Handy Man

I have posted this on facebook but haven't had a chance to blog about it yet. Lately Darren and I have been talking a lot about moving. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my house, but would really like to be in a different area. Along with the talk of moving comes the house search. This is painful. It is so hard to look at all these beautiful new homes because it makes you want to make changes to your own home. One of the things I love most about all the new houses being built are the beautiful shutters. I am obsessed with them. Every time we see houses with shutters I just stare at them so enviously. One day I rolled home and noticed that our next door neighbor magically got shutters on his front window...where did those come from?!?!? This made my obsession triple! If he can have shutters, why can't I? Darren made the mistake of telling me that our neighbor made his shutters himself! What?!?! Well, if you guys know me, you know that I got the idea in my head that Darren was going to make me shutters and I wasn't going to stop whining about it until I got them :) Much to my surprise I didn't have to whine too much at all. When I told him I really wanted him to make them for me he said he would do it that weekend!!! This almost NEVER happens. I usually have to be EXTREMELY persistent with him.

That weekend we dragged our happy butts out of bead and headed off to gather our materials. First things first, we had to decide what color we wanted to paint/stain them. So we drove around in one of the newer additions in our area and looked at all the shutters. Luckily, Darren and I have very similar taste so we both agreed on one we loved very quickly. Off to Lowes we went. I hate Lowes...HATE IT! I never know what I am supposed to be getting and it just doesn't seem like a place for a lady...but I was determined to get these shutters built! I followed Darren around the store like a lost puppy while he gathered up everything we needed. Oh, I forgot to mention how lucky we are to have such a handy brother-in-law who had all the tools we needed to get the job done. THANKS CHADDIE!

Right when we got home Darren laid all his stuff out and got to work. I was SHOCKED at how easy this project was. It only took him about 2 hours to build these! Of course I stayed outside with him to cheer him on (micromanage)! When he got the all together I helped him slosh the stain on...so easy...no technique needed. And presto! My beautiful shutters were complete! We let the stain dry overnight and my dad headed over the next morning to help us hang them. Hanging is always the hardest part but they had a pretty good approach!

Here is the finished product :)

I sure am lucky to have a sweet husband to do all the crazy projects I dream up for him to do! Although I usually have to work a little harder to get him to do them, they always get done :)