Summer Fixer-Upers

Summer has officially come to a close and I found myself reminiscing on all of the projects I was able to complete within the last three months! 

Our back door was getting pretty dingy so I painted it using the same paint I used on our front door last year. 

Cost $0 

Mirror next to the front door, $5.00/garage sale. Here's the before and after.

Next was the biggest project, painting our bathroom cabinets.

New hallway decor

I've had this window for a couple years and finally got it up on the wall! Thanks Matt 

Wheelbarrow planter. This has been sitting around with weeds and dirt all summer. I'm glad I finally got my act together and cleaned it out, circa 1940's 

That's it for my summer fixer-uppers. Hope you enjoyed my frugal-fun updates. 

Ashley 

Jamaican Adoption Celebration

Our dear friends Fil and Illesha have been waiting for the last 2 1/2 years to  adopt their first son from Jamaica. Well their wait is almost over as they should be bringing home their new addition to the family very soon!

After all the waiting it was finally time to shower the family with support and gifts for their son Kedar. 

The shower was at Linda's lovely home!

The hostesses Linda & Ashley 

I have been seeing different variations of state/country art and immediately thought a map of Jamaica would be a wonderful addition to the party. 

Our Jamaica map was the buffet centerpiece .

Jamaica cut via CNC Router 

Maps of the Caribbean served as buffet accents 

Simple and delicious drinks, water, iced tea and caribbean punch

Pictures of the family with Kedar and quotes were placed around the house. 

This awesome map/flag of Jamaica was cut and painted by my husband. It comes apart in pieces. 

Kedar's new photo album! 

Palms from our yard served as a perfect accent for the family table.

Fil and Illesha have been friends of ours for many years, it has been a blessing to serve along side them in ministry and witness their incredible faith and obedience to God concerning Kedar's adoption. They are a power couple! To find out more about their ministries check out their websites Izreal and CoCo Speaks

Love 

Ashley 

Bloom Where You're Planted: Our First Garden

After almost three years of being in our home we finally decided to tackle the largest part of the backyard; the grass.(well the weeds that used to be grass :) 

I have always wanted a garden so we set aside a portion of the yard to build and setup raised garden beds. 

After many hours of  preparing the area, building wood beds, and installing an irrigation system, the garden is complete.

My husband can do just about anything and he did an amazing job. He dialed in the watering system until it was perfect and and worked so hard to ensure that every garden bed was leveled.

This blog Tilly's Nest helped us with the construction of the beds. 

Step 1: Removing old sod/weeds from future garden area.

We watered a little too much :/ so it was a bit muddy 

Matt working on the drip system

Once the first two beds were complete we had a lot of soil left over so we decided to add a 3rd bed. 

After the beds were complete we ordered 5 yards of bark and voila!!! We are are so happy with the results. 

Easy to install EcoBorder edging from Home Depot!

Here's what we planted!! 

Happy Gardening! 
Ashley