Lily Pads and Upholstery

First lily pad flower of spring.

In the past, our weekends tend to include at least one project or two or seven, no matter how large or small.  Yet lately with a little one in the oven and the timer getting nearer to ding ready; we are fully aware you don't have the option to keep her in there a little longer because you just aren't quite ready. She takes charge and only she decides when she shows up.  I like her already.  So we keep whittling down our meticulously made lists.  That translates into each weekend being filled with projects we know we should accomplish pre-parenthood.  If you have been keeping up with the blog you already know these projects tend to be on the larger side and always keeping in mind the bun (and timer) in the oven.  Biggest project so far was definately getting rid of the, we'll politely call it "well traveled," carpet and installing dog/baby friendly engineered laminate wood flooring.

Lily pads in the upper section of the pond.

However, this weekend has been relatively open and relaxing.  We did paint the guest bedroom, but at the time of posting this blog the sheets for the bed were being washed and I was politely instructed to not publish photographic evidence of said event.  That'll have to wait until the next post. We also did some yard work, spruced up the front mulch beds and cleaned up around the koi pond.  It is an exciting day as the first flower in our menagerie of lily pads and other water plants arrived this morning! We are hoping for many more to come. With all the plants in full swing now the water quality in the koi section of the pond has improved from good to great; the water is nearly crystal clear.  Laura and I were just thinking how much our little, store-bought goldfish mixed in with the koi have grown.  When we originally bought the goldfish they were all less than an inch long, and now most of them are 3-4". All of that growth has been since we introduced them to the pond in September of last year.  Although they do feed like swine, so it's not an unsolvable mystery.  The two large koi in the pond are in the range of 14"-16" long from about 8"-9" six months about.

We also finally got around to another fun (and quick) project we have been discussing if I am being honest.  When my Mother came down to Florida in 2007 for Thanksgiving we had only been living in Florida for a few months and we had the rather embarrassing realization that we didn't actually have any sort of dining room table.  We had been eating all of our meals on the porch or at the coffee table.  So we ended up picking up a complete set (table and 4 chairs) from Mr. Walton's local supermart for $99.  Needless to say the chairs aren't that stylish or comfortable or anything but functional really, but for $99 you can hardly go wrong.  Now fast forward a couple thousand meals,  a few hundred projects and four years and our little set is still going strong and still where we eat most of our meals.  The issues lies in the fact that chair cushions are MUCH worse for the wear.  So Laura picked out some fabric she had leftover from some IKEA projects and I fired up the staple gun to give them a new lease on life.  In keeping with our consistency of being notoriously terrible at taking "before" pictures when we start projects, we only have photos of the final product. At least we are consistent. We think turned out pretty good, especially considering the total cost of re-upholstering was less than $15.  We mis-matched the fabrics on purpose, I have a strong belief that Laura shares that everyone could use a little more whimsy in their lives. :-)

Two of the Newly-Covered Chairs.

 

Thanks for reading,
Nathan (and Laura)