A Productive Weekend

Thanks to some absolutely beautiful weather here this past weekend we were able to accomplish quite a lot.

I finally got the porch painted for one thing.

I had picked up two different "Mistint/Oops" clearance stains that I thought might work. I knew I wanted the color to compliment Neal's stone work so it needed to be a grayish tan. The one stain I bought was too gray and the other was too tan...so I mixed them together and came up the color you see on the wood below.

The color is sort of sort of gray, sort of blue and sort of green, just like stone can be and I love the way they look together.  I plan to show you the whole thing eventually but keep in mind right now this part of our house is covered in Tyvek...not picture worthy. I sit out here quite often though and can't help but make things cozy...Tyvek or not.

I am trying to save every penny for the Siding/Fireplace fund so the fact that everything out here was super cheap is a major bonus. The Pottery Barn pillow and lap quilt were both a dollar, yes a dollar, at the rummage sale I go to all the time. The tote with the pumpkins was $2 at Marshalls, probably because it was an awful purple color, and I painted it Whispering Wheat. The bushel basket was $1 at the flea market, along with the red watering can. And being married to the assistant principal has its perks because you get the left over mums from Homecoming:)

Another thing I accomplished was covering the cinder block foundation with a mortar compound. We really want to put up a stone veneer but that is not possible right now and the three different types of cinder block, some painted and some not, was driving me crazy. My goal is for this back part of our house to look cohesive because due to many additions and different owners "ideas" it did not when we purchased it.

Here I am with my mortar, this was quite a fun process I must say...and it was the most beautiful warm day, not a cloud in the sky, one of those days that makes you so thankful for everything. Six hours later my back was a hurtin' but I got it all covered.

 My son was also busy at work putting mortar on his own little house:)

While we did that Neal planed the floor from the back room/kitchen. 

150 years of grime and paint....

stripped off with a 12 inch Planer.

The wood looked like this before...

and like this after 4 or 5 times through the planer. I will be staining it to match the kitchen floor.

Hopefully it won't be too long before we can lay the floor back down and get the dry wall up. Stay tuned!