About one weekend a year my parents come up for what I’m now calling “work weekend” and they help me with a zillion things around my house. Last year it was laying wood floors (okay, that was 2 different weekends), year before that it was replacing all the vanities in my bathrooms, year before that was building the deck in July and adding the roof in December….can you see a pattern? This year, the main agenda for “work weekend” was putting electricity on my deck, but we didn’t stop there we took my deck from a cute patio to an out door room with a great view and I couldn’t be happier.
My parents are UBER talented and like DIY as much as I do, so yes I do know how BLESSED I am to have them as parents and be willing to help me out. They tolerate my spastic working habits and are always up for anything. During this weekend not only do we DIY, but we laugh over stupid stuff, we dine, we drink, we sometimes argue, but projects always look amazing. 99% of the time things get done and sometimes I’m left to do little things, but we are always starting a list for “next time”.
Last weekend we accomplished:
- Installed 5 new outlets on the deck. 2 off the house, 2 off the lower part of the deck and 1 up high on a beam of the deck (all outlets are covered). This was more complicated than I thought. We drilled through the inside of the house to pull off a close outlet. We then took 2 boards off the deck and ran the wire through this blue tube and attached it to some frames of the deck to keep it off the ground. Then replaced the boards so you don’t see the wiring. It was rough..totally worth it, but the hardest part of the whole thing.
- Installed an outdoor fan. We had to add a board to hold the fan and some box thingy and then hide the wires.
- Installed a flood light for the backyard…well wired for one because the one I ordered came shattered so I ordered a new one and it is currently sitting on my dining table since I don’t dare mess with electricity by myself. Parents will be back at the end of July to install that light.
- Added 3 switches. 1 works the fan, one works the christmas lights (and soon car lot lights), and one will work the spot light.
- I got new patio furniture…a tall bar table with 2 bar height chairs and 2 low “conversation chairs” with a cute little red (duh) table between them so if people wanted to chat they can. If I want to work/eat outside at a table I can…which is where I’m writing this blog now. I also purchased 4 plastic adirondack chairs should I need them in the future for more seating.
- Mom painted the skeleton of a chandelier bright red and hung it from a tree and put 2 of my adirondack chairs under it, along with one of my whiskey barrels by it. It looks FANTASTIC! Mom also painted a cross for me to hang up outside.
- Built and installed “galvanized pipe no sew drop cloth curtains” These really help to make it an outdoor room. I can close them or push them to the sides. Most of the time they stay parted.
- Hung Lou’s hammock chair from a tree and added “whirly art” next to it (looks better than it sounds).
- Garage: Hung 2 white boards and stall bars (I’ll write a different story on that…grrr). I also added 3 hooks to hang gym stuff (jump rope, bags, etc). I hung a few utility hangers in the garage for stuff like limb cutter and pole saw, etc then one for the broom. I now have access to a lot of things in the garage and it doesn’t look so cluttered.
- Hung a nice white board in my office (bigger deal that you think). This heavy a** board had to be screwed into the studs. It also was sitting in my garage for months now it isn’t 🙂
- Daddy built AND installed a light in my craft room so I now have light (on a toggle switch) in there which is great! (More crafting!)
- I added plate covers where some wires were hanging from the ceiling. (Yes they have been there since I bought my house in 2010 and it took me 5 mins and $1.12 to fix them…better late than never)
- Last day we ate pizza and personalized the yetis with the cricut 🙂
- WHATS TO COME:
- I bought stuff to clean and seal my deck…mucho needed!
- I will be painting my adirondack chairs and chester drawers with new red paint.
- FIRE PIT area…already have the car lot lights that will hang over it. (S’mores anyone?)
- I need to fix the “art” that is on the back patio…my best friend Kim and I made that one weekend.
- Grass. Don’t get me started.
Here are some “Before and After” style photos from the weekend as well as in the past. 
Thanks Bird for helping…we couldn’t have done it without you either….
