Beautiful Front Porch

While waiting for paint to dry, the urge to paint (and inhale paint fumes, apparently) was hard to suppress. I saved this nightstand from my in-laws' curb about a year ago. Finally, I decided to use it outside. But, first, I had to paint it.

I needed to fix the back that was falling off. I have to say, that box of 400 Finishing Nails I bought just keep coming in handy!

After a light sanding, I began with the four coats of white matte spray paint.

When it was finished, I was so excited to put it on my porch with my adorable Christmas Tree Shop lantern on top.

I ended up loving the lantern so much, I bought bigger ones to hang from the planters' hooks--since my thumb is officially black and I've concluded I cannot care for a plant...at all.

Hear ye, hear ye!

It is a joyous day in the kingdom of LEmily's Yellow House. The queen, herself, decided to be ambitious. She typed "How To Start A Lawnmower" into Ye Olde Google, got an answer and put it to the test. Because of her heroic efforts, her lawn is now mowed to perfection (save a few stragglers that should probably be weed-whacked). And so on, and so forth. Long live the queen!

The Party

So, somehow I started a tradition of throwing a Halloween party. I've done it three years now. But this year, I was so happy to be able to show off my decorations! As you've seen most of them, I wanted to show some final pictures, now that most are packed away for next year.

And this is my husband, who dressed as his inner child (really, an excuse to wear his footie pajamas I got him last year).

Mess=Progress

I think my reason for procrastinating putting up a blog was exhaustion due to the non-stop weekend we had and the late nights the week before and this week I've had at work. But, since I finally have some down time, I can update with the progress we made last weekend!

It's weekends like these that make me wonder how we fit 48 hours in a weekend. Don't get me wrong, I would love to expand the weekend to get even more done.

First, I finally got sick of my unpainted trim in the kitchen.

Ooh, it hurts my eyes!

And I got out my old painting clothes (who am I kidding? It's not like I've ever put them away, honestly. I don't think my husband cares I wear  the paint-stained pants to bed) and got to work. I was surprsed when Lenny and one of our friends joined me. Hell, that trim was painted so fast, I had even more time for another project...

Oh, thank goodness! Much better!

Eventually, we will be getting new windows, so I haven't gone through the annoyance of trying to paint the existing windows we have. That's what the blinds cover, thank goodness.

 

In between coats, I began making curtains for the kitchen. Have I mentioned I am in love with my grapes and wine theme?

The green fabric is actually made from a cheap flat sheet from Wal-Mart. The green just happens to accent the grape leaves painted on the walls. And the bottoms? Well, (totally giggling with anticipation of telling you), they're dishtowels!

Here's what they looks like on the window...although, I may do some changing around because the other windows are looking a little bland in comparison.

While I was working on the curtains, my husband began taking down the drop ceiling in our bathroom.

And my father-in-law nailed down my countertops! Sorry for exclamation point, but it's very liberating having countertops that no longer move around when I do anything on them.

What we found above the drop deiling was this, which we have to live with for a little while, but the extra six inches that have been added actually really makes a difference in the feel of the space in our bathroom.

 

Now, this is a very important tool in all of our household endeavors: A kitchen chair we inherited from Lenny's parents. We've used it for everything.

And my final project of the weekend, which I can say my husband gladly helped with, was decorating my window boxes. I found wooden slats at Wal-Mart, which my husband happily spray painted with stone-like spray paint. Our friend and I wrote little tombstone sayings on them, even a few off-color ones ("Billy Mays Here!" and "Michael Jackson Cause This Is Thriller!").

Please forgive the intense need our house has for a good power-washing.

 

More Halloween decorating and construction is scheduled for this weekend! Not to mention, I just got paid. My weekly trip to Joann's is set to commence as soon as I get out of work!