Home Improvement...never ends!!

We knew when we bought our 'fixer-upper' the list of home repairs and home improvement projects would be never ending! But lately the jobs we've been working on really haven't been so bad!
The first job we (as in mostly Nate) worked on was tiling and fixing up the fireplace. First Nate took a hammer to the ugly red tile and took it all out. We scrubbed and cleaned the fireplace and removed some paint splatters. Then Nate put down new tile and filled in the brick with new grout. We painted the vent and cleaned the window!! With all of this done it looks like a new fireplace!

(Before)

(After)

The second project we worked on was staining the front deck. Because of all the rain we get our deck needed to be protected with a good water-resistant stain. Nate and I spent Saturday afternoon working side-by-side applying the stain. Although Nate really would have rather rather been watching a good college football game on TV it was fun to listen to the BYU vs. Washington game with him on the radio! It's always nice to work with Nate, we have good chats and feel a lot of accomplishment when we get a project done. I'm grateful he is such a handy man and so motivated to get things done. Yes it is too bad we don't have TV, but thank goodness we have time for other things like home improvement!!

(Before)

(After)