Backyard Oasis

For some reason, I am not a big fan of yellow. I think it started with the yellow kitchen at the Shelburn House. I am still working with a lot of yellow here (the front of the house, garage doors, and sun room) but I can only take it one project at a time.

Below is a before. Yellow walls, red-brown patio, and exposed brick - what could I do?

That is Missy at the door, wanting no part of what I am about to do.

It's just so...blah.




The BEST part = after pics





I find the answer to many decorating dilemmas is paint. I painted the walls two brownish-grey colors from Lowe's called Stone Gray and Clam Shell. I painted the patio and woodwork a color called Bark. I found these awsome mosquito net-like curtains at Walmart (a necessary evil) and made curtain rods out of pvc pipe the previous owners left behind from sprinkler system repairs.



Not a real snake. I knew you were going to ask. I have it out there all the time. It is to get rid of the 1 million birds that lived in the Cypress trees. Yes. 1 million.



A view from under the porch. Do you feel relaxed yet?

I could sit here all day.


Another view from under the porch

Here is the sitting area. I later added a deck box that is not pictured.

The grill. Where the grilling magic happens. Because people, we are in Texas now, we take meat seriously. I also bought a smoker that is not pictured here and was also part of the weekend Josh put all my stuff together

A night view of the patio. I just love it! It turned out so well!

New House, New Bathroom

Okay, so it's really an old house (1983). How 1990 is this? Because that is probably the last time it had been updated. The lovely blue and purple flowered wallpaper is accentuated by gold tone shower doors and fixtures. Not in this picture is the gold metal strip vanity light with those big globe light bulbs, a penant light hanging from a chain, and the heater. And don't even get me started about the popcorn ceiling that I had to scrape. I mean, really? popcorn accoustic in a bathroom???

This is the type of heater that was above the shower/tub

The flushmount light is actually a heater (with a remote!) and the penant light was replaced with a monospot. The wall color was a mistint paint from Lowe's that I am describing as Hot Chocolate ($5!)

I took out the shower doors. I really didn't want to take them out. There was nothing wrong with the doors, other than being gold. In the end the gold proved to be too much and out they came. This is still the old tile, that is a project for later

I installed a new light fixture and framed out the existing mirror. All of the wood was painted a color called Muslin. New faucet for the sink.

Now I would like to talk board and batten. If you have never heard of this, well, now you have. It's similar to beadboard only way easier to do. Some 1x4's and 1x2s is all it took (above the toilet)

I am loving this board and batten treatment on the walls. So easy.

It's so hard to take good bathroom pictures. Here is another picture of the board and batten treatment