We got our building permit on Oct. 2nd, which we were very nervous about. The county looks over your plans to make sure it passes code. Since Matt drew the foundation plan himself, we weren't sure if it would pass, but it DID! Now we can start.
Batter boards are up. They tell us where to put the foundation block. I'm standing in my future kitchen!
Total cost of this mantel(not including portrait): $8 Candlesticks $1 at neighborhood yard sale, white candles from walmart $3, pumpkins $4, oak logs from yard $0, clippings from yard $0
Originally, I had the two logs on the same side and 3 candlesticks on the other, but mix them up to it would stay visually balanced.
New fabric on my patio table chairs. Old fabric was not outdoor fabric and had gotten mildewed, not to mention the boring color. It will sit in our future patio with my lime green antique glider.
Cheap fan makeover. This is the only before photo I had. You can see how awful the scalloped globes are and you can't see the gold painted designs on the fan blades. But they were there, I promise. New modern globes at Lowes cost $5 each, but I found decent clear hammered-glass ones at a thrift store for 50 cents. The clear glass was awful, as I expected(because it does not filter the light), so $5 I bought a can of frosted spray paint. I also flipped the blades over to the plain side. Perfection! $7 fan makeover.
Don't let the picture fool you. The chairs were multi toned with a really bad finish. I got them off of craigslist for $10 each!! There are actually 6 chairs. Great for guests! I distressed them on the edges and put a few dents in them.
This is the area right next to the carport that we walk by everyday. I also just planted pansies to add color while the knock out roses are dormant.
Welcome to my new blog! I am so excited to be starting this and sharing our life with you. I have been contemplating writing one for some time now. We have so many exciting things happening in our life right now that I needed a place to share our thoughts and pictures. This blog is not just a DIY home renovating blog, and its not just a blog about our family life. It's also not just a blog where I can share my thoughts. It is a combination of all three, or whatever else I feel like posting. I guess you never know what you're going to find, so check back often! I can't wait to hear your comments!
First, let me introduce myself, if anyone reading doesn't know me. My name is Allison Kelly. My husband is Matt and we currently live in Charlotte, NC. We've been married for about a year and a half. For that time, we have been renting an old ranch house that needed major help. Since our landlord is my father-in-law, we have a lot of freedom with what we do, as long as it's nothing major or expensive. We have painting ever room in the house and planted 30 new shrubs in our 1 acre yard. Currently, Matt and I are both unemployed, so the challenge has been how to make this house livable by spending as little money as possible(landlords do pay for what we buy for the house i.e. paint, bushes).
Matt and I own 18 acres of land in the nearby Gaston Co. town of Stanley. It is heavily wooded and we have been working for the past 2 years to clear out a place to build our house. Since we are doing most of the work ourselves(and have no money to do it), we are actually building a temporary living space first, so we can get on our land and stop paying rent. We recently starting construction on our garage/apartment, in which we will live until we can build are permanent home attached to the garage. I will be posting pictures as progress gets made, along with my little design tips.
No, our house doesn't look like the ones in the magazines or the ones on all the other DIY blogs. We are UNEMPLOYED. I would agree that most of the other DIYbloggers don't go crazy with their spending and they do some creative things on a small budget, but when you don't have an income, you don't have a small budget, you have NO budget. So I fix things little by little. And always go to my neighborhood yard sales to see what needs a good coat of paint. I make no excuses for it. For it is.... A Work In Progress.
