Oh.  Nice.  Who painted the branches?  Daddy was not happy about that.  Our big girl, Emma 11, thought that would be funny while she was helping Daddy paint the brick.  I think she got that practical joke streak from her dear daddy.

All right.  We are back to my usual theme of easy and low maintenance.  I think the older we get, the more important this becomes.  Hmmmm.  I’m not going to ponder that any longer.

What An Exciting Topic!

I want to talk about cement.  A thrilling subject, I know.  But it can be one of those minor little things that just becomes a  major irritation.  We gotta hold things like this at bay!

If you are about to paint your cement, maybe on a patio or outdoor wall of some sort, don’t do it! Hear me?  Don’t do it.  Unless, of course, you enjoy repainting it every year.  Or maybe you just like the chipped look after a little while.  In that case, go for it.  Hey, the chipped look has it’s place.  It really does.

But, if this doesn’t float your boat, then read on.  (float your boat;  is that kind of 70’s?)

Notice the red painted cement porch.

Ok, remember our first house?  See that front patio?  See the red paint on the patio.  It might look fine from here, but when you get up close, it does not.

Pretend I have a good close up picture of it right here with paint peeling and chipping and you can see lots of uneven layers from each years paint job.  A little green, a little red, a little plain….

Now, this picture below is of our current front porch.  The porch has never been painted and it never will be.  Thank you Lord!

This porch does have scoring to make it look like blocks, but truly, scoring or not, I feel the same way about cement.

The point of showing this porch to you though, is not the porch, but that little wall.  And particularly the top cement part of the wall above the brick.  It’s one of my husband’s spring projects.   I’m very grateful that I have a husband that likes to do projects around the house.  Yeah!

The whole area doesn’t look great yet.  And the fact that we scalped the heck out of the holly bushes in front, makes it really look naked.  But I think it will evolve into something pretty cool.

Saturday is “work day with Dad” around the house.  How about those paint chips in the dirt.  I wonder if that is a bad thing.  Later, Matt got most of them out with the vacuum cleaner!

Back to the wall.  As you can see above, the top was painted white, just like the brick.  And, like the other house,  it had about 15 layers of paint, peeling at different stages, in various places.

My BBAH (Secret husband name.  Sorry, can’t tell you what it is.) got energetic and decided to scrape the paint off.  “We’re taking it back to the original. “  Okie dokie.

So they scraped.  Then they got the belt sander out and sanded.

And after that, we thought “Hey, it looks kind of white-washed and that is a cool thing.  Great.”  It has to be hip and cool, you know.

Yes, I think I like that.

So, now, all of the chipping layers of paint are scraped and sanded off and what is left is just the white paint that looks like it has soaked into the cement.  We are just going to let that weather and wear off over the years.

Maybe someday it will be back to plain cement matching the floor of the porch, but even with this white-wash look, it is definitely acceptable.  And what else?  Right.  Easy!  No more scraping and painting every year.

Not bad in my opinion.  And that’s all that counts, right?

Now as for the rest of the house – white painted brick – that is another story for another day.

So – The Nugget For Today

Don’t paint your cement.  If you think you are going to live there for awhile, suffer through a year or maybe two of scraping, sanding, etc and then sit back and think about more important things.  Or hey, if it doesn’t bother your wallet, hire someone to do it.

But if you have your house on the market to sell………..better get that paint out.

Bye for now and God Bless You!

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And now for something on the lighter side.  Whew!  Sigh of relief.

I Am Not Crafty

You must know that about me. I try to do a few things.  I really do.  And as we go on, I will show them to you.   I kind of figure if the directions are fairly simple and especially if they involve pictures, I should be able to do it.   But it does not come naturally to me.  So, my goal in this department is to make something that is pretty cool, yet not complicated.

I want to show you what my crafty little self did with this “what is the meaning of your name” stuff.   That is a link to the post I wrote about finding the meaning of your name, so you might want to read it if you are wondering what the big deal is here.

The Frame

One upon a time, I thought I would try to be CRAFTY.   See, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought these 12″ square black frames (on sale).

The Background Paper

Then, I went to the scrapbooking aisle (don’t even bring that subject up, please.)   I picked out these 12″ square, pretty papers they (not me, but the “real” crafty people) use for scrapbooking.   At first, I got a different paper for each child that went with their personality.  Bad idea.  Don’t do that if you are clutter-phobia.  It seems like a good idea, but it does not pan out if you are going to hang all of your frames together on one wall.

Drag.  That is a Very 70’s Word.

So, I went BACK to Hobby Lobby and exchanged them (exchanging things is such a drag -  especially PAPER for crying out loud.)   I did it because I was on a mission.  So think:  Where will you hang them and what will look good on THAT wall.

I have yellow walls and I love that yellow/red color combination.  Yellow is a happy color.  And I want to be happy as much as possible.  So I went for the striped red and white paper.  The red looks good with the yellow and the white matches…..can you guess……..Right!  The white woodwork!

Then I got pictures of my children and construction paper that matched the scrapbooking paper.

And THEN.  The All Important Tool.

I used this little corner cutter to make the edges round.  If you are not crafty.  Get one of these corner cutters.  Cut the corners off everything and people will think you are really creative.

I gave each picture a little background construction paper frame.  Corners cut off, of course.  Notice 2 pieces of construction paper under her picture

Then I typed up their names and the meaning, and printed them on this semi-transparent paper.  I got that at Hobby Lobby too.  I cut the edges with some kid scissors that gave it a fun border.

I also added a favorite verse to this little area at the bottom with a background frame.

And then   “Voila’!”

What I Would Do Different

Notice the big, weird smudge thing in the middle of the close-up photo of the verse 2 pictures above?  And also on the semi-transparent paper?  That is that double-sided tape.  If I did this over again, I would not use that.  Maybe I would use just a tiny dot of glue or glue stick in the 4 corners of those 2 parts, but by the time I’d gotten these done, there was no way I was going back to change it!  Know what I mean!

And, truthfully, I never notice it.  It is more obvious in these photos than it is in when you are just standing there looking at the frames.

What’s the Point?

My thinking on this is that I really want my children to pass by these day in and day out.   I want the meaning of their names to sink in.  I want them to grow up and say “Yeah, when we were little, my parents had our names and their meanings up on the wall and everyday I would pass by and…..”

I’d like to do one for my husband and me, too.  But that will have to wait for another day.

Ok, go get CRAFTY!

GODSPEED!

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Our First House.  Built in 1939.

3 Houses

I didn’t intend on talking about home renovation because it is not prominent on my radar screen right now.  But the truth is, it comes and goes.  My husband and I have renovated three 1939 homes over the last 13 years.  On one hand we really enjoy doing it together.  On the other hand things are always harder and more involved than you think they will be and it is a great opportunity for discord.  Through the years we have certainly learned much about how each of us operate under those kinds of stress and how to be sensitive to each others quirks.  But good gracious, we voluntarily put ourselves there.  Note to newlyweds:  Don’t start your first year of marriage renovating or building a house.  Just have fun.

Anyway I grew up in an old house (the one we live in now) and so I have always loved the “old house” character.  Wood floors, nice woodwork, a sense of history.

Freedom

My general theory about the home I live in has always been that I want it to feel like I’m on vacation.  Because I love that feeling of freedom (key word for me).  Fresh air by the ocean or in the mountains, not a care in the world, focus on nature,  exploration, only the few clothes in the closet that are comfy and I will wear often.  Things like that.

So, I try really hard to make my everyday life that same way.  And let me tell you, it is a constant effort.  Some of the key elements have been sparse and uncluttered rooms with only the necessities.  And, of course, white woodwork with painted walls versus wallpaper that can feel cluttered. (That’s just me.  Don’t mean to offend!)  That combination makes me feel free.  It makes me feel like anything is possible.  The sky is the limit.  My mind can think and create and focus on the people around me (husband, children and others) versus the stuff.

I’m just one of those people that atmosphere is everything.  I would rather go to a restaurant that has great atmosphere and so-so food, than one that has wonderful food, but lousy atmosphere.  I want to be able to sit or putter or whatever and have the space around me add to a sense of peace and calm.   I’ve always been a visual learner so maybe that is why it’s a big deal.

Nothing but Oil and Extra White

So today I  want to talk about white woodwork.  In the three houses that we have renovated, we painted all of the woodwork and walls.  We began with lots of help from a dear painter friend in the beginning – thank you Lonnie – and slowly evolved to doing it by ourselves.  We could probably be hired out as professional painters now that we have  had so much experience.  And we have fun doing it.  It’s a nice departure for husband after contorting his brain into all sorts of combinations in the law business and for me after spending days conversing and explaining and training little people.

On the first house I spent a ALOT of time picking the perfect white for all of that woodwork.  And there was a lot of woodwork.  (Are you sick of the word “woodwork” yet?  I am already.  Oh well.  It has to be said.)

The name of the color was “Champagne” and it was from the Valspar Historic Colors at Lowes.  This is back in 1996.  I don’t think it is on color cards in the store anymore, but they still have it in the paint computers.

We used that same paint on the second house.  Again, tons of woodwork and so many hours spent standing around the store waiting to get the paint tinted.  Finally when we got to the third house, I got smart.  I tried the plain, “extra white,” no tint at all mixed in, and guess what?  It’s my favorite.  Clean and crisp.  And all I have to do is walk in the paint store, grab a gallon, have them shake it and we are done.  No standing around waiting to have someone tint it and then possibly getting it wrong (which you don’t usually know until you start painting and you realize it doesn’t match what you have been using.  Arggggggggg.)

Here is what we use:  Sherwin Williams.  Extra White.  Semi gloss.  Oil based.  Sorry, but it has to be oil based if you plan on living there a while.  I tried to talk myself into latex at one point and we tested it out, compared it to oil, wanted to like it because clean up with water is so much easier than paint thinner, but it is just not good.  Some paint store people will try to tell you it is.  Don’t believe them.  Oil has the perfect sheen, its easy to wipe clean and will last a very long time.

Semi-gloss versus gloss

I have tried both.  Our first house and our third house have semi-gloss and our second house had gloss.  Here are pictures to show you a comparison. This first one is gloss.

Check out that shine on the cupboard.

That gloss is very pretty and crisp and I kind of like it, but I found myself walking around that house and my eye was always drawn to the WOODWORK.  That shouldn’t be.  It should be background.  Foundation.  But it was “Hi, I am your shiny woodwork.  The woodwork you worked your bottom off painting and now I am shouting at you!”

So here is a picture of the woodwork in our current house.  This is semi-gloss.  It still has a nice sheen, but it doesn’t talk to me.  Thank goodness.

Semi-gloss

There you have it.  That is my little bit of wisdom on woodwork.  Once you have that task done – the rest is easy.  It’s like having a good foundation to build you life around.

So do you like gloss or semi-gloss?  Why?  Maybe someone could design a personality traits test that divided people into gloss, semi-gloss, satin, egg-shell and flat.  Ok.  Maybe not.

God Bless you all!

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