Fall Decor: Neighborhood Tour #1

I decided I need some decorating inspiration for how to decorate the exterior of my house for fall. SO, this past weekend I went and toured some of my favorite neighborhoods :) I have to admit, there was not QUITE as much fall decor out as I'd anticipated... so some of the pictures are just of houses I thought were adorable.

The first neighborhood I toured was German Village...

Lovely, isn't it? :)

Kitchen Backsplash - Sneak Peek

The kitchen reno is still underway, but we are getting SO close!

I worked on the backsplash this weekend.. I got almost the whole thing tiled, but then our neighbors had dinner guests over on their back patio, so I obviously no longer felt ok to use the super loud and obnoxious tile saw! Just a handful more cuts to make though and its ready for hte grout :)

I'm loving the effect :)

98 Days!

SO, one thing about me that I really, really love Christmas. I think I'm as excited for Christmas at age 29 as I was at age 6! I cannot help it. More than anything I love the time off, relaxing and laughing with my family around a sparkling tree and roasting fire, eating Christmas goodies, playing scrabble and watching movies, surprising people with gifts, and of course celebrating the reason for the season! So wonderful!

(My iPhone App Countdown - with a picture of my Christmas tree from last year!)

It's been SUPER fun having our own house to decorate :) Last year was wonderful, but we still had a TON of work to do on the house... This year, the house renovations should actually be (almost) DONE and I cannot wait to see it and enjoy it all decorated for the season :)

When it comes to 'Christmas Style', I would call mine natural and whimsical. I love the greens and silvers and woodsy feel, but I also love little touches that remind me of Christmas during my childhood. Old school, fat, colorful Christmas lights... traditional plaid table settings... homemade garland... All I can say is that it is going to be really fun to decorate this year!

Above are some of my favorites for Christmas 2012:

1 - Moss Covered Initial Letter
2 - Burlap Ribbon
3 - Painted Birch Candle
4 - Lit Magnolia Garland
5 - Naughty/Nice Gift Tag
6 - Merry Christmas Garland
7 - Red Mercury Glass Globe String Light
8 - Winter White Garland
9 - Red Berry Wreath
10 - Birch Round Vase Filler
11 - Oversized Mason Jar

ANYWAY, I won't get too ahead of myself. I love fall too! :) It's just starting to cool off and I just pulled out my pumpkins last week.. so this is the last you will hear from me about Christmas for awhile (but you better believe it's still in the very back of my mind!)

The Deck - The Reveal!

The deck is DONE!

We actually ended up going a different route in terms of the colors I posted about on Friday, but I think the result is perfect!

Here is a snapshot of the finished result:

We ended up going with Restore Deck Liquid Armor Resurfacer in the "Bark" color. I was really afraid of the gray colors being too light, and Evan was  certain that dark was the way to go.. so, we went with his gut and I'm so glad we did!

Here are a few before shots:

You can see how beaten up the boards were here:

Look at the difference just one coat makes (Just a note to anyone wanting to use this product, we used the Restore roller and then went over it with a paint brush to smooth it out. I really did not like the texture with just the roller - WAY too rough!):

And ta-da!! The finished result:

Looks like a new deck! We should definitely pass our exterior inspection now :)

Deck Paint Color - Help!

Our city does exterior inspections every few years, and gives homeowners 30-days to fix all violations. We were lucky and only had two:

1) Trim the trees above our garage
2) Refinish the deck (paint or stain)

Trimming the trees was easy, but the thing about the deck is that we plan on replacing it next year! Not that my city cares about this. Anyway, for a quick, inexpensive fix, we decided to paint the deck with "Restore" paint. A couple of my neighbors with the same violations have already done this, and let me tell you it doesn't look too bad at all! In fact, I'm getting really excited painting ours!

The problem is - what color should I choose?

Here is a picture of the house and the only current picture I have of the deck (or a corner of the deck, I should say!)

(I should metion I hate the color of the deck currently. It is practically red!)

And here are the paint color options:

Granite

Cape Cod Gray

Charleston

Fieldstone

Gray

Pewter

Obviously I'm leaning towards something more in the gray family. I like the idea of contrasting a little bit with the house. Originally I thought I wanted a brown, but I just hate the look of brown paint, so I'm going this route. Or do you like the fieldstone? Let me know your thoughts! I hope to buy the paint after work today and start painting tomorrow.. Our 30 days is rapidy running out!



Mudroom Tiling is Complete!

This room obviously hasn't been COMPLETELY cleaned up (tiling supplies everywhere) and we still need to put on the quarter round trim along the baseboards, but I could not wait to show you the finished result!

The tile is "Burma Negro" tile from the Tile Shop, with "London Fog" grout from there as well. I have to say, I think tiling is my new passion! It is much easier than I expected it to be, and the impact is tremendous! My next tiling projects are the kitchen backsplash and the 2nd floor bathroom, which should be happening sooner rather than later :) Can't wait to share!



Lake Geneva - Lake Houses

Also on our trip to Lake Geneva, we took a long walk along the lake. Of course I had to stop and snap some pictures of the amazing houses for you :)

My sister Amy, my cousin Aaron, & his wife Melinda walking the shore path:

Love this view: