RESTORE Deck Painting

Restore Deck Painting is a great product for fixing dry, cracked and chipped decks that are still in pretty good shape as far as the wood goes. Sometimes you just want to do a little quickie project to make it looks clean and fresh on your deck. This is the product you need to do the job. It is a very thick, textured paint that almost looks like it has bits of sand in it.

It goes on very thick with a roller. It dries pretty quickly too. We have an old house. I think it is around 35 years old. So this deck may be really, really crotchety! That means old in pig latin. And we redid the flat part last year.  This year we wanted to redo all the posts and cover up those dumb hearts. (Who puts hearts on balconies except the Swiss? Are we living in the Swiss Alps or what?)

The awful Deck.  This is the BEFORE DECK RESTORE picture. 

When we started the project last year we had to do a lot of PREP! Oh my GOSH the deck was flaky. Is yours that way too? Yuck!  I took the power washer and washed off the entire deck really good. It took me an hour or so. Then I let it dry.

Close up of how badly we needed some RESTORE DECK PAINT done  here....

 This Deck Restore Paint is the greatest product EVER!  It is from Home Depot. If you don't want to redo your whole deck in Trex, this is a good alternate solution. It really made our deck look better.

RESTORE DECK PAINT  comes in a gallon can and we bought an applicator roller that had a texture to it. You can add your broomstick to it so it isn't so backbreaking to apply.

We sanded it with just a big wire brush, just to loosen anything that might chip off. We picked a dark brown but unfortunately they didn't have our exact shade. You have to choose from their color selection which isn't a huge variety, but there are about 20 colors. And we could have color matched. I think we should have, but we are getting ready to paint the house anyway, so no worries.

 Here is a short video showing HOW to spread the DECK RESTORE PAINT onto your old deck.  It looks really easy, AND IT WAS!  Especially for me because all I did was watch! Well, and I cleaned up too. :D

Here is my cute hubs doing the MANLY WORK!   We got a color matching THE RESTORE PAINT for the  deck posts and the  railings around the deck. I still haven't done it.....I am such a procrastinator!  Maybe I can get him to do THAT TOO!  hmmm.....

I decided our old umbrella had seen better days. So I got a fresh, new, green umbrella and some cute outdoor cushions and a few decorations for the deck. It was so boring before!  But don't the deck planks look fantastic? Oh yeah! 

I love the new umbrella and the oil lamp on the table. I found it  from Pier 1 on clearance!  It was only 8 bucks! Woot! 

The flag above I won in a blogger contest. Yay for me! It is so pretty out on the deck post. 

Fake flowers in pots around the deck mixed with real ones. I got that tip from JOY IN THE GARDEN'S radio show. She does it even with tulips and daffodils! Great idea! 

We added these copper, solar lights to the end posts of the deck, they were about  $15.00 each  at the end of the summer last year. Aren't they pretty? Check them out Here at Home Depot.

Here is the DECK RESTORE looking great! (we still have to get rid of those hearts though! I'm still working on painting the posts and handrails. It's a work in progress. It's so hot I can only stand painting in the evenings. 

I took a break from home improvements and got season passes for the hubs and I to go to Cowabunga Bay. They had a Buy One Get One Freebie deal so I bought 4 more tickets so if some of my relatives come we can go play.

Swimming at Cpwabunga Bay is so fun the 98 degree heat! Oh yeah. I can't wait! 

Megan is all over this place like a wild thing. She has no fear at all!

She loves all the slides at Cowabunga Bay.

 Me and Tiff chilling out....

Josie girl chillin with us. 

Now doesn't my pretty deck look pretty awesome? I love hanging out there in the early evenings with the hubs. Now I just have to get him to help me do all the railings....sigh....It never ends. 

Blue and Gray Kitchen Backsplash Remodel

I love my daughter's new house and how cute she has decorated the kitchen and dining rooms. They also did a blue and gray kitchen backsplash remodel. 

This was the first  kitchen backsplash. I love it. She started with a gray glass in this multiwidth pattern. But she didn't love it with the granite. 

So they tore it out (big job!) and decided to change to this subway pattern with some little flecks in it. They loved it. So do I. 

I decided to snap some pics of her cute dining room too. I love how it turned out. This lamp is so pretty and glittery. When you touch it...you can hear the chiming of the glass pieces. 

Pretty candlesticks from me, her cool mom. 

This gray colored plate is pretty large on the wall and adds a neat texture piece to the room.

Close up of these pretty white matted pictures in different scrapbook papers. 

We enjoyed some good food while we were there. I loved these cute straws and napkins that match the house decor. 

Small casserole dishes make great utensil holders too. 

This is her grandmother's china, my mom gave it to her in her will as she was the first granddaughter in the family. It is still timeless. 

Here is a picture of the living room and the cool beamed ceiling there. 

My favorite little grandson. He's my only grandson too. 

Pretty decor in the gray and white room. The tray ceiling is pretty too. 

I loved the rug and the blue tufted chairs too.. I love it all. It's such a pretty place.

I think she likes decorating as much as I do. She is really good at it too I think! 

4th of July Games and Foods

 Happy 4th of July! I decided to make some cute 4th of July Crafts and Food today. It is America's Birthday after all! Woot! I'm making cream puffs and cupcakes but I'm going to use these Freebie Cupcake Toppers on toothpicks and some little AMERICAN FLAGS like the ones below. I'll have to sprinkle some patriotic sprinkles on top of the cream puffs for pizzaz!  Cute 4th of July Cupcakes are always easy and a hit. Try some cream puffs for a change of pace. They are easy too and feed a large crowd.  Patriotic 4th of July Cupcakes made with fresh blueberries and strawberries and decorated with marshmallow cream mixed with cream cheese and cool whip. Recipe is HERE. Last 4th of July pictures.[/caption] I wish I had my doggie Bruce to dress up all Patriotic! But I'll have to just enjoy seeing pics of other doggies all decked out in their amazing best of the red, white and blue. Here is our granddog Gunner in his cowbow wow tie. My Granddaughter and my Granddog in his CowBowWow tie.[/caption] FOODS for 4th of JULY:  Pasta salad is always a good choice for hot summer days because you use vinegar and oil dressing (I love KRAFT House Italian the best). Here I used a pretty bowtie and added fresh veggies, chicken and some Parmesan cheese.[/caption] I'm making a pasta salad today to go with the potato salad we love. Click on the link below the picture for the recipe. I also really like Girrards Greek dressing. But it is hard to find. I sometimes see it at Target. It is great with artichoke hearts in the pasta salad. RECIPE HERE. Potato Salad that only has 4 main ingredients but tastes out of this world. Recipe is HERE Here is one way to arrange your veggies and dip. But I found a better way. Much more creative and fun. Here is my variation after staring at pinterest for a while. haha. Veggie Tree and Dip. And some fun foods for the occasion. Here is a cool way to display veggies and dips for the 4th of July Par-tay! Woo Hoo. Fireworks here we come! Delicious fresh summer fruits on a skewer really can't be beat for any summer celebration too. They looks so much fancier on wooden skewers too, and kids can help make them!  I just need to add some red geranium silk flowers to this pot of hydrangeas and add an American flag!
  GAMES and Decor for 4th of July:  I liked this cute printable Tic Tac Toe game that my granddaughters will love playing. We are going up to our lake cabin for the weekend. So it will be fun to watch them playing games during our down time. Here are two of them with red white and blue tongues! haha. We are SO Patriotic around here.
 For decoration, I dug through the storage room and found my patriotic box. It took forever because the hubs got involved in reorganizing down there (don't ask!) and now I can't find anything. WTH?
Uncle Sam is fun to hang out in a corner for the 4th![/caption] But I did get out my placemats and of course I'm ready with my firework stockpile. (we are big spenders, I think this was 5 bucks on sale at Smiths Market). A fun game I think my grandkids will like is this magnetic match game I put together using 4 sheets of Patriotic Dollar Store magnets. They seem to have them every holiday so look for them in the picnic/kitchen supplies area. I am going to write on each pair the addends of 10, so the kids will start to memorize them as they pair them up.

 The kids  can use cookie sheets and play match game with the 2 double sets of magnets. 2 groups can play at the same time. I could also have done "doubles" and put the double equation on one magnet and the answer on the other. Fun! 

I have lots of good ways for keeping the kiddos busy. How about doing a lemonade stand at your gathering and put the kids in charge. It will keep them VERY BUSY!

I got this cute Lemonade Stand at Target. You could also have a big metal pail full of cans of pop to "sell" so the kiddies don't have to work too hard. Isn't this the cutest picnic blanket? My daughter made it out of red and white calico prints. I love it. I'm making my own version that has taken WAY too long using old Levi's jeans pockets and denim from old jeans. The quilt could back the wall of your garden party or Backyard BBQ at the food buffet. Quilts can be great decor ideas

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 Use striped towels for food tables. Towels can be great decoration helps. I will add blue and white tin pails I got at the dollar store for silverware and napkins. The tin pails came in blue and white and red and white stars for only a buck at
All a Dollar.
 !
Another fun game is Patriotic Tic Tac Toe. The printable freebie is HERE. You could also use red and blue dollar store checkers or jewels for the markers.
Hope you all have a great holiday. I am heading out to the lake to have some fun there and relax after finishing my last week of school Thursday. Proud and thankful to be an American Happy Red, White and Blue day everybody!