House Projects and Parents' visit

My Mom and Dad came to visit me for 5 days in October and it was awesome! Not only did we have fun chatting, watching movies, and seeing a bit more of the area, but they gave me some elbow grease and we got a TON done around the house...including the first project I ever started at the house!

But first, their trip couldn't be ALL work, so we went to Brazos Bend State Park and I introduced them to some alligators. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast having a picnic lunch and playing Uno.

Me and the 'rents

THEN it was time to put them to work. Seriously, though, such a blessing to have them help out on some projects I've been putting off...like finishing the chair rail I started in the entry way over a year ago. They bought me a miter saw (drool!) for Christmas and I was having some serious issues getting the stand to balance properly (wobbly stand = poor cuts).

Dad working out the kinks in the stand while Mom worked her magic in the front yard weeding and tidying it up.


Perfect fit! I didn't even need to caulk it. My mom laughed at my Dad and I 'cause we were all sorts of high fiving each other over our awesome cutting job. :). Oh and I did paint it of course.


Mom making a REAL curtain out of the piece of fabric I just had draped over a curtain rod...


I'm doing these wall/bracket shelves for my massive amount of books. I couldn't do the drilling 'cause of my swollen hands/fingers, so Dad came to the rescue (he let me argue with the stud finder...it's a little unnerving revealing the building flaws/inconsistencies when you use one of those things...).


Today, I finally got around to starting the staining process for the wood we bought for the shelves while they were visiting - I wanted something chunky since 1) it would span about 4 feet and 2) I have a lot of books and 3) I wasn't going with fancy wood, just pine. I hand-sanded and then stained, I did not condition the wood because I wanted the stain to look less perfect (trying to match the vintage furniture I have in my room - bring on the blotchy streaks!)

First four shelves up! Two 12-foot boards will be on the top two brackets (uh, one set of brackets is missing 'cause I need to buy more). So two shelves will go right over the door. The stain came out decently, not a perfect match to the furniture though. I had a water base stained mixed called "American Walnut" but it didn't come out as orange/vintage-y as the sample. Still, it will work for now, I may restain with a more orange tinted stain later. I hope to finish staining the rest of the shelves this weekend and FINALLY unpack the 5 plastic bins of books that have been sitting around since I moved in.

Thanks for all the help Mom and Dad!