Railroad Ties Transformation

As I mentioned in my initial post, the main reason I wanted to begin a blog was to share DIY and home improvement projects.  I mean, of course I'll get side-tracked every now and then... If you were to ask Tyler what his biggest pet-peeve was regarding me, I'm sure he would say that I love to start the next project before we're done with the one underway.  Who doesn't get excited to keep going?!  C'mon now folks.  However, before I get further off-topic, here we go with project numero uno: railroad ties transformation.

As T and I were in the thick of the home-searching process, we were so excited when we came across Sylvan on FMLS.  All of the pictures were aesthetically pleasing, and it was in an area of Atlanta we loved.  As we excitedly pulled up to the abode the following day, my smile began to diminish a bit.  One of the first things I noticed was the retaining wall held up by old, rotted out railroad ties...woof!  It looked like it was literally about to collapse any second.  However, my optimistic hubby, who says "we'll figure it out" anytime I have doubts, said that was a minor detail in the whole scheme of things.  He was right.  (Wait, did I really just say that?)  We came to love almost every aspect of Sylvan, and of course, that's all she wrote...on we were to closing.

After we moved in, I continued to ask Tyler if we could please, please, please replace the railroad ties.  It was basically the first thing you saw from the street.  Every time, I received the same response: "We'll replace the wall once it completely falls."  Ugh.  Surprisingly (or not as my luck would have it) that baby lasted almost a year.  Finally, she fell!  I, of course, was beyond ecstatic.  Now came the time to determine how we could reasonably replace the wall.  We ended up finding brick that didn't exactly match the brick of Sylvan but complemented it well.  T hired a few guys to install it.  While we would have liked to have saved some mula, neither of us are too knowledgeable in the masonry field so that just wasn't an option.  In a matter of a few hours, she was up and I was one happy girl!  It was a little project, but it came with a huge feeling of fulfillment.  In addition, T took on the job of staining the stairs and painting the railings, so everything tied together quite nicely.

Now when you pull up to Sylvan, the first thing you see is two decent-sized windows that feel naked.  Don't worry y'all, I'm already brewing up ideas for a future project...hopefully sooner than later...I'm on the lookout for a steal.  One of T's other frequent sayings is, "We're ballin' on a budget."  Oh, we surely are!

Unfinished Stairs & Rotted Railroad Ties

Sylvan Today (Bring on the blooming flowers & trees!)

I hope y'all have a wonderful Tuesday!  Only three more alarm wake-ups 'til the weekend...and Spring Break for me!  Whoop whoop!