What did you do today

Well I looked at this awful sight , this is a bone of contention for me just to be clear the back of the fireplace , this could be better much much better , I at one point thought stone veneer , but no , that too pricey and its not me , and since I have found the mother load of well priced shakes , Lowe's , that it what it shall be ... wouldn't it be cute with a little copper roof too , how hard is that , anyone know ?

So after making a little pile of this.......

I am left with this , a clean slate to only make better , like I say , design is in the details , I envy those who build a house from the ground up and make decisions like what to clad a house in , vinyl siding would not be my choice , I would have cement siding and shakes and loads of white trim... after all on a regular basis the siding on my bed wall creaks in rain and wind storms and has even from time to time popped right off the darn wall left to be flapping in the wind.... but it must stay ,for now!!!! but watch out siding your on my list {see the window box photo below to see the shakes I will clad this in }

I was asked to show my picket fence , I needed to paint it , which I also did today , my poor paint brush has seen its last days after that sorry job . I picked this design out of a fence job , this project is where I build my comfort level with a power miter saw , I think you can click the photo to enlarge and see the detail of the post tops , that took lots of work , it is made out of spruce and is still standing firm 7 years later ... this was one of my very first solo home improvement projects , and the first time someone asked me if my husband made it for me and I proudly said no , "I made it"

I can not imagine my house without it , ours is the only house in the neighbourhood with a picket fence , I just love little white fences , we had a lovely picket fence at our first house too , don't have any pictures of that one though .

As well someone wanted to see my window box , I did NOT make it , it is cedar and was cheap , I think its 4 feet , I did add the trim this week just to build it up a little more , I think it would be so easy to make its just a simple box with butt joints , I love the blue brackets I added, they are from Lowe's , see those grey shakes , that is what I am going to clad the fireplace jut out thingy with ...

The blossoms are in bloom , so magical.

This is my friend Lisa's tree , it's so lovely.

And this is her fence , Lisa is painting too , I have taken a break from fence painting, I am going to pace myself , this job is a real drag , but she keeps moving on , doesn't it just pop , looks lovely with that cute tree all bushy and green don't you agree?