Before and After - Dining Room Cabinet

This was the cabinet we wanted for our dining room.  Lucky we measured first - it wouldn't fit!  So our builder offered to make one for us.

They gutted the wall and surrounding beam.

They plastered and made everything look clean again.

I will admit it didn't look very promising at first.

Soon it started to look like it should.

Finished!  

I like it even better than the original.

Last Night in Sun Valley

Look closely and you will see a double rainbow!  We had crazy thunderstorms roll in and everything smelled so fresh and clean.

The lupins are in full bloom, they surround our house.

We had a visitor.  A deer found his way to our barn.

Here you can see Morgan going down to investigate.  Luckily deer ran away before she arrived!

Congratulations Morgan!

Today was the last day of school!  Hooray!  I sent this picture to my brother and sister.

20 minutes later, my talented sister Karen sent me this digitally enhanced version.  See more of her work at Vintage Findings 

Before and After - Master Shower

Before.

After!

Also new fixtures for tub.

and fixtures for sinks.  

Before and After - Pavers on the front sidewalk

These are the original pavers, as looking from the front door.  The edges were all tipped up, crooked, and very loose, and caused a few trips and stumbles.  My John being the safety guy, realized this should be our first repair.

John and his crew from Evergreen Landscaping brought in loads of new, wider pavers and explained how they would be jointed together at the edges to prevent the pop up.

The crew began to tear out the old pavers, level by level, and scraped and resurfaced the base.

Things are already taking shape with a much cleaner curb appeal.

These guys were so good they even kept their dirt clean and tidy!  They took extra care to not mess up our grass.

Looking good!  This only took them a couple days.

Another view from the front door looking down.  You can see they just have one more level to finish.

 Finished!  Beautiful work.  Thank you John and Evergreen !

What I see in the tree

I have looked at this tree for weeks and I swear I saw what looked like a pair of eyeglasses formed by the twisted branches.  Then I would look again, and I saw nothing.  It was like a "Where's Waldo".

There they are!  I am not crazy!  I found Waldo's eyeglasses!  Then I had to get John involved, he's such a good sport.

Nice glasses John!  But I think you should leave them outside.

Before and After - Hummingbird Tile

Remember my vision for the Hummingbird Tile in the guest bathroom?  Now the vision is a reality!  Thank you to Collett Pruitt, Regional Manager at Wall 2 Wall , who was able to obtain these last 8 Italian hand painted tiles in the United States!

First we ripped out the existing backsplash.  The original backsplash was bright yellow.

Collett printed color copies of the bird tiles and I cut them out and taped them to the countertop for placement ideas.

I stood on the potty to take this one for a better visual.

Once I decided this was what I really wanted, had all the tiles torn out.  It was scary ugly.

When the new tiles arrived we practiced placing them before the glue and grouting began.  I panicked.  I called Collett.

The almost finished product.  Just need to trim the top.

As my sister-in-law Luciana would say, "I love!"