Driftwood Clock

We spent a very hot day at a fun summer concert.  This concert took place near a beach on Lake Michigan.  I spotted several pieces of driftwood in the water and on the sand, and my wheels started turning.  We made a second trek to this beach (mostly for my boys to swim, but I had other motives) and I had my idea all thought out in my head, I simply needed the right pieces.  So I gathered up lots of small pieces of driftwood (along with several large pieces - that project to come at a later time) and took them home so that I could create for myself a driftwood clock.

I took this clock - I've had it for years and just recently the blue plastic circle fell off and I decided this would be the perfect sized face for what I had in mind.

I made an exact duplicate of the blue plastic circle by tracing it and cutting it out in wood.  It was the very first time I've ever used a jig-saw and my hubby wasn't even home!!!

I took my pieces of driftwood and laid them out loosely before I hot glued them on to the wood circle.

I then kept gluing on smaller pieces of driftwood to fill in the gaps between the larger pieces.

And the finished clock looks like this... I LOVE IT!!!

I don't consider myself to be super crafty, but this project made me super happy!  It was so fun and super easy to make.  It is hanging proudly in our newly renovated porch (photos to come on that project, as I have a few things I need to do with the room before I can post photos).  Enjoy!

Catching up!

Okay, so this blog should be called "Our Monthly Doings" or "Our Yearly Doings" - seems I can't seem to keep up and make the time to sit and post daily or even weekly for that matter!  That being said, this house has been keepin' me hoppin'!  We had one week of summer vacation and then all of us switched bedrooms.  YIKES!!!  It truly felt like we moved homes.  The boys now have their own bedrooms and are totally thrilled!!!!  So I've been painting, painting, painting.  Before we did the old bedroom switcheroo - I had recently completed painting the 11 double hung window sashes on our porch (it was a very tedious and loooooong project).  Which reminds me I have lots to update here.  One thing at a time though...

My last post was on our stairwell renovation.  Well, we have gone as far as we can until we decide if we want to install a railing and newel post.  We need to live with it for awhile and see if we'd like to install one or leave it as is.

The last phase of the stair renovation was the landing.  After all the treads were in place, we needed to figure out a way to make a nosing for the front edge, which is curved.  We decided to use individual blocks of wood to create a sort of, I guess you'd call it a - radial pattern.  So, we cut up several pieces of construction paper and started to get an idea of how it would look.

After we decided this was the way we wanted to go - a template was made, pieces of wood cut and glued together and we ended up with this...

My hubby did an awesome job putting it all together - he is amazing!!  He then routered the edges and we put several coats of stain and clear coat to protect it and the finished piece looked like this.  We were trying to match the stain of our oak hardwood flooring and we came super-duper close.  In the second photo, you can kind of see the seams between the blocks of wood that were glued together to make the finished piece.  He even constructed it so that the wood grain looked perfect from piece to piece.

So, with the nosing laid in place, it was time to install the hardwood flooring.  The first couple of pieces are in on the next photo.  The bottom photo shows the finished landing (with a wee bit of painters tape where we had to touch up the corner.)

We have finished trim on the landing, however this photo is missing that.  I'm also not going to go take a photo now - I'm feeling quite accomplished, in that I actually have this post almost complete.  I'll post the finished project when and if we put in a newel post and railing.

Stair Renovation

We are in the process of renovating our stairs.  I have always wanted a staircase with stained treads and white risers.  Well, we are in the process of creating just that.  And I am SO excited!  Here is a photo of our stairs, 5 years ago, when we first moved in.

One of the first things we did, after moving in, was to remove the carpet.  Under the carpet at the base of the stairs is particle board.  We've been living with that particle board for almost 5 years now and I can't wait till it is gone! Hard wood flooring will take its place!!


Here are the stairs minus a few treads.

What my hubby is kneeling on is the particle board.  We took out every tread and every riser.  Here is another view.

After all pieces were removed, we planed, sanded, primed, painted, stained, clear coated and are almost to the point of putting it all back together.  One more clear coat on the treads, and 2 coats of paint on the walls, reinstall all the pieces and the transformation will be complete!  I'm soooo excited!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tried a new version of a photo Valentine this year (and sorry grandma, grandma and grandpa - we didn't get Valentine's out this year).  I found this idea on Pinterest and we had a lot of fun with it.  Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!





Here is the original image.  We printed this on card stock and then cut them out to 3"x3" squares.  Cut on either side of his head and then slid a sucker through.  Then we attached a little red triangle paper "arrow tip" on the end of the sucker.

Porch Remodel - Update

It has been a looooooooooong time since I've posted, but I wanted to update on our porch remodel.  Since I've last posted, we've gotten quite a bit done.  My hubby likes to call it "progress"!!

On Black Friday, we found oak hardwood flooring at a local home improvement store for $1.99/square foot.  I had searched high and low, on-line and at local flooring stores for inexpensive, yet good quality hardwood.  I struggled to find anything within our budget.  Thankfully, we were not looking for a particular species, nor a particular stain, we were simply looking for a good deal and hoped to stay close to $2.00/square foot.  Well, we found it!!!  And, we are really pleased with the quality and look.

Part of our plan was to add faux board and batten wainscot.  So, we have been busy cutting (my hubby ripped 2x6's into the battens) and painting lots and lots of battens as well as baseboard and window trim.  It has been a long time in coming, but we are thrilled with the end result thus far!  Here are a few quick shots of the porch today.  We still have to add some more trim and paint the windows (a summer project) and walls above the wainscot.  It simply does not feel like the same room.  It is so open and bright and fresh looking!  I LOVE IT!!!

Washington D.C.

Two weeks ago we took a vacation to Washington D.C.  Our oldest was nominated to attend the Jr. National Young Leaders Conference.  We drove him there and while he attended his conference, the rest of us became tourists in D.C.

This is where Ben spent his week, at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center.

Our Scholar all ready to register.

Ben's home away from home.

On our first day in D.C. we walked the National Mall and saw lots of the War Memorials.

The White House from the shadows of the Washington Monument.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The World War II Memorial.

Relaxing and enjoying the beautiful day at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Reflecting Pool was under construction - it was a bit of a disappointment.

One of my favorite photos from the trip.

We spent LOTS of time on the Metro.

We spent a gorgeous day at the National Zoo.

The morning sun illuminating the U.S. Capitol.

Braden stands $1,444, 600 tall.

We were exhausted by day 3!!

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

The new MLK Jr. Monument.

The Old Post Office and clock tower, of which we took an elevator to the top to see the view below.

A view from the clock tower.

Reunited with Ben!