Chad, Jessica, Jet and Aijiahlyn

Thursday, July 17, 2008

PICTURES!!!! finally

The Outdoor room.

BEFORE........well, we had started deconstructing after I took the pic....so it wasn't quite this bad, and it wasn't full of rubbish either. But it was originally for storing wood for the fireplace....but they replaced the fireplace a long time ago.....so we thought we could use the basic structure to create a patio/porch area.


AFTER

After tons of work.....buying sand, leveling it, laying heavy concrete pavers, priming, painting, putting on a new roof, attaching new 2 by 4's, attaching 52 railings, (after priming and painting those) installing lighting, laying down bark, and some more things I'm glad are over....here's what we got. Thanks so much to Chad's dad for helping. Their family is always so willing to help with any project, and we're so grateful. We try to return the favors, but I think we'll never get out of the red with all they do for us.

THE DINING ROOM

So, I had already gotten to work by the time I took this pic, so normally it was cleaner and there were some gold frames and pics on the walls.....but this was basically it. The yellow was just wrong....dirty.....too much.....subconciously driving me crazy for a long time.

AFTER

All I did was paint the walls, paint a small piece of furniture, spray painted frames and filled them with creative, cheap, home-made art.......and ta da. OOoooooddddles of improvement eh? Well......I like it anyway.


So, I painted this. I felt bad about painting it, cuz it was really unique, but the colors had become dingy.....and dingy=bad vibes. If something is constantly dirty looking, even if it's clean, it drives me bonkers. So, hello clean white......Mmmmmmmm.....we likey! The piece itself was interesting enough, it didn't need all the crazy painting anyway. (Chad found this at a garage sale and surprised me with it....way to go hubby!)


This is a Rome shadow box I made. Super cute. I went to the U of O bookstore and found super cheap, decorative papers....like this map, and threw some stuff together. The pic at the top of the post are some other things I made.
This map is so cool. It's shows all the big monuments in Paris. Why Paris and Rome? Because they're known for great cuisine! Plus I took a renaissance architecture class about Rome, and it's cool to find all the things I studied on it...Porta Pia, Piazza de Colonna, St. Peter's ....and what girl doesn't love Paris?
THE RACE

Yep, I started at the very front. The girl next to me was a speed demon....she won (among the females) and she was really nice. Nice people rock!
My cheering section! (minus Chad and my Dad) Thanks family! At about 2 1/2 miles, they were waiting for me, and when they started cheering I couldn't help but run faster, and I passed the guy ahead of me, and stayed ahead of him the entire rest of the way. All thanks to them. : )

Before the race......fun fun.

10 comments:

E and J said...

The outdoor space is AMAZING! It was always scary before and I avoided it as much as I could as a teenager. I'm soo impressed with your work! I wish we lived closer. I LOVE your dining room! We have different styles but the same means to get what we want. I guess that has something to do with spending so much time together during our younger lives.

WASHINGTON SOUTHWORTHS said...

Jess - it looks GREAT! I love your dinig room - especially the art pieces - and your new porch. Beautiful. I'm impressed. And I'm super-impressed with your race. Way to follow-through on your goals!
Anyway. Great pictures. Great details. Love it!

Lindsay Marchant said...

That race was so fun to watch! I am impressed by your room makeover. It looks fantastic. I could never make something look that good by myself!

Sarah Peterson said...

you have always had quite the talent for decorating! I'm not sure I could spend the time and all the painting it takes to do it! Painting takes forever... but nothing can make better results!

Carina & Dan said...

you are so talented Jessica. good job on the race. running is so much fun, I'm glad you did so well. which race did you run?

E and J said...

SO I wanted to reply to your post on my page-but I knew it would be soooo long so check your email....

AMY AND MIKEY said...

OH MY GOSH- WHERE TO BEGIN?!!!! JEssica you are such a great decorator transformer! Ok- the porch area- amazing and beautiful- talk about a transformation, the dining room- color- great color choice! it looks so much newer, and fresher and cleaner, nicer than the yellow. I love it. And my favorite is the nightstand thing- OH MY GOSH- that is my favorite style of furniture- the painted white version! It is so beautiful! How much did he pay for that? Man- it looks so good painted white! You have such a good eye for transforming and imagining. You are a natural. I just love that night stand thing- I want to steal it. love you-

AMY AND MIKEY said...

oh yeah- and good job on the race- you are so motivated!

E and J said...

Alright I've updated my list. I was dragging my feet before because I'd read any of those again. I'm a little more liberal in my reading then my Utahan peers and was worried about recommending something and offending someone. And honestly I didn't think you'd need my recommendations. ;) Smarty Pants!

E and J said...

Ok so you've got a condensed list of books I've read. Do you have any books you'd recommend? So I don't know if I've mentioned it but I remember summer days hanging out in your room on bunk beds (did you really have bunk beds?) and reading some dragon books. We'd both read different books and be silent all day. Then I'd go home and we'd start again the next day! I wish we were closer to share our common interests! Speaking of interests, I'm making a baby quilt for our nursery and I'm not positive that I can add cording around the edges. Have you ever done this? Do you have any advice?