Fresh Paint On The Shed

Hi, Friends, 

How are you? I hope that you are well.

I wanted to take a minute to thank you for all your comments and kind words. It means so much to me and it is one of the reasons that I keep blogging. I know that some of you are such loyal followers and it is because we share a bond that has formed over the last decade.

 It is hard to believe that I've blogged almost ten years. 

In that decade, the shed has been three different colors. 

I was in the midst of raising teenagers when I let Bill choose a color combination. 

He was going for a Craftsman era look. 

In 2015 the shed got a red barn makeover. 

It needed a fresh coat of paint especially after the recent deck refinishing project. It had started to fade so it almost looked pink. 

I love the color of the cabin out in East Texas so much. I realized that there was plenty of paint left to give our shed a coat or two. 

I adore this color. 

It is Retreat by Sherwin Williams. 

It is a very soft, smoky green.

It does feel like the shed visually retreats into the landscape. 

Texas is so hot in the summer. The green will feel cooler than the red.  

This green will coordinate will all my deck color combinations as well. 

Usually, the cushions are black but occasionally I'll switch them for Navy blue.  

I love blue and green together. Black and green is one of my favorite color combinations for the deck. 

I made some new fall pillows for the deck chairs. 

Stencils were used for the lettering, the checkered border, and the truck. Pumpkins are pretty easy to paint so those were done free handed. I searched the internet for pillow ideas and decided to make them rather than buy them. 

Bill rarely uses the shed so I'm embracing it as the "she shed". 

The inside was refreshed last year but it needs a good cleaning after a long growing season. 

I'll tackle that next week. 

We've enjoyed the pumpkins and mums out here. 

It was very hot the day that the shed got painted red. I remember vowing to never paint it again. 

Actually, it must have been the trim that was a nightmare because it only took a few hours to paint the body of the shed today.  

The white trim needs a touch up too but I don't have that paint on hand so that will have to wait for another day. 

The little wooden truck came from Walmart a few years ago. It was red but green aligns with my color palette a little better. Most of our red truck decor has been painted. 

The little lantern was red too. It was a target find a long time ago.

 

One thing always seems to lead to another. 

The retaining wall got replaced which caused me to move the greenhouse.  I noticed how bad the deck looked so it needed to be stained. The deck project highlighted that the shed needed some paint. 

The deck needed to recover a bit from stripping and power washing. The new wood needs to age a little too. That project will be coming soon. 

My containers are full of lettuce, kale, mustard greens, and other winter vegetables. 

They should be fine this winter unless we have some sort of "Uri like" event. 

It all looks so pretty and it is finally cool outside!  

Friday Night Lights can finally have some fall weather. 

That is all for now. 

I hope you enjoyed the shed refresh. 

Katie 

Painting The Front Door

Hello, Friends,

How are you? I hope this finds you peaceful and well.

I've spent a bit of time walking around the yard here in town and doing some clean up after Uri. 

A lot has rebounded already. The roses, hydrangeas, honeysuckle all look great. The wax leaf ligustrums have not recovered. They are probably history and all that remains is to cut them down with the chainsaw. Bill was taking a walkabout with me to assess the rebound and I remarked that the front door had faded since we bought it. The trim also needed to be re-stained. I'm not sure exactly what I said but Bill suggested that I paint the door. 

What??? He rarely suggests painting wood.  

Our Craftsman style door isn't wood. It's fiberglass. We've had it about 12 years. I had a terrible time matching the stain when I did touch ups a few years ago. There was a terrible scratch in it from when the crazy dog broke into my house. I didn't look forward to trying to match the stain again. 

Trying to match the faux wood pattern seems impossible.

Bill knew how frustrating it was the last time it needed touching up. 

I've learned to not let the dust settle when Bill suggests something. It's not a good idea to give him time to change his mind. We had a quart of paint that didn't get used in East Texas. I decided to give it a try on the door. 

The original door on this house was green and I'd missed it. 

 The trees are still dormant. I think it will be pretty when the trees have leafed out. 

The color is Coastal Plain by Sherwin Williams. 

 It makes the porch look bigger. 

 

I'm wild about how the dentil shelf looks. The hardware looks better too.

The leaded glass stands out more. 
 

I debated about the back of the door. 

I could have left it stained but it had scratches too. I've seen some pretty gray interior doors but I cannot pick out gray paint for some reason. I did black doors once. Nope. 

I had white from all the floor molding so that is what I used. 

I can always change it later if I morph into someone who can pick out gray paint. 

This is Snowbound also by Sherwin Williams. 

Dixie is wondering why I'm offering her a cookie. 

That was my project this week. Thanks for stopping by. 

Katie 

What Is Next For Our Country House

Hi, Dear Friends, 

How are you? 

We've made great progress in the last month at our little house in the woods.

You can see the reveal of the exterior paint in this post.

I thought I'd catch you up on other projects, what we are going to do this weekend, and what we hope to do in the future. 

The inside is almost painted. We ran out of paint so I couldn't finished it last week. 

I was sick of painting anyway. 

You can see the original door color in the photo above. 

The interior doors need a second coat. Some of the trim around the doors and windows need touch ups or a second coat. 

The tiny room at the front needs the walls and ceiling painted in addition to the doors and door trim. I'm using the same paint for both because the pink to white ceiling paint from Glidden is horrible. Does anybody need two cans of barely used paint? I can't find my receipt to return it. 

The ceiling fan needs to be replaced. It's too big and it's not our style. 

We're trying to talk through what to do with this room. Should it be a third guest room or a craft room/study? I'm not sure. 

The back guest room is finished except for floors, floor molding and furniture. 

The color is Fossil Gray. It is a grab and go from Colorplace which is Walmart's brand of paint. 

This room needs floors, floor molding, curtains and furniture. We don't hate the ceiling fan so we won't replace it yet.  

Our room is finished except for floors and floor molding. This is my favorite room in the house so far. 

It gets the prettiest morning light. 

It has the same ceiling fan that is in the guest room and it will stay for a while too. 

Bill still needs a dresser. Below is the top candidate if it's still there next time I'm through Quitman. 

The dresser he is currently using will be moved to a guest room. 

I need a dresser too but I haven't found the right thing yet. Mine will go in the closet. 

My bathroom needs some trim above the built in. 

In the image below, you can see the weird gap at the top. It's a dust collection area for sure. 

We have the trim, Bill just needs to take his crown molding jig out to the house. 

The light fixture is a little Art Deco in style. I might paint the brushed nickel black but I don't hate this fixture. 

I'm going to paint the vanity either dark green or black.  

Other than that, the room  just needs floors. 

Long term wish list items include a new taller vanity and to tile the shower. 

Both showers are molded plastic.

We like the faucets so that is a plus. 

Bill's bathroom is almost finished. We still need to hang the light fixture.  Eventually, I may paint the vanity unless he decides to replace it. 

They are really short. 

We disagreed about what color was on the walls before. He saw blue. I saw dark green.

Now, it's white like the rest of the house. 

The living is done except for floors, floor molding, ceiling fan, and a couch. Couch shopping has been really frustrating during this pandemic. Many couch styles are oversized which would be too big for the room. Our IKEA has almost nothing in stock. They told us at Lazy Boy that custom order recliners are taking 6 months to arrive. Bill's exact recliner is $300 more than it was two years ago. 

Above is a quick snap of the living room right before we left last weekend. I need to learn the light and the best time of day to take pictures. It's a cozy spot to sit at the end of a long day of DIYs. 

The fireplace surround is done. There was gap between the end of the molding and the hearth. 

Bill made a custom piece to fit right in. 

The dining room is done except for flooring and floor molding. I painted the inside of the French doors black. I'm not sure it's love but it took a lot of time so I'm a little peeved about it. I like it during the day. At night, it seems to such life out of the room. I'm not sure if that makes any sense but I won't do anything until the floors are in. 

The screened in porch needs some wall repair. Bill is going to try to get to that this weekend if time. 

You can see the water damage in the image below. 

Once he's done with the repairs, I'll finish painting. 

The washer and dryer came last Friday. They couldn't plug it in because the outlet is a range outlet instead of a dryer outlet. ??? (eye roll) Bill got the correct outlet and will change it out soon. 

This room needs storage solutions, a new light fixture, a way to hide the hot water heater and flooring. 

Now, let's talk about the kitchen. To recap, we took down a bank of cabinets over the peninsula. 

The green formica went up the walls as a back splash. I removed that all the way around the kitchen. 

Here is a before:

The area behind the sink needed a backsplash so I put up some faux tin that we had here at home. 

Bill cut some wood to fill the gap between the wall and the counters. It's stained and dry brushed with white. 

Painting the window surround made a big difference but it leads me to the conclusion that I want to paint the cabinets. 

Bill doesn't hate them. In fact he said, "They're not orange." I've trained him well, I see. 

No they aren't orange. They are reddish but the picture does make them look orange. 

They aren't expensive cabinets and the grain isn't that pretty. I think I'll just be happier to lighten this up even more but more painting. Argh!!! 

Eventually, we will replace the counter tops and I'd like some sort of vent hood upgrade. The tops of the cabinets need crown molding or an extension to the ceiling. We'll see. In the meantime it needs floors and a barstool. 

Which leads us to this weekend's projects. Bill will be removing all the baseboards because the flooring people are coming on Monday morning. 

We ordered it last Friday. It was delivered to the house to acclimate on Wednesday. They say it will take three days to install. We are doing a Luxury Vinyl Plank through out the whole house. I'll have more about that in another post. 

It will really make this feel more like a home than a work zone. 

If you remember our flooring situation at our city house, you'll remember we lived without floors for about five weeks last summer. It wasn't fun so I'm excited to see the floors done. 

I love how the screened in porch is coming out. 

That is about all for now. I hope you are all staying well and encouraged. 

I'm trying to stay positive. I can get discouraged if I think about the upcoming holidays. 

Favorite scriptures have helped keep my perspective more in line with God's perspective. 

"I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." 

Psalm 63 2-4 

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Katie 

Our First Weekend In East Texas

Hi, Friends, 

I hope you are well. 

We returned last night from our first weekend at the new house. 

We were at the house for less than 48 hours. 

I was supposed to head out alone on Friday morning. I had partially loaded the little car when I decided that I needed to back it in the driveway instead since it was raining. It literally hasn't rained in a month. I was happy it was finally raining but I was annoyed that it was raining, if that makes sense. 

The car wouldn't start. Bill had the car serviced about two weeks ago. They didn't check the battery terminals and they were all corroded. He was not happy. We dropped the car off at the shop. They serviced it and replaced the battery for free but it meant that we would ride out together as soon as he was finished with work. I'd lost a day of work. 

I had hoped to get the house and get some stuff done before he got there but it wasn't meant to be. 

   

We got to the house at about 8:00 that night. 

As soon as we had the truck unloaded, Bill began putting the bed together. 

I pushed furniture into place and started working on getting the kitchen cleaned and unpacked. 

I should have started cleaning the bathrooms and putting up shower curtains. 

By the time he finished with the bed, I had some kitchen drawers cleaned and lined and the coffee station was set up. Priorities. 

He was ready for a shower and they weren't ready. 

I fought with the weird shower curtain rods and got the new curtains hung up. 

It was almost 11:30 by the time he was finished and ready for bed.

I stayed up for two more hours working on the kitchen. 

We didn't sleep well - new place- new bed. 

I initially thought that I'd start painting the living room first but our room bothered me so much that as soon as I'd had my coffee, I began painting our room.  

The city house has nine foot ceilings which makes it hard to paint. The new house has lower ceilings and was a breeze to paint. 

I didn't have to worry about getting paint on the trim or ceilings because those will get painted soon. 

The floors are concrete and those will get flooring as soon as we can. 

I was done with the bedroom by lunch time. 

I already loved how our room looked. It motivated me to keep painting. 

I was driven to cover the tan and make the house look less yellow. 

While I was painting, Bill was trying to install new door locks so that everybody and their brother can't get into our house. The previous owner has a huge family. 

He ran into trouble. 

Instead of locks for two doors there was only one set and parts from one of the sets had been pilfered. 

He was not happy and knew that a Home Depot run was in his future. HD is 30 minutes away. Welcome to the country. 

While he was gone, I finished painting the living room and the dining nook. 

I started on the kitchen. 

I hate the backsplash. Oddly, we aren't bothered by the counter top. It looks like some sort of retro green. 

I finished painting the back wall and the oven side of the kitchen. 

It was when I started on the sink side of the kitchen that I decided to begin ripping off the backsplash and take down a bank of upper cabinets. 

It was about five o'clock in the afternoon at this point. I was tired but I was highly motivated. 

I couldn't find the right screw bit to take down the cabinet so I decided to wait for Bill. 

We pulled off the cabinets and I finished painting the wall. 

I need some sort of backsplash for behind the sink. I'll probably take some faux tin out this weekend and put it up until I decide what to do. 

The kitchen already feels more open. 

I styled it like Parisienne Farmgirl's peninsula.

My feet were killing me after a day of painting but I was thrilled that I got so much done. 

We went to be pretty early. I slept like a rock. 

The next morning, Bill was on light duty. He was driven to brighten up the house. He got us some over the counter lights and a new overhead fixture for the kitchen. He installed those and installed the light over the peninsula and dining room table. 

It has a primitive feel. It was only $7.50 but with that came challenges with the install. 

While he was working on those, I decided to tackle the elephant in the living room. 

We have talked about this fireplace more than anything else in the house. 

I was under the impression that it was a little electric heater but it's hooked up to propane. 

Bill wanted to tear it out but I was afraid that there are pipes behind the beadboard wall.  

I wanted to paint it to see how it would look. 

It took two tubes of caulk. 

It looks so much better. The mantel is too small but it will do for now. 

I styled it with a faux garland and some pinecones from the property. 

I need to hang the painting but ran out of time.  

When we decided to get this house, Bill was convinced it was the one. 

My sister asked me what I loved about it. 

I said, "Nothing." 

I said that I liked the kitchen, the view, and the screened in porch. 

This house is a testament to the power of paint because after just a few coats, I am in love with our bedroom. I hated our bedroom before. 

I love the kitchen too after just a few minor tweaks. 

Just a few more thoughts.

The house is bigger than I thought at 1400 square feet so we will need more furniture. 

The room can have a bigger dresser. The closet can fit a dresser too. 

I need a piece for the dining nook or the wall next to the fireplace. 

The luan door into our room is wider to accommodate a wheel chair. It looks odd and will need to be replaced at some point. I'll paint it until we can get a new door. 

The vanities are low for the same reason. Those need a fix too. 

The cottage in the back has no heat. They took the propane heater with them. 

They pilfered through a debris pile and took the metal siding that Bill needed it to repair a wall on the cottage. 

I thought the laundry room had a window. It does not so it is really dark and gloomy. 

Hopefully, we can put a window in it as some point. 

All in all, the projects are doable. 

The she shed is but a misty vision in my head as Bill has plans to turn the cottage into some sort of modern cabin. He already has plans for it. I'll be focused on the house for a while so that is fine by me. 

That is it for now. 

We didn't get much time to relax this weekend but we are well on our way to making this a cozy and restful retreat. 

I'll be back with more updates soon. 

Katie