Guest Post: The Serena Series

While Brandi is busy handling some unscheduled home repair, I offered to step in and do some guest blogging. My name is Serena (@TheFriz11) and I've been a follower/admirer of Brandi's projects since we started working together. You can find me blogging over at Venue Vibe where I share wedding and event planning advice. Unlike Ms. Nell, I am wordy, stink at taking before pictures, and tend to do more cosmetic work than hammer and nail stuff.

In a few weeks, I'll be starting a project I've wanted to do for a while - transform my bathroom, which is also the guest bathroom, into a spa-like retreat. To make it interesting, I'm trying to do it for only $100. But before I jump into that, I wanted to show you some of the work I have already done so you can get to know me.

One of the first projects I did at my house was shaping up the backyard. Remember what I said about before pictures? Yep, I don't have one so you'll have to trust me when I say the finished project is better.

Our backyard had these stones, but they were pushed together in a smaller patch and had some rotting wood creating the trail leading into and out of the backyard. I started by ripping up the rotten wood and rearranging the stones to be more spread out.

After I placed them, I took them back up so I could place this "fabric" underneath to prevent plants trying to spout between my design. I use to know the name of it, but I forgot.

Because I was filling the gaps with pebbles, I used garden trimmer to line my pattern so the pebbles escape less.

From there, I just had to add the pebbles!

And the finished project was...

Awesome!

Double project bonus! Here's an example of my inside work -

Once again, no before before shot, but here's the room with the original paint color and I just finished stripping the popcorn off the ceiling

My cats are often the overseer to my projects. I hope Sushi approves...

Anyway, another day of painting and I get these awesome results!

That's a quick sample of my work! I look forward to sharing more with you guys in a few weeks!