The Great Wall......gone!

The first order of business when we bought our new house was to take out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. The second was to take down what seemed like miles and miles of wallpaper we had in every square inch of the house.  Below are some pictures of the plaster wall coming down. Much bigger project than I anticipated! We are still working on our kitchen but I will show pics of that soon.

Kids Painting

As I have been working on updating our house I have been working on getting back into my art.  I was an art major in college but after I graduated I got a "real job" and left my art in the dust.  Well, since I am a stay at home mom in my early 30's I decided now is the time to get back to it.  I have lots of girlfriends who are having kids and I wanted to paint something special for their chldren.  Below is one the paintings I have completed but I am working on several more that I will post as I finish them!

Our House

My husband and I have been married for 4 years now and one thing we love to do together are home projects!  So back in May we bought a new house that needed A LOT of TLC. I will be posting before and after pictures of the projects we have completed since we moved in.  Please remember we have a two year old son so the process has been slow going!  Below is our new house when we bought it......more to come!

Build It On A Budget Treehouse

So my husband and I wanted to get our son something great for his second birthday and we thought what could be better than a treehouse!  We are a family on a budget and knew that a nice, new, fully installed playhouse was not in a our price range so we decided to do it ourselves and for a fraction of the price.  Below are some pictures of the construction.

When we went to purchase our material for the project we were a bit concerned about using pressure treated wood due to the chemicals.  I know they have decreased the amount of chemicals they use on pressure treated wood but it was still a concern for us since our son would be all over this sucker.

We also knew that cedar and redwood were the best material for this project but, in our area, this is custom ordered and EXPENSIVE.  So we came up with a plan to use pressure treated lumber for the support structure and cedar fence pickets for the floor boards and railing.  Saved us a TON of money!!!

HE LOVES IT!  Great idea.......low cost.......fantastic reaction!  Happy Birthday!

My First Post

Hello blog world!  This is my first go at this so bare with me as I figure it out.  I have been folllowing a couple of bloggers and thought it would be interesting to start my own.  In light of the passing of Steve Jobs, an incredible innovator of our time, I am going to follow one of the things he said.  ".....the only way to do great work is love what you do."  Well,  I don't know about the great work part but I have a love for design and DIY so I guess I will start there.  Currently, I am a stay at home mom of an awesome 2 year boy.  It's amazing what a 2 year old can come up with and what they can get into.  I was an art major who, after college did nothing with the $25,000.00 degree and decided to work in hotels as an event planner......go figure.  I stopped working as soon as I had my son and have reclaimed my passion for art and design and now I have an outlet for it on this blog.  So I will be posting images of some of my passions and I hope you enjoy.  Looking forward to blogging.......god that sounds so cheesy.

Peace
SM