Stain, sun, & sparklers...

Somewhere amidst the pool, beach, cruises in the Jeep, fireworks, sparklers, & all of the good food in the last couple of days I was able to squeeze in a little bit of time to finish the bar top on the porch & eat our first official meal out there.  What's the 4th of July without a backyard BBQ?!?  I'm pretty sure it'll become a nightly thing...holiday or not!

Here's what I started with - dad built the table out of a bunch of scrap (ripped) 2x4's that we had left over from framing up the porch. He screwed a couple of supports to the bottom & it's attached to the porch railing with three shelf brackets.

I used the same dark walnut stain that we did my dining room table in last spring.  (I couldn't resist setting the table...just to see what it looked like!)

Last but not least...a few shots of our 4th of July festivities.  We were pretty low-key this year compared to years past, but it was way too hot to do much of anything but be in the lake anyway!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday & got to spend some time with great friends & family!

The home stretch...

We're almost to the finish line on this porch project!

Things left to do...

• Paint swing framework.
• Paint or stain bar top.
• Prime & paint window boxes.
• Mulch garden around porch. 

Then of course I still need to accessorize!

We're Swinging!

The porch swing has been up for a week & we're LOVING it!  Grady & I have read &/or played out there probably every night since we got it up.

I can't wait to finish everything else.  Tonight mom & I will work on priming the floor, window boxes, & the frame for the swing, then hopefully tomorrow after work we can get the floor painted aqua!

Here's a quick run-down of what's left to do - we're almost there!!!

• Build built-in bar.
• Prime & paint swing framework.
• Prime & paint porch floor.
• Prime & paint new steps up to porch.
• Prime & paint window boxes.
• Mulch garden around porch.

Porch Progress & a Very Special Birthday

The last month has been a total blur.  Most of it was spent focused on my surgery & rehabbing my knee = not fun.  We did manage to squeeze in both some work & play though!  There are still a few things on the porch list: filling some holes, painting the floor, painting the window boxes, building the "bar", & hanging up the porch swing to name a few...but it's getting close!

We celebrated Grady's birthday out there & it was perfect!  Below are a few pictures of what the porch looks like right now as well as some shots of the birthday boy.  The green chairs will be moved over to the bar & the porch swing will take their place.

The barn light was a plain Jane gray that I spray-painted a fun sun yellow.  I LOVE it.

New window boxes - soon to be painted.  Color TBD.

Dad getting ready to hang the boxes up.

 

 

I can't believe he's three years old already...

A 'poor man's' pergola & some porch art

Another weekend of rain - of course!  Doesn't mother nature know we're on a strict schedule with this project?!?  We had high hopes of getting the roof off and rebuilt on Saturday, but it didn't stop raining all day.  We got a few dry hours yesterday & were able to take off all of the old tin roof & a lot of the old siding, but we're not nearly as far along as we'd planned.  It sort of resembles a very primitive pergola now.  Haha.  Dad was able to take the afternoon off work today to work on it a little bit, so we'll see how far he gets by the time I'm off work.  Hopefully we can play catch-up tonight & get this project back on track!

Old cedar siding off...getting prepped to re-wire & eventually put up new siding!

Dad working on re-hanging the gutter after we took off the old tin roof.  It's so much brighter without it.

Some art I sketched out the other day to hang in the porch - I can't wait to 'decorate' it.

The list looks pretty similar to where is was last week...with a couple of unexpected additions like re-hanging the whole gutter since it was apparently just resting on the old tin roof:

• Jack up porch.
• Order roofing material.
• Demo lattice & chicken wire & clean off porch.
• Dig post holes.
• Pour cement footers.
• Level out the porch & get the posts put up.
• Tear off all of the old siding.
• Tear off the old roof.
• Re-hang the gutter since it was resting on the old roof.
• Frame everything out.
• Build built-in bar.
• Re-route cable to other side of porch.
• Wire for the new light & outlet.
• Hang new siding.
• Prime & paint all framework.
• Install new roof.
• Paint siding.
• Install new light & outlet.
• Hang up screen.
• Retrofit screen door for existing space.
• Paint screen door.
• Prime & paint porch floor.
• Trim out patio door, window, and all screen panels.
• Purchase & hang porch swing & pallet planter.
• Build, prime, paint new steps up to porch.
• Fill nail holes & touch up all trim work.
• Hunt down three cool chairs & paint them.
• Sew a few throw pillows for the porch swing.
• Plant window boxes.
• Mulch garden around porch.
• Perhaps finish off bottom of porch with lattice?

26 days & counting!

Set in Ce-ment!

The four post holes (footers) are now filled with cement!  That means we can really dig in to the porch project once the weather clears up.  Darn rain!  Each day lost is making me more & more nervous that we aren't going to get it done by Grady's party on June 2nd...

As of this morning our list looks like this:

• Jack up porch.
• Order roofing material.
• Demo lattice & chicken wire & clean off porch.
• Dig post holes.
• Pour cement footers.
• Level out the porch & get the posts put up.
• Tear off all of the old siding.
• Frame everything out.
• Build built-in bar.
• Re-route cable to other side of porch.
• Wire for the new light & outlet.
• Hang new siding.
• Prime & paint all framework.
• Install new roof.
• Paint siding.
• Install new light & outlet.
• Hang up screen.
• Retrofit screen door for existing space.
• Paint screen door.
• Prime & paint porch floor.
• Trim out patio door, window, and all screen panels.
• Purchase & hang porch swing & pallet planter.
• Build, prime, paint new steps up to porch.
• Fill nail holes & touch up all trim work.
• Hunt down three cool chairs & paint them.
• Sew a few throw pillows for the porch swing.
• Plant window boxes.
• Mulch garden around porch.
• Perhaps finish off bottom of porch with lattice?

32 days to go...yikes!

In other news, my mom was a champ & came over after she was done with work & surprised Grady & I by staining his swing set with some old deck stain that we had on hand.  The gray part on the bottom is what the whole thing looked like before.  Now I just have to figure out what we're going to do about the canopy that ripped over winter...whether I'm going to make a new fabric one or maybe put a metal or wood roof on it?

Getting jacked up & demolishing things.

Little by little progress is being made on the good 'ol porch.  This week dad, Grady, and I have spent our nights demoing, digging, & jacking things up.  (Like, literally using a jack to raise the porch.)  Grady's new favorite phrase is "you have to break it before you fix it, mom".  Hopefully he doesn't think that applies to everything!  :)

Here are a couple of quick shots of the newly raised and now cleaned off porch and the little helper man...just seconds before he pinched his finger in that jack - ouch!  All of the lattice & chicken wire is gone & it seems SO much brighter...I never realized that the lattice blocked that much light!  We've got two and a half holes out of four dug for the footers & are hoping to finish the rest tonight & pour cement by the weekend (although the forecast for tomorrow says rain and Saturday says snow...what?!?).

And just for fun, a before shot for comparison.  You can't see much difference yet, but there is progress being made.  I just realized how much the bushes have grown (overgrown) since we moved in four years ago...yikes!  Might have to do something about that...

Oh, I also made a slight change to my plans...I think I'm going to have dad build me a porch swing instead of the Adirondack chairs for the porch.  How fun would that be?  I think I'll still paint it yellow, & maybe add a cushion in blue ticking and a few bright pillows.  Something like this maybe?