Picture Perfect Path

I am fighting with the speed of our Internet service or really the lack thereof, which has caused a tad bit of discouragement on my behalf and as such has translated into a lack of blogging. So, I am going to try and push through it and get a few blogs posted in spite of the slow technology (insert ugh here!).

We are getting settled in, now I am not saying we don't have any boxes to go through, but slowly we are making progress. Along the way we are attempting to do a few (DIY) projects mainly consisting of the ones we feel we are even the most remotely qualified for and farming out the others to more experienced individuals when we are actually honest with ourselves that we lack any skill level in those areas to pull off a quality job.

So, with that said I am posting one of the first project we attempted. It centered on our front driveway, which had at one time a red stamped brick pattern. As you can see by the picture I have attached below, the days of that looking like anything had long since passed.

We thought how difficult could it be to restore this patch to it's original brick red color, well let me tell you. Bt had to give it a thorough power washing to remove the years of built up grime. Then we had to purchase an acid wash, which in essence etched the concrete and prepared it for the paint/stain. That had to dry for several days before we could apply the first coat of paint.

Check out Bt, he started with a roller and I followed closely behind with a brush. We quickly discovered it went much faster and we had better coverage when I filled in all the lines with the brush first. We had to apply (2) coats, which required 5-7 days of drying time between each application.

Once we had applied the final coat, we had to add the sealer, again we had to wait (14) days to ensure the paint was cured. Bt applied the clear coat, which did not go on as expected and actually ended up with a milky white appearance vs. the clear luster we were promised. I snapped photos, prior to the clear coat application.

We are still battling through the "final" look. In addition to the milky color in spots we are dealing with the dreaded tire marks. Seems the tree vendor decided to drive across it while it was curing and left a lovely set of tire marks, which stretch from side to side. We tried scrubbing them off, but it didn't work. Looks like we will have to etch it all over again and reapply. We are waiting for the fall before we tackle that project as it is just too hot to suffer through this project yet again in the Alabama heat!

Either way it looks 100% better than it did in the original state, so while I wouldn't give this project a (2) thumbs up, I would say we did a pretty decent job and I am sure the neighbors appreciate our efforts....judge for yourself!

DIY....is more fun with two!

My wonderful husband made a gallant attempt to unearth me from boxes of DIY furniture I purchased to outfit our sewing/craft room. It arrived just days before my mother's surgery and I was sure it wouldn't take that much time to assemble...right!

My first clue should have been that every box weighed more than 85lbs and there were no less than 10 of them! It was all I could do to pull them into the garage with the UPS drive in his infinite wisdom barricaded our garage door with them leaving them to soak up the ice and rain!

Needless to say when it took (5) hours to get the top half of the hutch assembled, I knew this wasn't going to be a 1-2 day affair. You have got to love the new version of DIY instructions ...there are none only pictures, so it makes everything a challenge.

So, this past weekend (yes Superbowl Sunday) my hubby drug the boxes in from the garage and began the arduous task of assembling all this fine furniture. It went much faster with two of us at work and when the pictures got a little fuzzy, my sister was there to lend a hand in interpreting what they were suppose to mean.

Of course she and I missed no opportunity to get the heck out of dodge and head for the mall, when our buddy Jimbo came to the rescue! Two guys are always better than one, when the room is packed with a bunch of DIY project fun!

DIY ( Do It Yourself) Truly means do it more than once!

We are still in the throws of renovation (our project room), the electrical is complete, the French doors have been installed, the walls and trim has been painted, so we decided to erect some shelves until the floors are ready to be installed. Mom and I headed out to the local “big box” DIY hardware store in this case LOWES and purchased a 6ft brush nickel set of metal shelves. I opted to spend $20.00 more and purchased a set of locking casters in anticipation of having to move it in the near future. Upon returning home we settled down to “put it together” first things first I pulled out the directions and began to read them….this is something my husband never does. He operates under the same premise as my Step-Father and just about every other man I have ever met….."Directions are a waste of paper, if I needed to read the directions to put it together, operate it etc., I should have never bought it!”

1. Remove all parts compare to parts listing as contained in direction manual 2. Two people are required for the assembly of this shelving unit.. Mom and I are on this. 3. Assembly takes approximately (10) minutes…..ok we will see about that one! 4. No tools or special hardware is required So, I pulled out all the parts and compared them to the part list….they were all there. Next, Mom and I checked to make sure the casters would fit the legs…yep man we are good to go! We proceeded to unwrap the shelving tubes when I found a problem. Two of the six tubes had major rust all over them, I should have known. If something is going to go amiss with a DIY it will be with me. The directions said if a part is missing don’t return the item to the store call the 800 number. Sorry been there done that! All that gets you is a (2) week delay because the service center is only open Monday - Friday, it was Saturday. They will have to order the part and ship the part, so you are looking at a week or longer before you get your “replacement” part. I wanted my shelves up today so back in the box it went! Anyone else would have just thrown it back into the box but not me ….no my OCD kicked in, which meant I rewrapped every leg, stack the shelves neatly and zip tied all the parts together. So Mom and I headed back to Lowes to return it. They didn’t give me a hassle in fact the representative said I totally understand I would want it today as well. Mom and I snagged the last remaining unit and we were off once again to the ole’ homestead. I checked all the parts, I did notice a little rust on one leg but at this point I just wanted to get the shelves up. So, I opted to place it on the back of the unit, which will be facing the wall and decided to “try” and not think about it so it wouldn’t keep me up at night (really…this kind of stuff does ask my hubby). Anyone, the two person requirement was probably an understatement. This unit is almost (7) feet when fully assembled, you know my mother and I are vertically challenged so this required a (1) step stool and the kitchen ladder just to get the shelves on. More than (10) minutes later, all the spacers were installed, the shelves where in place and the top tubes were capped and we rolled in into place. I have already begun stacking things on it and I am thinking I may need another one before it is all said and done, but for now I am going to sit back and admire our handy work!