Pretty Painted Dog Crate

 

Alix and I decided that Promise’s crate could really use some pretty-ing up!  It was such an unfeminine forest green and tan.

So Alix took it apart, while I went to find the spray primer.

 

 

After just one coat of primer, and a little touch up here and there on the green half, the crate was ready for paint.

We had already made a cute little cover for Promise’s pillow from some flowered fabric Alix chose from our scrap stash.  It was pink and had some turquoise mixed in as well.  So taking our cue from the pillow cover, we chose a pretty aqua spray paint. 

I don’t think I even had to spray 2 coats, thanks to the coverage from the primer.  I only used half a can of spray paint in total, and we were both satisfied with the results.

 

 

Since I knew Promise would probably scratch inside the crate, I didn’t bother to paint the inside after priming it.

 

I had read online, beforehand, that the paint should be allowed to cure for 48 hours before Promise could sleep in the crate.  This meant we had to tether her to the shoe rack in the mudroom for two nights.  So she had a little more freedom than usual, and better access to chewable shoes, but she did very well and left them alone.

When the crate was ready, she seemed very pleased with the change!

 

 

Did we need to paint the crate?  Of course not!  But it is amazing how taking something as commonplace as a dog crate, and giving it a little beauty can gladden our hearts each time we look at it. 

 

God has put amazing beauty all around us, including some places which would otherwise seem quite mundane.  He loves beauty!  And since He has created us with the imprint of His image, it seems good for us to love beauty, too!

I think Promise agrees.

Our Littlest Birthday Girl

 

Olivia is our youngest child.  She came as a wonderful surprise. 

In between most of the kids, I have experienced miscarriage.  Six babies in Heaven, altogether! 

Because of the many complications with the twins’ pregnancy and delivery, and the condition of my body after so many miscarriages, my OB said it would be dangerous for me to have more children.  So we assumed that 6 was our full quiver – and we were thankful.

But God had one more sweet girl in store for our family! 

 

Olivia Clare

 

 

 

She is sweet!

 

 

Glamorous!

 

 

Full of joy!

 

 

Funny…. and silly!

 

 

She loves to dance and perform!

 

 

She is a pure delight!

 

Happy 7th Birthday to our Sweet Seven Year Old Girl!

We love you and thank God for you!

Painting the Front Porch

In anticipation of Luke’s Open House last weekend, the kids and I took a week off and worked like crazy.

I had a list a mile long of all the things I hoped we could accomplish. 

And then, a couple of unexpected items were thrown in the midst of my plans.  Things like the free old white picket fence I have been searching CL for the last few months and found last week. The boys and I went and picked that up bright and early on Thursday morning.  It’s still stacked on the trailer in the backyard, but we’re hoping to have it around Alix’s garden area very soon.

And then there was the free pea gravel, which I had been wanting for months, to put around the sides of the cobhouse.  It was free because we had to go shovel it out of someone’s backyard playground (using 5 gallon buckets), dump it into Luke’s and Glenn’s trucks, bring it home and spread it. This took up an evening we had planned to use mudding the new area, but you just can’t plan ahead for things like free pea gravel and old white picket fences.  They are here and gone quickly on CL and I had to snap them up while I could, no matter the timing! 

Here is where I want to add how thankful I am for a non-complaining husband (and sons) who are willing to drop their plans for mine.

 

But one of the things that was actually on The List, was painting the front porch.

It was a big one!

 

I knew it was going to take a while, so I found myself shoving it to the back burner over the last few months. But now with the Open House approaching, I figured it was time to take the bull by the horns, and just do it!

I approached it like I do most things I don’t have experience with, by reading as much as I could about how other people have done it.

And then last Monday, a pretty, sunny morning, I went outside and started.

I swept the porch several times to get all the dust and debris cleared away, and the kids all helped me wash it with buckets of soapy water. 

I didn’t even have to twist their arms on this, believe it or not, because they had a ball pretending they were my servants.

 

How could I argue with such ingenuity?

 

We let the porch dry overnight, and then the next morning, the twins and I used regular paintbrushes and some concrete paint and primed it.  For primer this time, I followed the advice of an online handyman, and added 1 pint of water to my concrete paint.

Priming took several hours, and we took a few short breaks so it wouldn’t become too monotonous.

We also used brushes instead of rollers, since the brushes could be squished into the little holes and crevices to seal them.

 

After letting it dry overnight, I used a roller brush and rolled the 2nd coat on top of the primed layer.  I added paint conditioner to the paint, which made it a wonderful smooth consistency and was easy to roll out quickly.

Then we let it cure for 3 days… and that was it!

 

 

 

It’s amazing how much fresher it looks!  And the porch feels wider, yet homier.  Some porch furniture should help complete it, but I haven’t made up my mind about what to put there yet.

Can you tell the difference it made?

 

 

The colors of the flowers and bushes seem even brighter, against the clean gray color.

 

 

There will be some maintenance with a painted porch, but I don’t mind.  All it takes is a little elbow grease, and we have plenty of that.

 

Today is my baby’s 7th birthday!  So we’re off to Ballet Princess Camp and some fun celebrating and gift opening later today! 

Hope you have fun things in store at your home today, too!