And the new pots of Wave Petunia's hanging from the back fence: 




About time to weed and get the rest of the mulch down I'd say! 

Hello all!  It's been a week or two!  Had some trauma here at the Card house so not many projects have been worked on. 

Here is one project I've had on the list for awhile now.  Since we moved in to be honest.

Back at our townhouse, the stairwell wall was the 'picture wall'.  After we moved into the house, I left all those pics packed up until this week.

The previous art in the living room was pretty, but didnt go with anything and was pretty dark. 






I decided to take all the old frames, along with some Dollar store frames, and paint them white.  Then added some pretty pics of different flower arrangements.  

 




Not bad for only having to buy spray paint! 

Now all I need are some white slipcovers.  HELP!!! 

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!  It's been another busy one here at the House of Card's.  

It's a fact... the majority of us have, and enjoy, the TV.  Ours isnt the biggest, or fanciest... but we definitely enjoy it.  I dont enjoy how it looks in the design scheme of things.  So, we changed a couple things. 

Last weekend, we installed it on the wall.  This is easy peasy... right??  Sure!  If the bracket you buy comes with all the same size lag bolts.  Ours?  Are you kidding?!?!  We borrowed the coolest stud finder from our friend Don: 

 It actually shows you a 'picture' of the stud behind the wall.  It can also tell you when there is power or metal.  We need one of these!!  

We attached the bracket to the TV:

We attached the bracket to the wall.  We didnt take pics of this because we were bloody and angry with the damn thing.  We had to borrow 2 different tools to get the stupid lag bolts into the studs.   Thanks Thomas!  

We finally placed the TV on the wall: 

I've wanted it like this for years.  And now, the bracket will be sold with the house when we go.  

Then yesterday, I changed up the sideboard to go with the 'cottage' scheme I'm leaning towards.  Before: 


My trusty tools: Killz primer and Heirloom white spray paint. 


Distressed with 240 grit sandpaper and then a coat of Martha Stewart glaze with a gray tint.   After:





 Oh my word... I BIG FAT <3 spray paint!!   

Now... what do we do with the cords??  I have a 'thing' about cords showing.  I've no idea and it's driving me mad!!  

Lately life feels out of control.  We've had an entirely sick family, 1 very sick and 1 slightly sick cat, stress, stress, anger, and more stress!

For me, when life feels out of control, I want to control the things I can control. 

That means I need to organize and declutter.  

Lately my kitchen feels visually cluttered, and that freaks me out.  A lot of it has to do with the 'backsplash' I spent hours hunched over painting.  It's a moroccan stencil on a textured wall.  Yeaaaaaaah.  Not working for me.  Dont get me wrong, it's very pretty and the look changes based on the time of day.  But, it's a lot going on there, I want simple and clean. 

Like this:

Drew is going to have a heart attack, but I'm so going to paint our island... or maybe leave it like this and paint the rest of the cabinets white/cream.  When I get the guts! 

I have these wonderful pull out shelves in all my lower cabinets, and the island has been my 'I dont know where to put this' stashing place.  No longer!!  I'm going to clean it out and throw out anything I havent used.  I'm going to put all my baking supplies there. 

I'm also going to take off a few upper cabinet doors.

  I have so many cook books that I want to display and I want to make getting dishes easier, plus they are currently in the most inconvenient place possible.   WOOHOO!!  LOOK OUT CLUTTER!!!  

Before:   




Lookee... you can even see my oh so lovely "backsplash".  Pffft.  


After:







Hmmmm... thoughts???

I always love a good 'after' photo - 


This may not seem like much to some folk... but this is HUGE people!  HUGE!!
This photo was taken this morning (A week after laying) and it's still green!!  And it's growing!  I guess that means we did something right!  Tuesday evening I went out and got a few plants to fill in the fence area.  Plants are pricey... it's amazing.  So, mine are small and dont fill the space at all yet.  Not even close.  I planted a butterfly bush in the SE corner, 2 larkspur, some ornamental grass, white azalea and a couple 'filler' shrubs. I also planted 2 pots full of 'Wave petunias'.  Most of the plants I want wont be able to be planted until the fall.  I'm going to fill in this year with wild flowers and plant trees and bulbs come fall.  I seriously, cant even tell you what a difference this makes to the feeling of our house.  

   Our yard now has a completely different feel.  Instead of a wasteland that was unsafe it's green, lush, cheerful and even feels cooler (temp wise that is).  Still tons of work to do out there and we have lots of dreams for our yard.  

 I couldnt be happier right now with it.  This is a huge weight off my shoulders to have this done.  It's beautiful and will get better and better over time.  

 

I hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day holiday!  We were so very busy... not to mention sore.  One of my biggest issues with our house has been dealt with.  WE HAVE GRASS!!  :-) 

This is 3 years in the works.  There was no way in Hell I was going to clean up a yard full of weeds again this summer.  Here is our lovely yard just after we moved in: 

 After the fence was installed by Zion Fence: 

 And this is after it's been cleared of weeds.  We get those evil tumble weeds.   *shiver* 

Our first attempt failed miserably.  Yes, we tried to grow lawn from seed.  HELLO?!?!?  But, it's worth a try!  Right?!?!?  So, after that failed... I decided to bite the bullet and order sod.  Easy... RIGHT?!?!  Sure... when it's not one of the rainiest weeks on record!  It rained so much for so long, no sod could even be cut!  DRATS!!  Foiled again!  I mustered all the patience I had and prayed for a couple days without rain.  

I got lucky, and our sod was delivered the Friday before Memorial Day.  Not exactly how we wanted to spend a long weekend... but whatever gets it done!