Blue Happy Living

Oh my I’m in trouble with Greg.  He has such pride about our yard and trust me when I say it can be a bit over the top.  He likes to think of our back yard as an extension of our home.  It is full of what I like to call comfort zones where you can sit and relax.  That is an important part of summer life in Texas, outside living.I guess if you could give a theme to our back yard it would be Redneck Shabby Chic.  Yep that’s pretty much Greg and my personalities put together. I’ll soon do a blog and show you pictures of the back yard and how we like to live life in the summer time.

So this weekend I was totally prepared for all my projects next week.  I lined them all up in my studio and one by one I worked on them.  My project for Monday required spray paint.  I didn’t want to do it inside because of the over spray so out side it went to be sprayed.  I guess I got excited because I forgot to cover the ground.  I started working and when I was finished I realized I got over spray on Greg’s green carpet of grass.  My BAD!!!I thought that I could just leave it and he wouldn’t notice, but he did and he wasn’t happy.  Oh well it will grow this week and our great yard guy will be here Thursday morning to cut it.  Problem solved, grass back to normal so keep your cool Gregory!

The project I was so excited about was this great little stool.  Greg spotted it at an estate sale on the final day and he snagged it for $5 WOW what a deal. It has a wood top and a metal base that was very rusty.  I started with sanding it all over. I sanded the metal legs just to get it smooth and all the rust off of it.  The top had that ugly orange stain and the name MIKE carved deep into the wood  along with many other scratches.  I sanded it back to its natural wood base.  I had to put extra elbow grease into sanding the top to get it ready for paint and stain.

I have lots and lots of spray paint in many colors time to make a decision on what color.  I decided on a light blue so it would have a softness to it and could fit into any room.  Ok let’s be honest this one is staying at my house and that’s what works for me.  I sprayed the metal legs and then turned my attention to the top of the stool.  I wanted to use that new treatment I tried on the vanity and give it an artsy look.  I dug in my stash of stencils and this flower seemed to be made for this little stool.  I taped it down so over spray didn’t get on the outside edges of the wood.  I lightly sprayed the stencils a couple of times so that it would be bold.  I let all the spray paint dry for about and hour and then finish up with dark stain over the entire top of the wood. It came out amazing better than I had imagined it would.  It will be a great piece to add to my home.  I’m sure Ethan will love sitting on it when he comes to visit.

When Greg showed me this little stool I thought eh it’s ok kinda boring, but $5 okay get it.  Sometimes we over look things in our homes and people we know because we don’t think that it or they have anything to offer.  This is clearly one of those moments when I had to remind myself that everything doesn’t have to have the WOW factor. Learning how to improve our homes to make it work for our families or how to refurbish a friendship is really what is important. It’s kinda like that song you learned when you were little “one is silver and the others gold”.  Buying new furniture is nice but cost a lot, improving what ya got saves a lot.  Making new friends is great and adds to your life, Taking care of those friendships you already have is golden.

I hope that your week is full of old and new friends.  When you look around your home and it feels boring remember to redo, repurpose and up cycle.  All of these things can make your Monday the best day of the week.  Have a Blue Happy Day!