DIY: Countertop makeover--Granite paint

I found a product online called Giani Granite Countertop paint. http://www.gianigranite.com/
The pass-through counter on my back patio needed a serious makeover so I read the reviews and ordered the kit on Amazon for $80.  The Rustoleum Countertop Transformation kit at Home Depot was over $250! Yikes!!
The Giani kit requires several steps...cleaning/prep, primer, 3 sponged on colors, then a shiny top coat. All steps were super simple and with a little practice I feel like I got an awesome result. The tricky part was the top coat. Hard to get it smooth with no roller marks, but hey...it's a patio shelf. I am pleased with the results and highly recommend this product. I don't know if I would want to do an entire kitchen this way, but for my small projects, it worked great.

I neglected to take a "before" pic so I dug one up from before we moved into the house.


Patio pass through "Before" May 2011

  



"After" March 2013





Pass through closeup March 2013

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Since that was so successful and I had lots of paint left (the kit will paint 35 sq ft) I found more things around the house to make-over.



Ikea desk "before"





Ikea desk "After"





Laundry room counter "Before" 



Laundry room counter "after" 
(Ikea Antonius System)


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   Here are the steps-simplified.
Since I'm impatient and it's so dry here, I didn't wait the recommened drying times.
 

Step 1: Clean with brillo pad

 





Step 2: Prime --let dry 8 hours



Step 3: Sponge color 1 (medium color)



Step 4: Sponge color 2 (lightest color)



Step 5: Sponge color 3 (darkest color)

Let this dry 4 hours.

Step 6: Roll clear top coat (trickiest part for sure) You can do up to 3 coats but I only did one. I recommend watching and paying attention to the instuctional DVD.





 























Chickens: Portable run March 2013

I said earlier that the past weekend was busy. One project that turned out pretty good is the portable chicken run. I wanted to give the chicks access to the grass and let them graze, eat bugs and poop freely.  So I started digging in the pvc discard pile and came up with a simple rectangular "playpen".  Just a few sections of pvc, some connectors, Hannah's green duck tape and some deer netting and poof...done. Randy, Gavin and I had fun working on it together. 
The chickens love it. I move it around the yard during the afternoon and they nibble on grass, catch bugs and just hang out. I put a water dish in with them and keep an eye out just in case our dog, Eleanor decides she wants chicken for lunch. So far so good.  In the evening they are ready to go back to their coop so I scoot it over and let them out...they trot right back in.  Funny birds.

Checking on the chicks before heading out to dinner.

Gavin the chicken whisperer and his gals.

Garden: Great Potato Project Update March 28 2013

The Potato project is coming along. Lots of growth coming up. I keep covering the new growth with dirt/compost as instructed. I planted Russetts from the same batch in 2 laundry baskets. One basket is growing like crazy and the other is taking it's sweet time. Weird. 

   I got so inspired by the rapid growth I decided to do another basket with red potatoes. I planted them a few days ago and anxiously waiting for that first leaf to peak through the dirt. It's the little things in life, right?

Garden: March 24, 2013

It was a busy weekend in the garden and coop. Lots of planting, bed prep, trellis making, chicken playpen building...busy. It's getting hotter here so I want to get everything built and planted before the scorching sun rears it's ugly head. It's hard to garden when it's 115 degrees so I prefer to do the hard stuff now and watch the garden grow from the comfort of the swimming pool.
I'm most proud of the bean trellises I built (by myself). I designed them, sawed, nailed, painted them. Total time: 2 hours. Total cost for the entire project: $7.00. I think they look pretty artsy too. Can't wait till the beans are climbing all over them. Makes me giddy just thinking about it. I'm going to make similar trellises for the tomatoes. Making a Home Depot run tonight. 

Family: Wyatt 6 months

Wyatt turned 6 months old a few days ago. He helped me check the chickens and gardens today. I had to keep him away from the fence so Nuggets wouldn't bite him. :)   Can't wait for the veggies to be ready for him to eat. He is learning to sit up now and very mobile. He loves being outside with me. What an amazing baby. If he didn't have the scars to prove it, you would never know he'd already had 2 major surgeries. I am so very blessed.

Mommy's garden hat....yum.

Peek a boo.

Garden: Project Carrots

I have grown carrots with minimal success in the past. By minimal, I mean edible but very short, stubby and sometimes mutated. Either I have the wrong soil composition or too much water or too little water or too much light or not enough light or it's the wrong time of year to plant...I have no idea but that doesn't stop me from trying. You see, we love carrots around here. It's the one veggie that all of my kids love. We munch on them raw, with ranch dip, hummus, put it in soups, stir fry, banana zucchini bread, you name it...carrots are included. I even put them in salsa. So why don't I have carrots growing everywhere in my gardens? This year I'm going to try everything in my power to have home grown carrots. I did have a few carrots that I could pluck a few months ago..just enough to purree for Wyatt's first taste of solid foods. They were pretty, but see how small they were.



Picked Jan 2013--Wyatt's first baby food

 So after my great potato project last week I had an epiphany! Why not grow carrots the same way..in laundry baskets?  Well, today I gave it a shot. I took 2 out of the 4 laundry baskets I bought at the 99cent store and lined them with straw/dried grass from our yard. This will hopefully allow drainage and keep the dirt in. I then filled them with compost/soil and planted the seeds. I planted Red Cored Chantenay and Danver carrots which should be ready in about 75 days.  In the next week or two I'll plant the other 2 baskets with different varieties so I'll have a steady crop throughout the summer. I also planted some in the raised bed and in another pot mixed with sand along with radishes. Several different carrot projects going...surely we'll have some to munch on by Memorial weekend. Crossing my fingers.

Garden: The Salad Days March 11 update

So cool to see a package of seeds turn into something edible, or taking something I bought in the grocery store and watching it grow, too. I was asked to bring salad to a dinner party this weekend so I walked outside and snipped some. I even included some baby celery leaves that I needed to thin out. Awesome! Can't wait to have more veggies to throw in there. Should have radishes very soon and some cherry tomatoes are ripening as we speak. The green beans and sunflowers are just starting to poke up from the ground. The heavy rain last week was like a gift from the heavens for my newly planted seedlings.
Won't be long now...

Mixed greens, arugula, spinach, thinned celery leaves.

Green beans

Cherry tomatoes

Cilantro

Artichokes

Celery--from a stalk of celery I bought at the store

Strawberries

Leeks--from leeks my friend Terri gave me from Bountiful Baskets.

Chickens: Chicken Curtain

It's starting to heat up in Phoenix. We may even hit a record high for this time of year tomorrow....92 degrees. Yes, that's a bit hot for early March...isn't even officially spring yet..oh well. The chickens love this weather and being outside so this weekend  I decided to whip up a removable, breathable wall to give them some privacy and lots of ventilation. I first tried burlap, but the silly little girls kept eating it, so I decided to use some leftover  fabric I had laying around. The fabric is a bit pricey, but it's all I had handy. I made sure to sew all the edges so no frayed pieces for them to pick at. It turned out quite pretty.
We'll see how long it lasts, but at least I can easily take it down and clean or replace it.


Chicken Curtain



Side view of chicken curtain. Hides the nesting boxes which I've covered until they are older.

I also hung their water from the ceiling and raised the roosting pole a bit higher. Now the water stays nice and clean. Having chickens is fun and hopefully in another 4 months we'll have fresh eggs. :)

Garden: The Great Potato Project

I remember as a kid riding on Papa's tractor and surveying his massive garden, especially the potatoes. I would so love to have that kind of land however I do not so I have to make the most of my space. So after consulting Pinterest and Google once again, I am going to try to grow my own potatoes in a laundry basket. Randy gave me a very curious look last night when I told him about it. I think it was more skeptical than curious, but oh well. My neighbor Terri supplied me with 2 bags of organic Russets that were seriously sprouting. I then cut the potatoes up and placed them in the laundry basket which I filled with about 2 inches of soil/compost mix and covered them up a bit. I will let them sit for a day or so then start watering. According to my research, I will cover the potatoes as they sprout leaves and keep layering soil/compost on top until the potatoes are ready to harvest --in about 4-5 months. Cross your fingers.

Basket from Big Lots. Easy to carry and so pretty.

Organic Russet potatoes planted 3-6-13

Family News: Wyatt March 2013

Baby Wyatt is growing up so fast. These pictures were taken last week. He is almost 6 months old and starting to show even more of his sweet and curious personality. He is an easy going old soul and is so much fun to hang out with. Love love love my baby boy. You would never know he has had 2 major surgeries already. He is a miracle for sure.

Wyatt Francis--5 1/2 months old.

He loves to roll under the couch.

Learning to sit up.

Family: Hannah Jean Feb-March 2013

Life is BUSY with 3 kids especially with Hannah. She is involved in just about everything she can be so always something going on. On top of homework, here is Hannah's schedule this past week: 
Monday: After school exercise program--Girls on the Run
Tuesday: Volleyball practice 4:30-6pm
Wednesday: free day
Thursday: Volleyball practice 4:30-6pm
Friday: After school exercise program 3:15-3:50pm  then Girl Scout Cookie Sales at Safeway 4-6pm
Saturday: Volleyball game 12:30pm
Sunday: Free day



Selling Girl Scout cookies




The Red Hots. Last game of this season.

This past Saturday was her last Volleyball game of the season. She will do one more season then hopefully start soccer again which she certainly excels at. We are signing up for indoor soccer this summer. Her team stays together and they are very good. Can't wait!



Hannah Jean sang Rolling in the Deep by Adele at this year's Sequoya Talent Show Feb 15, 2013. She ROCKED!!!!