{Basement} Paint

So our basement is ugly. U-G-L-Y ugly. I'm sorry. Give me time. 

I mentioned I wanted to clean up and makeover our basement to a craft room. I'm thinking a mix between Meg Duerksen's and Classy Clutter's (check those babies out!) plus a bunch that are on Instagram that I love. 

We do NOT have any cuteness going on here.. I apologize. Give me time and cross your fingers, send me good vibes, pray for me - whatever your choice - I need it! 

The rest of the house is looking up and if we haven't updated it, it's just a matter of time and money (kitchen - I'm looking at you!). Some things just needed love and attention, others needed a full on gut job like our bathroom. This is a combination of both, I guess.

Cinder block walls, three broken lights (that have since been removed and donated), and a concrete floor. I guess you can say that it can only improve from here because it was just that bad.

Was. 

Here are some before - all taken with my cell phone so forgive me. I'll take better photos once we get to the pretty stuff and the sun shines again. 


Oh the ugliness - leaky something from the outside and some mold/mildew issues. Most of what you see here is actually paint I chipped off for paint prep. But yeah, there's gross stuff too. 


And here it is with primer. Let's sigh a relief on this one and think about the potential. 


And here's the other side of the basement. Two interior walls that the previous homeowner covered with brown paper bags. It's in good shape but it, with the dingy white ceilings (and other walls) and the red stained floor make it dark. And let's not forget the broken lights. 

In the phone below you can see where the trim stops… that's a closet. I may have plans for it. Maybe. 


And it's already brighter with one coat! 


Oh the ceiling. I thought it was white and then I painted it white. The old white (on the right) looks so dingy. So it'll be nice that I freshened it up. But let's not talk about cutting in for awhile, ok? The entire ceiling is covered in 45 (yes, I counted) rectangles, all surrounded with the trim. I will need a chiropractor soon (as if I didn't need to go see one already). 


And a little before and after comparison I put on Instagram. Follow me at thebrickbungalow


The plans still are: 
1. Paint - I'll say I'm 1/3 of the way - maybe. 
2. Storage
3. Tables and workspace
4. Lighting
5. A studio name

I hope to have more updates soon. I got farther along than what I've shown here, but ran through one gallon of paint already (plus the primer), so I'll show more later. I needed to stop to do everyone's favorite activity - taxes! So now that those are done with, I'll go back to painting tomorrow. And then cleaning the rest of the house. I'm on Spring Break and well, it's now halfway over but I have so much to do! 

What have you been working on? 

Some day our weather will stay constant and the sun will come out and I'll do an early garden tour. I need to stay on top of those this summer so I can show the wild growth that happens in Lily's Garden. 

{Life} Welcome!


Hi! I'm linking up to Kelly's Korner's blog today and I thought I'd start off by introducing the group around here. I'm Megan, the blogger of the family. I've been married to Doug for almost 10 years and we have two beautiful, wonderful kiddos. Lily will be 7 in May and Nate is almost 2 1/2. 



I blog (well, when I do... it gets a little crazy here), I blog about my family, our adventures, and our house and home. Last summer we completely renovated our main bathroom. And by completely renovated - I mean gutted it to the walls... and even floor. I realized I never did a complete tour of the room, all nice and done. Add that to my list! 



See? I told you sometimes even the floor goes! And yes, the above two photos are the same room. Crazy, huh?!?! Check our all the main bathroom posts here

I love to be outdoors and we've completely changed the majority of our landscaping. Well, let's just say all of it because only three bushes in the entire yard have stayed in our 9 years here and their days are numbered. 

Last summer, I redid our back yard. Well, we started it. It definitely improved a lot but we still have some plans! 


The biggest change, and longest project, is what I call our "Lily Garden". That's for two reasons - one, our daughter is named Lily and it started with a plant I received from my grandmother when I gave birth. And two, there are a lot of different types of lilies in our garden. 


The above photo was from last year, before the climbing plants and lantana took over. I just love how we started with nothing and now it's this bright, colorful oasis of flowers! (Our next door neighbor's green lawn was basically what we had...minus all the fencing). 

Oh, and I don't blog much about it, but here's some other stuff about me....

1. I'm an art teacher. I teach middle school.
2. My husband is a coach and teacher at a high school.
3. We spend a lot of time with our family.

And so much more. Find me at Instagram at thebrickbungalow for more frequent updates! 

{The Farm} Fishing and Fun

Hello!

We went back out to my parents' farm again this week (check out last week's adventures here). It's only a 20 minute drive, so nothing at all to get there to have hours of fun and a great meal or two. 

When we first got there, we decided brownies needed to be made. Who doesn't enjoy brownies? This guy got his first good lick of a spoon, covered in all that brownie goodness.

Don't judge me on my parenting - yes, it had raw eggs. Wholesome, nutritious, locally grown eggs. And really, who has ever gotten sick from a farm fresh egg?!?


Lily can smell brownies from a mile away. She asks for them every chance she can and only likes them compared to other treats (well, except ice cream). 


While at my parents' house, I had to admire the orchids. Her orchid growing ability is insane. If I buy them (because they are so pretty!), mine normally are on their death bed and she can fix them. This is ONE of many plants that bloom all the time! 


And then we decided to try fishing in their pond. They've stocked it a few times (and built it years ago) but we only saw some babies. Or as Doug thought, fish that didn't have enough food to get bigger and aren't actually babies. But I'll call them babies because they weren't longer than 5-6 inches. 


And what trip to the farm wouldn't be complete without a tractor ride? Lily and my dad went to get their two person kayak to enjoy. 


Which, of course, turned into a three person kayak because Nate is sitting on my dad's lap. You can see his green hoodie. 


And because even my dogs get spoiled (some times), Krypto got to enjoy the lake. We've had him for almost 5 years and he has never gone to the lake before. He's gone to my parents, but we don't normally let them out of the fenced off portion. The lab side of him really enjoyed it and I'm happy the American Bulldog side didn't make him sink. He went pretty far out in the water, where it's deep, so I panicked a bit. He did great though. Zoey went too but she's not into swimming and has since lost her privileges to go back as she whined the entire time out there in the car and for the next 24-ish hours as she hurt herself. She's old, so she basically just needs a warm place to rest. 


And it takes them all to bring the tractor back. My dad may need a bigger one for when they get bigger! Nate likes to drive it. Can you imagine what he'll be like this summer when we let him drive the boat?!?! 


And we found another bird's nest. No inhabitants so maybe someone will claim it. 

{The Farm} Early Spring Walk

Hello!

It's almost Spring! Can you feel it?!? We live in Missouri so we've had a really mild winter and tastes of spring make us ready for the real deal. But I have a feeling we'll get a late winter and then all my pretty flowers will be hurting. Let's keep our fingers crossed for an early spring. 

Except the mosquitoes need to die. Like yesterday.

Anyway, this past weekend we went to my parents' farm and enjoyed the weather with a tractor ride to the "ridge" as my parents call it and down into the creek bed. It hasn't rained much lately so there wasn't a lot of water but in our newly found hole, there was. I'm loving the little spot and will be visiting throughout the summer, hopefully... until the snakes take over. 

Here's this adorable, and tiny, birds' nest my mom found (that's her hand in the back). She is watching to see if it's currently in use or will be a decor item in her house. She's all about letting nature be but also bringing it indoors to prevent its destruction. 


My mom walks this area pretty regularly and noticed how the trees touch on the top, creating a cathedral window like shape. It'll be fun to watch as the leaves come out. 


Here's the previously mentioned "watering hole". I climbed up to the top and took a few photos (see below). There were fish in this little pond before winter when we explored last time but we didn't see anything this time around. It's pretty shallow, maybe just 2 feet deep, so I bet it all froze over and killed them. Plus, how they got there in the first place is a mystery!


The view from the top. I love the streaks of sunlight. 


A tree and rocks. There are a few of these on their property where the trees grow around the rocks. I love it when they're off the ground but this rock seems pretty big. 


And there you have it. Photos aren't too bad for my iPhone 6. I'll bring my nice camera some day. 

See my early fall visit to the farm and the ridge here. What a difference a few months can make, right?! 

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