A Little "Before & After" and a "Helper"

This summer I've been getting a lot more done around the house. We only have Madi Grace with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays now and since the decision to go part-time was completely out of our hands, I am content knowing that this is the schedule the Lord has planned for us right now. You wouldn't think that just one less little person would make such a difference but I feel like I've been given more hours in the day! I had quite the pile of projects stored up and have been excited to dive in. Court, as you will see, is also excited to help. Luca enjoys helping but is equally satisfied with her markers and some fresh paper. Here are some of the fruits of our (Court's and mine) labor: 

I picked up these chairs at Goodwill for $5 a piece, the perfect additions to our front porch.

Before:

During: (Don't worry, I unplugged the staple gun for the picture)

After:

That little table with all the drawers in it was given to me by mother-in-law, (she snagged it at a sale) who knows my taste well. It used to look like this:

And here's everything all together. Have I mentioned before how much I love my porch? :-)

This little table came from a neighbor's trash pile (I made Joe pull over one Sunday night coming home from church, he loves it when I include him in my scavenging.) and the chairs we got when church remodeled the children's rooms. The before picture glosses them up a bit but there were many scratches and much rust!

Before: (Luca and Isaiah, models)

After: (Luca loves the numbers on each seat and always insists that she use #3 because she is 3 years old. Court sits on #1 and Madi is 2 so it all works out but when we have guests...oh dear.)

My little helper, posing just right. 

I'm in love with chevron at the moment. I'm also sort of a fan of pinterest. wink. Combine the two and I decided to try painting my Erslev rug from ikea. If you google it you'll see that it may not be as crazy as it sounds.

Before:

During:

 

 After: Sad thing, I ran out of fabric medium halfway through and unfortunately there is no mistaking exactly where I paused in my painting so it's not a true success. (And no, the oops is not cover-able by furniture.) However, I really do like the way it looks and may attempt another version at a later date. Possibly a smaller kitchen rug?...

This is my new doormat (compliments of a Martha Stewart tutorial). My good friend and neighbor Anna and I frequently spend the children's nap times crafting something or other. This is by far one of my favorite things we've done. I may need to make seasonal versions....

Just some cedar 1x2s, paint, a drill and some rope.

It makes me smile.