Man Toys

You girls who use saws

do not write to me in protest

because in my world,

these are Man Tools..

I have used the Chop Saw,

and felt proud.

But most of  the tools I am about to show you,

are man tools.

They do the Man Jobs

around here.

 Hubs worked on the deck railing last week

and we love how it turned out.

I will show you some pictures of that later.

Here are a couple of saws that

the trim carpenters are using.

They are such talented craftsmen.

They did the stairs and trim on the last house

and we were happy when they were able to do this one.

Just wait until you see how pretty the trim is looking!

Here is another saw of Jim's crammed down in the basement hallway

to keep it out of everyone's way

while they are working down there.

This is the one I was allowed to use.

Insert Tool Man sound here,

 I can't figure out how to type that!

DeWalt seems to be the saw of choice around here.

Tools, tools, everywhere a tool box...

These guys are getting ready to lay 

the hardwood floor in the entryway and kitchen.

I don't know why the background is such a dreamy aqua,

but it's not really that color...

oops, I'm supposed to be pointing out that there is

a floor being born in the foreground!

almost done...

Piles of wood everywhere

soon disappear

and turn into

a lovely wood floor! 

We chose wider planks this time,

and it has a rustic look

that we are loving!

I will show you the 

stained and finished floor

this week.

Cabinets start going in tomorrow~!

Grand Girls are coming tomorrow too,

so I will see you in a couple of days.

I will be 

in Nana mode!

Every summer day...

Dear Summer,

I need you to slow down!

Sincerely, 

your summer friend, 

me.

I love summer...

wearing flip flops 24/7, vacations, lakes,

honeysuckle in the air, flowerpots winking from every porch,

ice cold Coke in the car with the windows down...

air conditioning in Kansas...

flags and fireworks,

homemade ice-cream,

grilled burgers,

home grown tomatoes,

girls in sundresses,

boats...

I love seeing flowers everywhere...

especially the ones that grow in ditches 

along every  ordinary country road.

I drive by these every day,

and everyday, 

I love them.

and these..

Sometimes I wonder why God made such beautiful weeds
to grown in obscure ditches.
Was it just to make us smile
along our way?

These make me smile.

I have a lot of things pressing to get done by the end of this summer!

By August

my daughter and son-in-love and precious grandbaby girl

will be here.

I will be living in the new house.

All the building, and packing, and moving, 

and waiting

will be over...

and the whole family will be together at the lake!

(insert happy dance here)

In the meantime,

I want to, have to, need to, and am

trying
 to enjoy...savor...notice

every summer thing,

one summer day at a time~!

Hope you can see it,
smell it,
feel it
 and mostly,
don't let it slip away.

Enjoy THIS summer day!

Amen.

DIY Faux....NOT!

I wish I could say that I have been doing some 

Faux Painting..

NOT!  

A few years ago,

I would have tackled this,

and lived with the results...

Now I have issues.

Arthritis.

Bad eyes.

Bad neck.

Hot flashes.

You get the picture.

Since this is the last new house 

that we will ever ever ever build,

Did I say LAST

new house that we will EVER  build,

we thought it would be fun

to add some little touches that we have never tried before.

Just in a few rooms.

Subtle...like...what IS that?

I just noticed that I used the word "we"

when actually,

"we" means Sue, the expert around here on 

Decorative Faux Treatments.

Here is the Dining Room. 

I promise there is  a faux treatment on these walls!

 These walls are painted with

Maple Leaf Red,

A Benjamin Moore color

that we had our Sherwin Williams store mix.

The next step was a brown glaze,

then a hint of metallic glaze.

I love it and can't wait to see it with

the Chandelier lights on!

Here is  Faux Painter Extraordinaire, Sue

doing the first step in Jim's office.
The base color is Kilm Beige,
another SW color.

First she applied a mocha toned layer,

then a thin plaster layer tinted with yet another brown...

She squeegied this off and pounced around with her rag,

let that dry over night,

and came back over all with a golden brown glaze.

Awesome!

Here she is working away in the breakfast nook.

The base color is Windsor Greige (SW)

and she is applying Rice Grain (SW)

and then taking some of it off.

It has a very soft, chalky look,

just enough to lighten it up from the rest of the kitchen.

Back to Jim's office.

This one took more time because of the various layers.

I don't have a picture of the finished walls,

but  maybe today I can get one.

I don't want to show you the master bedroom ceiling
until they get the crown moldings up in there.
Let me just say,
It looks awesome!

Yesterday the master of trim, stairs and moldings
arrived and started working his magic.

Stay tuned,
because I am headed out to take some shots of him at work!

Last night our VBS started
and I had 6 precious 2 and 3 year olds to play with.
During the day.
I'm cleaning several rentals that we are putting on the market to sell,
so my picture taking fun is pretty spotty right now...may have dig into the archives!

Things are happening fast around here ..
Think about it, in just a few short weeks

WE WILL BE LIVING AT THE CEDARS!!!!!

Ready or not....
Here we come!

Tile time!

Good Tuesday everybody!

 I am so behind in showing you what's been going on!

Here is the tile we are using in several rooms..

back foyer, laundry, e-space, 1/2 bath, 3/4 bath!

Can you tell I really like it?  

All but one of those spaces are painted this earthy green,

called Connected Gray (SW)

and I love it too.

Everyone who looks at this tile says that it looks like slate

and that is what I was going for!

Slate look without the chipping/peeling

you can sometimes get with real slate.

Here is Sam ,

our fabulous tile master.

This craftsman really knows his tile!

And boy does he have cool tools!

Sam is teaching his 13 year old son the tricks of the trade,

and here he is running another saw.

Here Sam is working on the master shower,

Today he will work this magic in the master shower as well...

and finish with most of the grouting tomorrow.

Amazing!

The rooms are all painted, and tomorrow

I can introduce you to 

Sue.

She will be adding a little

jazz to some of the walls

with faux treatments.

We have never splurged for this kind of 

paint treatment before, 

and I cannot wait to see her at work!

We had a busy weekend,

chillin' with the two youngest young-uns 

on a little road trip to the city.

We hit the city market,

 our favorite flea/antique store

ate Middle Eastern food

Vietnamese food

and 

KC BBQ...

visited a great blues club - The Blue Room

 next to the Kansas City Jazz Museum,

and shopped.

Whew!

Yesterday I cleaned house and got the laundry caught up

and added a few more plants to the happy patch.

Today I am on clean-up duty,

sweeping up as much as I can

so that Sue won't have to work around a mess.

Something tells me I am going to need a nap

before naptime gets here~!

Happy Summer day everybody!