The Sort of Reveal

I am having a hard time at the end of this school year squeezing everything in and because I keep doing this I have postponed one post after another because I am certain someone else has done it and then I get discouraged and frustrated and then when I have an idea my computer stops working and I tried to borrow my mom’s laptop and then Cray spilled water on it and now we are sending it off and I just.give.up.

But I tell myself and I talk to my DIY friends and I realize it has all been done. And technical stuff happens to everyone.

But, my goal with this blog was never to invent everything, it was to show you that ideas can be reused and shared and that you.can.do.it. on a tight budget.

The budget was where I struggled to make this whole deck thing all happen in six weeks. It is flat out impossible for us to just go out and buy everything we need for this deck.

Instead, we made some seating and recycled items and shopped our house and made some more seating and we still have ideas BUT if you ever want to see the deck, I need to show you what we’ve got and how far we’ve come.

SO! Even though we are not quite finished and I’m not sure that we will ever be, here is the sort of reveal (with some iPad photos thrown in so we can finally show you!)!

But let’s go back to where we started (way back when we bought the the yellow house to truly appreciate how far we’ve come):

We added the rails before we moved in. I knew I always wanted to paint them and when we painted the porch, we just saved the leftover paint.

Slowly, we added and DIYed a few more things and I showed you the pallet sofa:

Then, we turned it into a pallet sectional just by adding one pallet and cutting one almost in half to make a back. (Can you see the difference in sunny morning light and cloudy!?!)

Here is where we struggled the most: cushions. They.are.so.expensive.

So our temporary solution until they go on clearance this summer is the foam and drop cloth. We have to take it in when it rains, but it’s really not that big of a deal.

But, this reveal is not complete without me telling you how amazing my friends are. I seriously told Russ a few Saturdays ago I really wanted a spool and asked him where we thought we could get one.

The very next day I got this text:

Um, yes. I cannot make this up. Best.friends.ever.

The little chalkboard will come and go but I love those little trays that label things so I brought it out. I made a little buoy out of a leftover piece of fence post. Just a little paint, a hole drilled, and some rope. The lantern was a gift from a sweet student and I picked up the succulent at Lowe’s!

This is one of my favorite parts: the sewing machine cooler. Another reason we took longer than the six week challenge. The day it was due, I saw this sewing machine for $15 at a yard sale! I may or may not have knocked on their door since the yard sale hadn’t started….

We used an old drawer from a plastic set and Russ screwed it in. More on that later.

The plan is to plant some herbs in these cute little planters. I bought these little pails slowly at Target in the Dollar Section (remember our tiny budget!).

We still want to do a few things like add some sort of bar and do something at the top of the deck (and I’m dying for a pouf and string lights!), but for now, we really love it and love the atmosphere we have created thanks to so many inspirations!

We cannot wait to enjoy long summer days out here!

If I can remember, I’ll be linking up here:

DIY Show Off, Home Stories A to Z, The Shabby Nest, Cozy Little House, The Blissful Bee,The Turquoise Home, A Place of My Taste, The Happy Housie, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots and Jello, Lil’ Luna, Somewhat Simple, Today’s Creative Blog, Elizabeth Joan Designs, Lamberts Lately, Simply Designing, Tiny Sidekick, Persia Lou, Upcycled Treasures, City of Creative Dreams, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom , Redhead Can Decorate, twelveOeight, Your Homebased Mom, Soho Sonnet, Delineate Your Dwelling, Dream a Little Bigger, Two it Yourself, Child at Heart Blog