NOTHING takes 5 minutes!

I always have grand plans for all we will get accomplished on weekends.  Long lists of to do's intermixed with soccer practices, hockey games, and some fun with family and friends.  When I want to get something done quickly Rod just shakes his head at me and tells me "NOTHING takes 5 minutes!"  In our own house when he needs to hang a picture he heads down to the basement, which is anything but organized, and comes back fifteen or twenty minutes later with the supplies he needs after he finally finds them.  So he's right.  Just finding the supplies to do a project takes longer than 5 minutes.  The night before we left for the lake house he organized a large tool box with everything he thought we'd need.  Hammers, screw drivers, velcro tabs, nails, measuring tape, etc, etc.  He was very prepared.  Everything all in one place.  No basement to disappear into.  

We had a LOT of hanging to do!  Even if something only takes 5 minutes to do we ended up having a whole lot of 5 minute tasks to complete.  We tried to get a lot accomplished at night after the girls went to bed so that we could have time to hang with them during the day as much as possible.  Even then we worked a lot during the daylight hours as well.  Even though we were tired we were very excited about all that we got accomplished the first weekend up there.  We may not have painted the pink room which we kept putting off "till tomorrow when there would be better light" but we got almost everything else unpacked and put away or hung up.  Now we are waiting on plumbers, relations that are electricians, friends with masonry skills, and the phone company.  As well as grandparents to help us rake and weed the outside and watch the kids while we get boring jobs done.  The inside feels pretty cozy and it feels like we made it our own while still keeping the cottage charm that the previous owners helped create.  We got a lot of 5 minute projects accomplished this weekend!  Our family motto is work hard, play hard.  We certainly did a lot of both this weekend.  

Welcome to our Duck Head!  And yes the majority of us did hit our heads that first weekend.  So make sure to duck your head when you come to visit!

Kitchen:  

Before

After:  new curtains, rug, completely reorganized cabinets and a rooster! 

Turquoise chairs & new art work brighten up the eat in area of the kitchen.

Sunroom/Dining Room: 

A few minor changes but no one will notice
because they'll be enjoying the view!

Living Room:  

Before

After:  GeeGee chair from home, painted tables, new artwork and lamps.

New pillows from home.  A painted shelf, free mirror, decorations and art.
Antique fishing pole original to house.  

Bathroom:

Before

After:  New curtain that I searched high and low for and
finally got for $7! Who would think I could be so in love with
 a shower curtain! Added window curtain, artwork and curtain rods. 

Bedrooms: 

Before & Afters:   A few new dressers, some new bedding, headboards, lights, curtains, and seating areas.  

Bunk room awaiting a more neutral paint job. 

It's the little touches that make me smile even if it took some sleep deprivation to get there!  We did all this and worked like crazy late into the night so that we can enjoy the rest of the summer (that we have on either end of our renters) relaxing with our guests, boating with our children and roasting marshmallows over the fire at night!  It was worth it!