A much needed freshened up porch!

So we bought our home back in Nov 2009, and we needed a new roof put over our porch. The roof turned out great, but underneath was left in a shamble. I talked my husband into tearing off the old wall cover and restoring the original cedar siding. After a few words, nice one of course, we started tearing off and this is what we found:

My Mom works with a lady who lived in this house as a child and she must have written her name (Michelle) on the porch as they were covering it!

We replaced some of the siding up under the roof that was missing/ had roof tar on it

and then painted it up nice! Crafty-tasticy!

Late May Entry

I am a little late posting this, but I think it may apply to May's "light" theme and maybe June's theme. I will probably post again for June, since a lost of things in my house need "freshening up"! Okay, so I had this ugly outdated light fixture hanging over the table in the kitchen. See Figure A.

Figure A:

That thing had to go. It looked like a UFO.

I was about to sell Figure B at a garage sale when it dawned on me that with a coat of spray paint, it may actually be tolerable to look at!

Figure B:

It was difficult to spray the paint on and have no drips, so I did end up sanding it off a few times and applying more coats of paint. I kind of like the look that gave it, though. Sort of rustic....? I decided to paint the little candlesticks, too. I think it looks a little more updated now, it matches other accents in the kitchen, and it was even better that this transformation cost virtually nothing!

So take a look at Figure C:

So there you have it-the new "light" that my life needed!

June's Theme: FRESHEN UP

OK fellow crafters. The theme for June is "freshen up". Take a look around your home (inside or out) and find something that could use a little facelift, sprucing up, or just needs a new look. Let's reuse these items and make them "new" again rather than throwing them away and buying new ones.

I have been wanting to get a new bedding set for one of our guest rooms. The set in there now is old and really beginning to show its age. The "guts" of the comforter are still great, though, so I hate to throw it away. I thought instead that I would make a duvet cover for it to "freshen it up". There are many tutorials out there on the www that tell how to do this. Most of them say you will need 10+ yards of fabric. A MUCH cheaper way is to use 2 flat sheets for the bed size of the comforter. That's the method I'm going to try. This site (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=42495) has step by step instructions, but no photos. I'm going to try this one using the bed sheets. I'll post pictures as I work on it.

Can't wait to hear what everyone else decides to "freshen up". Have fun!!