Ready for Summer - is it every coming?

So, no luck at the garage sales today. My partner in crime wasn't feeling well yesterday so she slept in this morning and I was on my own. I think that's why I didn't find anything good; she's my good luck charm! At any rate, I saved myself some money and put my energy into other things, like taking a nap in the hammock. I did get some good cleaning up done around the yard and pool area. Though it isn't completely finished, my pool deck is looking a whole lot better. We've had lovely weather for the past few days but still not warm enough for what I would call summer.

You may have seen my post about a month ago talking about how the good weather gives me project fever and my plans for a patio makeover and lounge chair finishing. When my pool was installed way back whenever, it was plopped it into the middle of a full blown garden so by the time I got a hold of it, it was overgrown with mostly weeds taking over the pool area. I am lucky to have a separately fenced area with a nice, secure gate that houses my pool but I have been longing to get it tidied up and more usable and that was this Spring's project. Well, mostly my husband's project - he's the one who made the loungers, ripped out the garden, hauled most of the dirt (I managed 10 wheel barrows full!) and put in the patio stones (left over from major patio overhaul we did two years ago.) So, here's what it looked like a month ago.

Shudder... you never realize how bad it was until it's fixed up! We sold the table and chairs and started digging. Remember, we were using leftover stones so naturally we had juuuuust enough to almost finish it. Eeeeesh, what project ever goes smoothly? We are still working on finding the few extras that we need but this is what it looks like with the table and chairs in place...

See? better already! Now for the lounge chairs. "We" built these last summer based mostly on the plan Ana White's wonderful plan for a chaise with a bit of a size modification to match the cushions we found on sale for $25 each! I was supposed to paint the loungers last year and never got around to it. Can't remember what I was doing but it must have been important because without paint, they are so unattractive (lovely craftsmanship, though!).

So, this Spring, I dragged out the ol' can of exterior white and got down to it AND, complained the whole time to anyone who would listen. the slat bottoms were really annoying and I had to paint one side and then the other, and then it rained so I had to wait before I could resume painting, etc. But, they're done now and they look fabulous and I am so glad I put all that effort into them.

 So, with the table, chairs, loungers and matching umbrellas (also scored on sale end of season last year), here's how it looks!

Now, if it would only warm up, I might be tempted to jump in!

Project Fever in Full Force

I am very happy to be a Canadian girl. Most of my family actually lives in the U.S. (Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle). They were all born here but they've been in the States for years and years - I have made many, many wonderful trips to Texas and I even got to go to California and Georgia. Both my brothers are married to American girls and all their kids are American so I like to think that right beside the maple leaf stamped on my heart, there's a few stars and stripes too!

But, I live in Canada and that means winter. Lots of winter. It's only been the last couple of weeks that I can get outside and get on to some of my big projects. This summer's plans include pulling out the weed garden in the pool area and putting in the patio stones leftover from my patio installation two years ago. That way, we will be able to fit a table and chairs big enough so that all three of my kids can sit down at the same time, doesn't that sound nice?

I put the old patio set up for sale on Kijiji (like Craigslist) so that will make some room. I have to finish painting the gorgeous lounge chairs that my husband made for me last summer - we have a deal: he makes it into furniture and I make it pretty. Last year, I didn't quite get around to making these pretty - but I'm getting there - after I took this photo, I got about half way through (those slats are a real killer!)

And because we are moving our aluminum patio set into the enclosed pool area, I will need a new table on the patio, right? After careful consideration, I picked out the table I wanted, chose the paint colour and bought the paint - how does it look?

  

Ok, so I still have a bit of work ahead of me, but I am really looking forward to it. It rained today which set me back a bit, oh and that full time job thing gets in they way... but we're moving forward and that's all that matters!

And today, we settled on new colours for the house - we are getting the entire exterior repainted in Benjamin Moore's Monterey White and Georgian Green. We have been saving up for a long time to get it done; it's too big a project to do ourselves and the house really needs it - it's quite dreadful right now - I'm sure I will be getting Thank You notes from the neighbours!

I will be sure to share the finished projects...