little research on options and found I could one of three things to get the more custom look of carriage doors without actually buying them.

1. Order faux metal hinges and handles to screw onto the door,
2. Order magnetic metal faux hinges to just stick on the door,
3. Make a stencil and paint them on.

Up close shot of the lower "hinges".

 I knew Hubby would flip if I painted or screwed on "hinges and handles" to the door, so it looked like the magnetic option was for me. Then I looked at the price on Ebay. It's actually really economical, BUT still not within my budget for now. So, I started looking for another option. Surely I could find a cheaper, albeit not as realistic as the magnetic, way to get the look for now.

View of the center of the door with it's new "handles" and "crack" between the "two" carriage doors.

Enter a trip to Lowe's. I love to stroll down the aisles at my home improvement stores brainstorming. I challenge myself to come up with as many out of the box uses for everyday items as I can - all for the sake of getting the luxe look of items I want but can't afford. Truthfully, it's really more of a creative outlet and to see if I can overcome the challenge.

Up close view of the new carriage door "handles".

When I stumbled upon a roll of contact paper with a mottled black and gray appearance, it suddenly hit me. Just draw the hinges and handles on that, cut them out and stick them on! How much easier and cheaper can you get?! I came home, found some hinges and handles I liked on-line, printed out the image, blew it up on the printer, then traced them onto the contact paper and cut them out. Before applying them, I pressure washed the whole door throughly, then just stuck them on. The center where the two doors meet is just a long skinny strip cut off the edge or the roll. To create a little more of a realistic look on the handles, I took some metallic silver paint and lightly dry brushed some where the handles would curve and onto the shadow part of the handle that I made sure to cut out WITH the main part. Illusion complete! It apparently is good enough that, without really close inspection, you don't even realize it's contact paper. Hubby nearly blew a gasket when he thought I'd painted them on without talking to him first:) I giggled inwardly as I happily told him it was just contact paper that is "supposed" to peel off cleanly with a little heat from the hair dryer:) And, if there is any adhesive left, then I know a little "Goof Off" will get it, so we're all good. Eventually I want to order the magnetic pieces, but for now these look pretty good.

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Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday 

Ready, Set... Chip It!

I've just discovered the most fantastic tool! Have you tried Sherwin Williams Chip It program? If not, hold on to your seats. I'm about to drop you some quick and easy inspiration. I've been thinking of taking some of my photographs and making color palettes based on them, kind-of like I do when I actually find time to do an Inspiration Board for a whole room design. Ready? Now this post is a little bit of an experiment to see if I can get the program to work. I may have to post the image then repost with the chips.

 This is one of my newer photos. I know I've said it a million times over, but nothing inspires me like God's artistry with nature. How beautiful is this pasture scene I took a few months ago on our second trip to Biltmore Estate (just in time to see all the flowers!)?

Now, for the Chip It colors. I'm dying to see what it pulls from this. No, let me warn you, most of what I've seen with this program are colors I would use sparingly, because they are intense. An idea would be to take the color recommended, get the color card and find one several shades lighter on the same card for large areas like walls.

O.k. Here it is:

How cool is that? Inspired? Good. Oh, has this just got my mind reeling! I can't wait to share more:)

Garage Reveal - Finally!

Like my beach cruiser? I love that bike. I also like our new wall clock in the garage. No excuses for not being in
on time for dinner, ball games/practice, or bedtime anymore (he, he! Aren't I a stinker?! Pretty and practical!)

Forgive me, dear readers (OMG! I sound like Dear, Abby!). I've taken some much needed time to collect my thoughts and take a family vacation, so I've been absent for some time from the blogging world. Life has been VERY full over the last year and I just had to step back for a while to regain some direction and do a little soul searching. Ever been there? So many things have happened, both good and bad that I began to feel like I had lost my focus. I just needed to take some time to figure out what the next step is. I'm still not really sure and most recent news of my other grandmother's diagnosis of early Alzheimer's hasn't helped, but I do feel much more gathered after some time off. We took a wonderful, much-needed-by-everyone, family vaction to Sanibel Island, FL last week. It was so nice to just lounge by the pool and  on the beach! I'll be sharing photos soon:)

In the meantime, I FINALLY got around to getting some after shots of our garage that has been mostly completed for a few weeks now. There are still a few finishing touches to do yet, but for the most part it's  finished. Ready? No laughing at the befores, which I'll start with a few of! I'm showing just how bad it really was so you can truly appreciate the redo:

Forgive the fuzziness. Unfortunately, I can't retake these! See how horrible the baseboards looked in here?! 

Gross! The walls had never really been painted (just spray primed when built)
and the baseboard were disgusting and peeling). 

This is why I painted the doors black. See all the nastiness little hands leave? It's hidden much better by oil-based glossy black and is about as scrubbable as you can get. Not to mention it just looks way better. 

This floor was driving me batty! Hubby painted it Gull Gray, which is a gorgeous color if no one lives on it.
Around this part of the country with red mud, it showed every speck of dirt and tire prints like bright white. Yuck!

We even inherited holes in the front wall where the previous owners had apparently driven or backed into it!
These weren't even the worst. I found literal holes all the way through
behind the shelving and had to put my patching skills to use.

GROSS! I hate bugs and this was the constant behind the blinds. I pulled those suckers out and pressure washed them, removing everything from dirt dobber nests to spiders. Makes my skin crawl looking at all those little critters!

I tested ever color I had on hand before finally just dumping all the white and creams
into one five gallon bucket to get the final color on the walls. 

Now, a little improvement and one of my favorite things... my newly painted glossy black doors!

My new glossy black doors, magnetic house number, thrift store coat rack,
entry table with sunscreen/bug spray bucket (a.k.a shelving), door mat
and hardwood hand rail courtesy of Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

All my shelving is currently covered with vinyl table cloths and work as entry tables of a sort.
I still plan to find a better way to cover and store items so that they are out of sight,
but for now this will suffice.

I was determined to put up a wall clock the "men" could see so I no longer had to come tell them it was time to come in. Instead, now I can just give them a time to be in:)

Many trips were made to Goodwill, boards painted and installed in studs, hooks hung and items organized. By it all being on the front wall, no one sees it unless they literally come into the garage.
The door can be left open and no one driving by can see all our toys and tools.

Don't you like my newly painted floors? I am proud to say that when this picture was taken, a car had been parked in and out numerous times. Other than sweeping I did no cleaning for this picture and
it shows little evidence of black tires, unlike the before shot.

I am really proud of my planters this year. they have gone gang-busters and look so healthy for mid summer!

There you go. There's a few more things to show you on the outside, but the weather hasn't cooperated and I wasn't willing to wait longer to post the inside pictures. The outside before and after will just have to wait until I can get a good sunny shot.

See, I really have been working on a garage for ... um... a while. But it was worth it. I'm no longer embarrassed by my totally untouched, cluttered and filthy garage that EVERYONE uses as the main entrance to our home. Instead, I'm proud to say it now looks presentable and sets a good impression... like any good FRONT door should:)

Happy Father's Day!

What would we wives, mom's and kids be without our wonderful husbands and dads? To all the wonderful men out there who have and will make such a profound and important impact on our lives and our children's lives,

Deep Thoughts from the Garage

Source: zapnext.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

No, I'm not planning on doing this! But is sure did make my eyes pop! I think I've seen it all now:)

I've hardly surfaced from the garage over the last couple of weeks... I mean days. Yes, it takes way too long to do something like a garage makeover during baseball season, end of the year stuff going on, begining of summer break, and a phobia of fumes! I've been pushing the last couple of days trying to get done so I can do a post on it. You won't believe the difference a little organization and paint can make!

That said, I've got a question to pose to you all: Why is it that we women tend to always ignore the garage? I mean, seriously, ladies... how many hours/dollars do we spend on decorating and cleaning our houses, yet we leave the one room or area that 90% of our guests walk through first (if your house is like mine) completely untouched?! The more I've worked on mine, the more I've pondered this. The other thing is why is it that we always assume the garage should be the man's space? Not that there is a single thing wrong with that.  I the man needs his space, by all means, give it to him, but if he never uses it, why do we ignore it? Why do we leave the garage looking like a bomb shelter? I'm not saying make it girlie and uncomfortable for the man, just halfway attractive. Of course, if you want a woman cave and he's fine with it, deck that baby out!

via Amazon

versus

via Etsy

Now, there are plenty of men out there who love the idea of making the garage a man cave, which is fun in itself. I know a lot of men get sick of a "decorated" interior they tend to have or give little say so on and need a space to do "manly" things, and a man needs to feel at home as much as the woman does. Once thing is for sure, regardless, it can't look any worse than it does if you don't touch it at all and just throw stuff in there to store. In our case, our garage is our main entrance and it's looked like a toy shop/tool factory/paint store that all blew up for the last four years! I'd had enough and decided it was time to do something to make that space useable square footage I was proud of [on a super tight budget].

I started pulling inspiration images. If you follow me on Pinterest, you've seen them most likely. I've realized just how unusual it apparently is for a woman to want to spiff up the garage simply by the lack of stuff out there for inspiration along the lines I was wanting to go. Want to see my inspiration images?

                                                                             Source: homeorg.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

I love this hidden storage for recycling with the holes on the end for access!

                                                                            Source: houzz.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

O.k. So, not the kind of garage I need, but it's really cool. The floor was the main thing of interest.

                                                                          Source: houzz.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

LOVE this floor and all the storage.

Modern Garage And Shed design by New York Closets And Organization transFORM | The Art of Custom Storage

Neat and attractive organization ideas.

                                                                      Source: housebeautiful.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

OMG! It's a girlie garage! They've even got a bike the same color as mine:)

                                                                  Source: luxury4play.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

A paneled garage! 

                                                                          Source: luxury4play.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

Wow! Enough said.

                                                                       Source: floorchips.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

Great colors!

                                                                          Source: autobarn.net via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

Want to make the garage tighter to insulate or keep water out? Here's a great add on. I also really liked the floor.

                                                                              Source: lotustalk.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

This became my main inspiration image. I decided I wanted THIS floor without the glossy shine - satin instead.

                                                                           Source: lotustalk.com via Miss B.e.e. on Pinterest

Oh, so clean (and the car would look nice in mine as well!).

Well, that's where I started. Collecting images to inspire me. I mixed up all my left over paint for the walls (AND LIKED IT!), painted the trim Rust-o-leum Gloss white, hung a oak handrail, painted the doors Rust-o-leum Gloss black, hung a huge wall clock, hung more storage hooks, made numerous trips to Goodwill, and then it was time to hit the floor. That's where I hit a brick wall.

See, dear old hubby had painted that floor when we first moved in here with H&C Acrylic Sealant for concrete in Gull Gray. Beautiful color and great product (sticks well and is super durable). It's what we'd used in Charleston and it is fantastic with hiding SANDY soil. We also made the mistake of following the label for drying times, not thinking that drying and curing are two totally different things. (I was pregnant and not thinking well at all!). Some, but not much lifted off where the garage door seal had made contact when shut and there were some scratches where it had peeled in a few places due to who knows what.

The big problem was the color, though. We live where there is red mud/clay (can I just say how much I HATE red mud?!) and have three boys, one black dog and oodles of neighborhood kids in and out of there daily. Want to guess what Gull Gray looks like in a matter of minutes with that kind of wear?! Yep. Not good. And... after four years I couldn't take it anymore, especially if everyone was going to use that door instead of the front door!

The wall I hit was this: I wanted to redo it with the color chips to hide "stuff" better than a solid color does. There's just one small little problem. H&C Acrylic Sealant is solvent based and wickedly strong (probably why it bonds so well). You can't put anything else over it and you can't use color chips with this solvent based product. It will melt them the minute they hit the wet paint. UGH! So, I'm stuck with a solid color and I have to endure more fumes (wearing a organic fumes respirator, of course). To top it off, they dont have a huge selection of colors to choose from. Fortunately, the garage faces south and has two windows along with door windows, so making it bright isn't an issue.

You can buy H&C products at Sherwin-Williams.

Out came the high-tech testing method for the best color. First, let the floor get good and dirty (Done!), wet the dirtiest spot you can find, rub your hand all in it, then smear as much as you can all over the color chart - making sure to get a good bit on each color. Then take some dog hair that might be hiding in the corners and drop it on there just for effect. Let it dry. Which one hides it all the best?! For me, it was a toss up between Charred Walnut, Red Terrazzo Tile, or Muddy Gray. The kicker was making sure it went the brick on the house since about 8" was exposed outside the garage door.

I wasn't thrilled about any of them because I'd made my mind up previously I was going with a speckled gray & black. I may take a while for me to make a decision, but once I do, I don't usually change it (willingly, anyway!). The family consensus was Charred Walnut. One coat went down and I didn't like it with the brick. So, I took the other can back to have some tweaking done on the color. More magenta was added and the second coat (on just one side of the garage) was put down. It's cured now and everything has been moved to that side so that today I can tackle the other.

I'm still not in love with color and I'm debating on whether or not to keep it the same or switch it since I have to go get more paint today anyway. I'm also debating my sanity because that would involve more drying time and moving everything out of the way again. Stay tuned! I WILL finish this in a matter of a week, God willing, and will post pics. Now, off to Sherwin-Williams I go!

p.s. Due to a fear of possibly offending my MAN CAVE readers, let me clarify. Our garage looked like an paint/tool/toy experiment gone very wrong due to ME and the KIDS, not hubby. Dear old hubby is fantastic at picking up all his stuff. I have NEVER had to clean up after him. Instead, it's often been vice versa (much as I hate to admit it). Heaven knows, if he wanted that as his man cave, I'd agree in a skinny minute simply because he is so flexible about what I do to the inside of the house. Also, when I say "make the the garage usable square footage", I meant for all of us like the interior of the house... not a woman cave. I just was pondering that thought out loud:)