Trees Begone

If you have been reading the blog a while then you know the husband and I moved into our 1930's house a little over a year ago and we have been doing some updating.  Well, now that updating is extending to the outside of the house.

The only thing we had done to the front of the house so far was to remove the dated screen door that was hiding a rather cute front door.

One thing that was driving me crazy about the front of the house were the Japanese yews that had been allowed to grow out of control on the sides of the house.

Before

I was so happy to see them go!

After

I really think it makes a huge difference for the front of the house and I am excited to get in the flower beds and re-landscape.  I feel like you actually see the house now and not just the craziness of the trees.

Before you yell at me for killing trees, I must tell you that I did do a lot of thoughtful consideration before having them removed.  They were so big and sparse at the trunk that I had really no option of trimming them back down to a reasonable and presentable size. 

I worked with a great company called Living Trees and Shrubs on the removal.  They made the process super easy for me, we didn't have to be home for them to come write an estimate for the work.  They emailed me the proposal, which I returned via email.  The work was done quickly (also while we were not home) and they cleaned up beautifully after they were finished.  If you have a need, I recommend them.

I am so excited to continue improving the curb appeal of our cute home.  Coming up on my list (besides getting in the flower beds and re-landscaping) is painting the front door a fun color, removing the burglar bars from the windows, power washing the brick, adding large potted plants to the front porch, and re-screening.

I'll post progress as it happens!

Weekly Finds

I found my idea for my project this week on Pinterest.  I know you have seen it before, necklace organizers made from drawer pulls and wood; here is my version.

To begin you need a piece of nice 3/4 inch plywood cut to 20 inches long by 7.5 inches wide.  It helps to have the handsome husband cut the plywood using his table saw.

The handsome husband is optional, if you can work a table saw and not cut your fingers off more power to you. :)

I sanded the edges of the plywood and then marked the spacing for my pulls.

I used a wood screw and screwdriver to make the beginning of the holes so that it would be easier to place the pulls after the board was painted.

Let's talk spacing.  I spaced the pulls 2.5 inches from the top of the wood and from the bottom of the wood which also makes them 2.5 inches apart from each other on the vertical.

On a side note, I did take pictures of the measurements with the raw board and the holes, but let's face it these measurement pictures are prettier to look at.

The spacing of the top row works out like this:

The hole for your top left pull should be 2.5 inches from the top of the board and 2 inches from the side.  The rest of the holes on the top row should be 4 inches apart from each other and all should be 2.5 inches from the top of the board.

The bottom row spacing looks like this:

The hole for the bottom left pull should be 2.5 inches from the bottom of the board and 4 inches from the left side of the board.  This ensures that the bottom 4 pulls are centered between the top pulls and are 2.5 inches below them.  The remaining bottom pulls should be spaced 4 inches apart from each other and 2.5 inches from the bottom of the board.

After all the holes are pre-screwed I sanded the top of my board and then I painted it.

Once the board was dry (which was the longest part of this project...I was VERY impatient) you can place your pulls in your pre-screwed holes.

I used 8 drawer pulls that I found at Hobby Lobby and a little hook I found at Bering's Hardware.  The screws that came with these drawer pulls were too long so I replaced them with black wood screws.  If you choose pulls that do not screw in from the front, you will have to update the plan for this particular project to accommodate that modification.

The next step is to add O ring screws to the top of the board.

  
I spaced these two inches from the sides and .2 of an inch in from the back of the board.

I placed my nails in the wall for the board and then added a burlap bow.

The burlap wired ribbon is also from Hobby Lobby, it is something I always have in my craft box.  I tied the bow and hooked each end to the nails for the board and then used a thumb tack to attach the bow to the wall.

The final step is to hang the board.

Yay!

 

Today I am wearing a necklace that I haven't worn in a while since it has been buried in my jewelry box.

sunny selfie

"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize." -Ouiser Boudreaux

Happy accessorizing!

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Weekend Recap

Happy Monday Friends!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a relaxing weekend like I did!

We did some grilling on the 4th of July and had one of the BFFs over.  It was low key and wonderful.  We are so cool we did a little puzzle working.

I confess, I love to work puzzles.  I sucked Rebecca (one of the BFFs) into the puzzle working world as well.  She even took one of my old puzzles home with her to work.  I sent her this picture of Sammy helping me out.

Yes, Sam is a big help in the puzzle department.  I thought Rebecca's response to my message was hilarious.

Apparently all dogs are big with puzzle help.

The most exciting part of my weekend involved plywood, paint and cabinet pulls.

You might be able to guess where I am going with this project.  It will be detailed on the blog tomorrow.

This happened this weekend as well.

That's right, my first pair of drug store reading glasses.  Awesome.  The husband was making fun of me until I put them on him and he said oh, maybe I need some.  Then I was laughing.  :)

I hope you have a great week!

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Happy 4th of July