First, the back fence.
The back section of our fence is supposedly provided and maintained by the movie theater that owns the land behind our house. Yeah, not so much. This fence was a big point of contention during our negotiations for the house. We wanted it fixed. They stuck a few boards in the ground and called it good (seriously, not even nailed up), and eventually they just gave us $500 cash at closing to pay for the repairs. Well, they also left a few fence boards in the storage room! So Saturday morning we filled in the holes and tightened up all the screws along the back. The wood back there is in really bad shape, so we'll have to replace the entire back section. Fortunately for us, we priced it out and materials will only be about $300-400, so with a few days of hard work we'll come out ahead on our deal.
Just about the time we reached the cypress tree, Brett got into a fire ant bed. He was determined to finish up since we were so close. But by the time he got done he was really hurting. On his way home (he drove the truck around to the movie theater to work from the other side), he stopped at a pharmacy to get some Benadryl, and he was out of commission for most of the day.
That night, we went to Lowe's to price the fence materials and just to look around. We looked at bathroom vanities for the powder room, and vanity tops for our bathroom, and a few other things. Just browsing got us so excited to start on some more rooms! We also got a new shelving unit for the carport storage room, so next week's project will be to clean out and organize it.
While we were out, Brett surprised me by driving up to Target, and telling me to go get the lamps I've been wanting for our bedroom. I'm so happy to have a lamp for my side now, and the room just looks that much more finished.
This morning, I surprised Brett by cutting and weed eating before he got home from work. But it was the first real work I'd done in 6 weeks (seriously people, I could not even lift my cat!), and it really took it out of me! After a long rest, I set to work on a project I've been meaning to tackle--my garage sale lamp.
It was a steal at $2. And I loved the color and the subtle crackle finish. I bought it before we were even in our house. I had no idea what kind of colors I was going to choose. Little did I know I would fall in love with a color almost exactly the same as this lamp base. I've painted my bedroom that color, and I plan on painting the guest room (home to this lamp) a lighter shade.
It came without a shade, or even a harp. Since we got new lamps this weekend, I used the harp and shade from our old lamp. The shade is a touch too small, but it will have to do until we tackle the guest room. I'd like a larger white drum shade to bring a little modern to its traditional shape.
The only thing I didn't love about this lamp was the gold and black base. So I figured I'd use some leftover white spraypaint to give it a new look. So I taped off the ceramic part and took it outside with my painting towel.
I also needed to paint the little nickel piece that holds the shad onto the harp. But I had trouble figuring out how to paint it without holding it in my hand. Until I saw the metal skewers we never use. And I stuck it in the top of the lamp to dry. Perfect!
Getting a pretty ceramic lamp for our guest bedroom, perfect with our color scheme, for $2? I'm pretty happy with that!
