I finally had a little bit I time over the holiday weekend to put some elbow grease into a handful of half-finished projects I had around the house.

First I completed my front door project. I added high gloss black paint to the trim and windows around out entry door. This was initially an accident, as I had only intended to buy semi gloss black paint. In my desire to be finished with my Kmart shopping on a holiday weekend I hurriedly grabbed high gloss (Rustoleum $8). Now I believe it to be a happy accident. I really makes the door pop and the house is a little more collected. The luster will eventually be faded by the sun and match more to the shutters. Plus, gloss is more durable and easier to clean. Let me know what you think … The neighbor across the street LOVES it even more than before.

I also finally had a little extra time and money to throw into our very bare deck. Our deck has a pretty dated red stain. That’s the first problem. The next is that it’s huge. I suppose the latter isn’t actually a problem. It just means that it takes more furniture etc to fill it. So I had hand-me-down (read: FREE) bright blue chairs. These totally clash with the deep red stain in the worst ways. I needed to find a way to bring it together. Restaining the deck was not an option. That seems to be quite a project- time and money are both factors but I’m also sure we should have done it in the way cooler month of March. So I grabbed a 9×6 (I think) canvas tarp in the painting section of the home improvement store for $8! Then I taped off a few stripes and raided my liquid acrylic paint stash. I chose a bright blue and mint green. If I didn’t already own these they would cost about 99 cents each. I waters down each color and “washed” onto the taped sections of the tarp. Ta Da! An outdoor rug. And I can trow it away at the end of the season!

I also planted about 20 pots (had to purchase most if the pots) of flowers. I bought lilies, wildflowers and 3 flats of Flowers (not sure even what the are) with the trim paint and the rug supplies for less than $100! I felt like I ran a marathon but got so much done and the house of course feels even more like home!