Summer Home Tour

Hi there and welcome!  If this is your first time here, my name is Courtney and I love all things related to home, especially DIY.  My husband, Billy, and I have learned lots by renovating 3 houses by ourselves and we like to share our ideas as well as some of the mistakes we have made along the way.  We have 3 growing boys and 2 Golden Retrievers so everything we do to our home needs to be able to withstand the abuse of everyday life in our family.

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Our Covered Patio

One of the things on our to do list for this year was painting our concrete patio that is just outside our family room.  However, we ended up just power washing the concrete and not adding the paint, yet.  We ended up having the big job of adding french drains around our pool so we never got around to painting the patio.  This is what the patio area looked like before power washing the floor and furniture.  The seating are was pushed to one side of the patio.

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It's Peony Season!

After what felt like the longest winter ever, came the long wait for our peonies to bloom.  We planted our first peony plant four years ago and we have been adding an additional plant every year.

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Catch Up

I can't thank you guys enough for the comments and e-mails about my blog break and balancing what to share on here.  I love the scrapbook of our home and family that this blog has become.  I can't imagine ever just sharing pictures of our house without the story of the people who live in it and make it a home.

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Master Bedroom Window Panels

When we finished the molding in our Master Bedroom, I loved the way it looked and didn't want to cover any of it with window panels.  We added some woven wood shades and have lived with it for about 6 months.  I loved the clean lines and uncluttered feel in the room.  However, with the warmer weather arriving, we decided that it was necessary to be able to block more light from the room.  Billy works rotating shifts so he needs to be able to control the light in here when he is sleeping during the day.  Here is the new look:

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Americana Family Room for Summer

Are you excited for the start of Summer?  I sure I am and for me that translates into making some changes around the house.  I recently added a few touches of Americana style to our family room.  I just love the look of an American flag on a stone fireplace.  I was inspired to create one for ours after watching "American Dream Builders" a few weeks ago.  It was on the episode that they remodeled the cabins in Big Bear and all of the designers were all "we hate the woods" and I was thinking that all of the cabins were gorgeous.  I have to say that they did a great job.  Here's a picture of the cabin that inspired me.

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Belated Blogiversary {First Year}

Hello there!  I apologize for the long break I have taken.  I have no great big reason...just life.  Spring break and family and house projects that I hope to share soon.  The days just keep chugging along and I haven't found myself taking the time to sit at the computer.

My anniversary of one year of blogging recently passed.  I did keep a personal blog for years, but no one really read it...not even my mom :).  Sharing our bathroom changed all of that last Spring and I am so grateful for all of you who have become frequent visitors around here.  At the request of one of my kids, I have removed a lot of the older, more personal posts from previous years.  I have come to learn that blogging is such a balance of finding what my whole family is comfortable with sharing.  I have been a blog reader for way longer than I have been a blog writer.  My absolute favorite bloggers are those who share their lives as well as posts about whatever their niche is (cooking, diy, fashion).  I am going to keep working at finding that balance.

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