Summer in Pictures:)

I thought I would give you the inside scoop on what I've been up to so far this summer. What better way to do that than with lots of pictures:)

First up, my crazy pups!

Miss Molly and her beloved tennis ball:)

She decided to "do races" in the backyard after I mowed the lawn and came in with green paws to take a nap:)

Next stop, Grand Lake (in OK) lake house with the in-laws...

Tornado Damage at the lake. It was the same storm system as the Joplin, MO tornado, but not the same tornado.

1 year anniversary...

Can you believe it?! We got approximately 2 pictures on our one year anniversary and in one of them I was too busy eating my ice cream. Those who know me wouldn't be surprised:)

Sister In-Laws Graduation

(Yes, I am wearing the same dress as above!)

And I couldn't do a picture post without some of the most precious baby on earth, my niece Macy!

Look at those lips!

Cross-eyed babies are pretty darn cute:)

Her first trip to the park!

And those are the highlights so far...hopefully I will have some exciting new to share with you all very soon (relating to a new business endeavor, no babies!).

Hope you are having a great day:)

Outdoor Sectional - Check!

You may recall this not so finished outdoor sectional I shared a little bit ago...

Well, to give it a more cohesive look on the cheap, I decided to wrap it in left over 2 X 4's. 

Materials needed:

- Wooden pallets (cut in half)

- Outdoor cushions (make sure they are the right size for your pallet; we used 22X76 inch)

- Heavy duty velcro

- Any size wood you like

- Deck Screws

- Drill

- Miter/table saw (necessary if you want to create a beveled edge on the corners, otherwise you could probably get away with a circular saw if you just want to make straight cuts).

- Measuring tape

- Pencil

***Before you start cutting your wood, take a good look at your pallets and make sure they are all evenly lined up***

I didn't take my advice and because I cut the pallets in half myself, they were no where near "perfect" and some edges stuck out further than others which made it impossible to put the wood on evenly. I had to go around with a hand saw and cut off some of the edges. If I would have cut them in half more carefully, I wouldn't have had to mess with this step.

Step 1:

Cut wooden pallets in half and decide on a formation for you bench/sectional/etc.

Step 2:

Decided on a pattern for your wood pieces & cut. We had to do a sort of mosaic because we were using left over pieces of wood that were all different lengths already.

We opted to cut our pieces at a 45 degree angle for the corners to give it a more polished look.

Step 3:

Pre drill holes.

*I used a pieces of thin lattice wood here and there to help level out the surface I was drilling/screwing in to, because the pallets I was using were not all perfect/the same.

Step 4: 

Use deck screws to secure wood to pallets.

Step 5:

Stain wood. We have yet to do this yet, but I have chosen a dark espresso color and will probably finish it off in the fall when we do our deck so we can knock them out at the same time!

Step 6:

Attach pieces of heavy duty velcro to both the bottom of the cushion and the top of the pallet to hold them in place. I like the velcro more than ties 1. because you don't see them and 2. they are easy to rip off when you have to run outside and rip them off when it is raining!

That's it! Pretty easy project if you have the right tools. It was a little more time consuming for me, simply because I had to come up with a pattern for the wood using a bunch of random pieces. You could easily just use 2X4's that cover each length which would give you minimal cuts and a cohesive look.

This is what we've got...

We got to enjoy this yesterday when we hosted a going away party for my cousin who is leaving for China for 3 months. It worked out great and got a lot of use!