The Mailbox

Oh. Hi. Yes, I'm still alive. In fact, I'm just going to jump right into this post and pretend like I haven't skipped almost an entire year (!!!).

Here is our old mailbox. It was looking a little sad.

The old mailbox.

I decided to paint it (of course). I love it now! I used Rustoleum's oil-rubbed bronze spray paint on the mailbox and pure white (Behr's external paint) for the post. I was concerned about how it would hold up, since I haven't painted much that stays outside year-round, but it is still in perfect shape four months later. (We'll see how it does with a Midwestern winter, though!)

New and improved mailbox!

I bought three stainless steel buckets at an antique store and planted petunias in them (they're actually still mostly alive, even though it's October). Last fall, before painting, I put in the brick surround and planted tulips. When they died off in early spring, I added the buckets in their place.

Spring tulips.

I'm hoping the tulips come back this spring!

Summer Fun

It's already starting to feel like fall--the last two days have been in the upper 70s instead of the 90s! But we're still wrapping up our super busy summer. We headed up to Rockford on July 23 for Art and Becky's wedding, where Adam reunited with the Posse:

Adam then went to Madison for a few days for a work-related seminar, while I hung out in Roscoe. After that, we headed up to Three Lakes, Wis., for some vacation time with his family. Now we're finally back home and not planning on traveling any time soon... this summer has worn us out. Luckily, other people seem to be traveling in our direction (Anne and Brian, Becky and Sam)!! Which is always super exciting. 

On the home improvement front, we've been stalled for some time due to travel and financial constraints. But now that we're back for a while--and since we've had a long break--we're excited to get started on some more projects. We have two more bedroom doors to install (we've been at this point for... approximately a year. Oops. See our first door installation here). We probably would have had them done by now, but when we went to Menards this weekend, they were sold out of the ones we needed! Instead, we spent last weekend buying paint that matches our existing doors so that we can make the trim the same color. We're also going to try painting some of the doors we don't want to replace: our linen closet, pantry, and entry closet doors.

We're using Pittsburg Paint for these, since that was the brand that the pre-painted doors came with. It matched wonderfully (even though it wasn't exactly the same), so we went with it. Seems to be working so far: 

We did prime before we painted, although we just went with a water-based primer... we decided that the doors weren't "real" wood (they're hollow and plywood-y feeling. Yes, that's the technical term.), so we just winged it with water-based primer, since it's soooo much easier to deal with. The bleed-through hasn't been bad so far (sometimes you can still see wood-colored stains through the paint, unless you use an oil-based product), so I am hoping that it will stay that way. I just finished the final coat of paint on that door, which is for the linen closet, so I am hoping we can put it up tomorrow and see how it looks!

Sunny Saturday!

So busy lately! We've been gone most weekends over the last month, but now we're finally home for a while so we're back to projects again full time :) Some of our recent trips include Brent's wedding in Boston, Memorial Day weekend at my parents' cabin in Hayward, Wis., and a Roscoe wedding reception. Whew!

The hot, humid weather is no fun for me, but is doing wonders for some of my plants out on the deck.

This morning, I finally finished up a project I started some time ago... last fall, actually. Adam and I didn't have nightstands, and I had been scouring craigslist for weeks for some cheap ones. I found two matching ones for $8 total, but unfortunately they looked like this:


They sat in the shed over the winter, and a couple of months ago I got them out and started sanding. They're not real wood (as you can probably tell from the photo) -- they are pressed wood or particle board or something that's basically glorified plywood. Not the type of thing you'd normally refinish. But, I just wanted something quick and cheap, so I decided to paint them black. Not surprisingly, the outer laminate layer basically fell right off:


Then I primed, painted, and replaced the handles with something nicer. It took longer than expected, but I really like the results:

Stay tuned for the final photos of the patio set I showed Adam working on in the last post--it'll be ready for the outdoors on Monday when the paint is set. It looks AMAZING compared to when we got it. Can't wait to sit outside in the nice weather and use it!

Summer Projects

The weather keeps getting nicer, and we keep getting busier!

We visited Sam and Becky in Ann Arbor, MI, a few weeks ago, which was a blast. We've got a busy month coming up now, including Brent's wedding on May 22.

Yesterday, both our sets of parents came to visit. It was nice to see our moms on Mother's Day, but the purpose of the trip was actually to install our new water heater. Adam and the dads did a great job, and now we have plenty of hot water! (Instead of the ~1.5 showers we had previously...)

We've also gotten to do some outdoor work, which is really exciting for me. This is the first time I've had my own yard to plant things in, so it's lots of fun to get outside and play in the dirt ;) Our house doesn't have very nice landscaping -- just some bushes, and lots and lots of river rock. I am not really a big fan of river rock, although I understand that it's maintenance-free. But really, mulch just looks WAY better. I spent a few hours last weekend pulling all of the rocks out of this small area, tearing out the existing ugly bushes (with Adam's help), replanting nicer stuff, and then mulching. The before picture:



And after:


Adam has been busy with a softball league he joined this spring, as well as constantly mowing our lawn... it grows ridiculously fast. He's also been working on sanding down an old wrought iron patio set that we inherited from his parents, but that needs some work before it can be repainted. Here he is sanding the table base in the garage:


We're going to be entertaining a larger group of friends late in June, so we're trying to wrap up the table project before then. But the weather is being uncooperative, unfortunately, so it may be a challenge.

I promise more outside flower photos next time (once it stops being rainy/windy!)