Pool - Part 2

I shared with you last week about installing our pool and adding onto our existing deck a couple of years ago.  After five seasons now, it never gets old and we use it daily.  I love looking out the window and seeing all the bright blue  , it just makes me happy.  Here's what it looks like today.  It's pretty plain, but considering the use by all the kids, it needs to be functional and it is!   



The pool has direct sun all day until about 4:30 and we have shade all day on the deck which is wonderful.
You can tell by my photo where the line starts and as the season goes on the line of sun gets smaller, but we won't talk about that...



Remember what our back yard use to look like

We have plenty of room with two loungers and 8 additional stackable chairs.  We also fill the space with

noodles in every color, round tubes, swim flippers, and a bazillion kids...  

Here's the original deck off of the house and we just built on to it when we installed the pool.  You step up

one step and you have complete access to the pool. 

The view from the kitchen.  We love our table and chairs out on the deck and we use

them all the time to eat as a family. It's so easy since it's right off of the

kitchen.  Perfect for entertaining too!

I have two deck planters with annuals in them I put together every year.  They hang from the

deck railings and theyreally add a lot of color.  

I also have some ferns by the sliding glass door

and a couple shade loving annuals in pots.

Last but not least we have this guy who moves

around the deck...he has to stay in the back yard

because we have some serious Cardinal fans next door

and we wouldn't want him to go missing....just say'n :)

I'm joining the Blog party at SAS Interiors

You wanna Party?

Wanted to share with you this awesome Summer themed Blockg Party going on next week.  I am getting geared up to join these parties next week and I hope you will too.  Remember the entire link party will appear on all 12 blogs so you won't have to search too hard.   Here's the button and the schedule with the theme for each blogger.  Hope to see everyone in this cool blog hop!

DebbieDoo’s Blogging and Blabbing-Summer Paint Projects
At The Picket Fence (Vanessa)-Summer Activities for Kids
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia-Drop Cloth Projects
Savvy Southern Style-Summer Decks and Porches
DIY by Design-Outdoor Cooking and Dining
Elements Interiors-Summer DIY Projects
Green Door Girl Designs-Summer Fashions
No Minimalist Here-Summer Entertaining
SAS Interiors-Summer Spaces
Common Ground-A Vintage Summer
French Country Cottage-A Shabby Cottage Summer
Stuff and Nonsense-Summer Sales (Thrifting, Flea Markets and Yard Sales)
At The Picket Fence (Heather)-Fresh from the Garden (Garden Recipes and Projects)

Remember there will be 13 GIVEAWAYS..one for each theme! So you will need to visit each party AND link up your project to be in the running for their giveaway.  You are allowed to link up more than one project so it increases your chances on winning!! 

I better get working on some projects!  First up spray painting :)

A look around

To honor all the dads out there for Father's Day, I wanted to share some love with you regarding my hubby's "Man Cave"(love you honey).

In my research on man caves here's what I found: 

A man cave, sometimes a mantuary or man space, is a male sanctuary, such as a specially equipped garage, spare bedroom, media room, den, or a basement.  It is not a cave but rather a metaphor describing a room inside the house, such as the basement or garage or attic or office, or outside the house such as a wood shed or tool room, where "guys can do as they please" without fear of upsetting any female sensibility about house decor or design

Now here's where we come in ladies.....while a wife often has substantial authority over a whole house in terms of design and decoration, she generally has no say about what gets "mounted on the walls" of a man's personal space. Since it is generally "accepted that women have the rest of the house to decorate, including the closets," a man cave or man space is in some sense a reaction to feminine domestic power.  While the term man cave has connotations of retreating to a more primitive primal place, the term man space has been used which doesn't have the negative connotations. source

Here's Mr. B back in the day playing his first acoustic guitar.  His love of music
started from a very early age when he had to practice piano daily.

Here's your initial view when you open the door to the basement.  I have to

admit he really did a great job with accessorizing and utilizing the wall space.

The signs are vintage, metal Fender and are cool!  He hangs his guitars as art too. 

Just a couple guitars down in the man cave and to date I have no clue how many he has....20 something?

Enough said



This is the wall coming down the staircase, the prefect amount of red.  I found these
pictures years ago at Bed Bath and Beyond for $3.00 a piece on clearance.  They're
old concert bills.  Again, he really impresses me with his decorating, well I helped! 

Yes, we have the official sign "Man Cave", couldn't resist. Found it at Hobby Lobby.



Here's just one stash of guitar picks.  I find them all over the house, even

in the washer.  He carries them in his pockets all of the time.

More picks, but this one really stood out to me.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 Romans 10:13

Not pictured on this post is the matching furniture, non-matching recliner, big TV, and the Wii system down in the man cave and is used by all.  Thanks for sharing your man cave with us!! 

*Linking up at At the Picket Fence

Pool - Part 1

About four years ago we decided to install a big ole' swimming pool in our backyard and we have never, ever regretted it.  Not once!

We started off with an Intex Pool with the big blow up ring around the top and fell in love with the whole pool idea.  We used it all of the time, but quickly outgrew it.  Then I had an idea to buy a bigger pool and make it a permanent fixture(well technically it can be moved).  Hubby wasn't exactly on board so I had some convincing to do, but it was an easy sell.  We knew an in ground pool was out of the question.  Plus, we do live in the Midwest and we really only get about 4 good months of swimming weather.  So we shopped around and ended up with a 24' round Doughboy above ground pool.  It's 4 foot deep around the edges of the pool and the center has a gradual descent to over 5 foot deep.  We thought as the kids grow it would give more depth for everyone.  Plus we put in a center drain and it helps keep the water cleaner.  I don't have to vacuum very often because the drain catches all the debris.  I'm loving it!

The back of our house with the original small deck, very cozy... gotta love the jeans hanging out there

Another view from the deck, the steak marks the spot for the center of the pool.  Can you

believe we use to have about 40 trees in our back yard?  We had them cleared out so we

could use the space.  Another great idea! 

After several days of excavating the ground and putting the pool together it was finally done.

We finished filling it with about 12,000 gallons of water, and believe it or not it wasn't very

expensive to fill it up.  The chemicals can be expensive but if you budget for them you can

expect to pay about $300 a season.  This cost will vary depending on the weather because

the sun zaps the chlorine...just a little pool chemistry talk.  Yawn, boring! 

After the pool was installed, I was insistent on getting the pool deck built onto the existing deck.  It was going to make getting in and out of the pool so much easier plus life guarding the kids easier too.  Our family and friends all came together to help build the deck and install the electricity.  They all are so handy that it only took them a day to get it all done.  Here are some pictures of the process with the girls helping out a little bit.  I'll be back with some current pictures of how it looks today all finished and prettied up.