Many years ago, my grandparents were downsizing and had an auction sale prior to moving into a seniors’ facility. I managed to pick-up their antique coat rack at the sale. I loved the coat stand and it also allowed me to keep something that had belonged to them. Over the years, it suffered many chips and nicks and although the transformation was far from dramatic, I am pleased with the results of the stripping and staining.
When stripping, I find the Crica 1850 products work great. They are strong and fast acting products that require proper gloves and protection. Although effective, be careful when using these products. I’m not quite sure what type of wood my coat rack is, but the grain is not very visible and it seems to have a natural redish hue ~ maybe fir? I chose a deep brown stain that helped to tame the red and a satin finish, as opposed to the old high gloss. I love how it has more of a matt look.
This red shelf was a previous upcycle and works well for storing Shay’s socks, undies and t-shirts.
Well, Shay’s contemporary styled boy’s room is officially done! I love the black and white combination and with Eden choosing the same palette, the upstairs flows nicely together. A black and white colour scheme is so versatile and really stands the test of time. I actually got this project completed pretty quickly, but was delayed in finding blackout curtains. I ended up scoring big at Jysk and got some black room darkening curtains that were regularly priced at $50 per panel and on sale for $10 – I cleaned the store out and bought the last 6 panels! What a great deal! When the curtains are closed the room is pretty dark with the black walls and curtains, but Shay’s room has so many windows, he can get away with it. There are a total of 6 windows in his room plus the one in his closet. It is very bright without proper shades and so we decided to go for the blackout curtains and he loves it. This is one of my favourite rooms in the house. It is so bright and a great size as well.
The total room makeover included the following:
patching, sanding, priming and painting three walls black
replacing the bed board beneath the mattress as it was cracked
replacing the dark blue chalkboard tubs in the red cabinet with black ones
repainting the hockey stick shelf black
purchasing, hemming and steaming 6 panels of curtains
new bedding
The main expenses for this project were the paint ($100), curtains ($68ish) and bedding as well as a few smaller accessories ($100ish). I am guessing it cost under $300 to re-do the entire space. Many of my room makeovers are more about the sweat equity than the dollar value. Designing on a limited budget is possible….so much can be accomplished with paint and some hard work!!
For a feature wall, Shay wanted something geometric. I did some research and ended up coming up with a triangle design for his geometric feature wall.
How to Paint a Feature Wall:
Prep your walls (plaster, sand, prime any holes)
Paint your base colour (in my case white)
Plan and tape off your design.
Firmly press both edges of the painter’s tape to the wall.
Using a fairly dry brush, seal the edges of the tape with the same colour as your base wall.
Plan your colours.
Paint the sections of your wall.
Remove the tape and touch up if necessary.
I first had to sand the edges of the red stripe and then patch/repair any imperfections on the wall. Once that was dry and sanded, I primed those areas before putting on two coats of white paint (Benjamin Moore Simply White). It is important to let fresh paint cure before adding any tape. I let the painted white walls cure for 10 days before starting this actual feature wall. In the past, I have applied tape too soon and it is very frustrating when you remove tape from your finished project and have several layers of paint come off with it. Be patient!
To be honest, other than deciding on triangles, there was no plan. I liked the look of having a one inch white border between the shapes and that was why I did the two coats of white before starting. I began by taping off a border that went around the permimeter of the wall (top, bottom and both sides). I did not put a border around the door frame because I wanted to create the illusion that the design extended through the door frame. I then created the wall using the tape as my design tool. It was important to make sure the lines I created were straight, but the angles and sizes varied from triangle to triangle.
Tape the design on your wall. Ensure the edges are firmly pressed into the wall.
Once the design was created with the painter’s tape, I had to go over each piece with the edge of my finger nail, firmly pressing both edges of the green tape to make sure there was a proper seal to the wall.
Although you may be tempted, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Step 5 is the key to getting those crisp perfect lines with little to no bleeding beneath the tape. You must take your base colour (white in my case) and with a fairly dry brush (not too much paint on it), seal both edges of all the paint strips. This may seem a bit overwhelming, but believe me it is the key to achieving the best results possible. The truth of the matter is PAINT BLEEDS UNDER TAPE, so you want to control this by making sure that the paint that bleeds is the same colour as your base wall (white bleeds on white). There is nothing as disappointing as removing the tape and finding that the colours you’ve used have leaked over top of one another. I have to confess the white boarders made this job pretty easy because all of my sealing was done in white. If you have different colours up against one another, you need to make sure that the colour you are sealing with is the same as the colour it will bleed onto. For example if I didn’t have white boarders, I may have grey bleeding onto black and visa versa. I would need to use the appropriate colour to seal each and every strip/edge of tape. This is much more work.
Seal the edges with your base colour to avoid have the paint bleed under the tape.
To plan out the colours for the triangles, I ended up taking a photo of the taped off wall and importing it into a Pages document on my Mac. I then used the drawing tool to draw each triangle and then filled it with the desired colour. This allowed me to change the colour for any given shape until the desired look was achieved. The grey tones did not match my paint colours exactly, but I was able to get the over all look using black, dark grey, medium grey and then a light shade. I wanted to make sure I was happy with the design and colour placement before starting to paint. For the colours, I used the black and white paint I’d purchased for the walls (one gallon of each) and the grey was a gallon I’d purchased as a mistint for real cheap. (When decorating on a budget, always check the mistints because you can often purchase excellent quality paint for a fraction of the price.)
Use a drawing program to plan out your colours. I just used Pages on my Mac.
Once you have a plan, begin painting the triangles. I did this one colour at a time and by the time I finished the wall, the first colour was pretty much ready for a second coat. I rolled my colours on as I prefer the smooth look of a roller as opposed to a brush. (I did use a brush for a few of the tight corners and to trim along the door frame where there was no white border).
Remove the tape and voilá ~ you have a beautiful geometric feature wall! If you have sealed your tape well, you should not need to do any touch-ups, but if you didn’t, you may need to clean-up the spots where the paint leaked under the tape. This is not fun, so try to be very careful when completing steps 4 and 5.
The desk and chair in Shay’s room have been in our home for years. If I remember correctly, I think the set was a freebie from a friend (or maybe a really cheap second-hand purchase). Over the years, I’m sure that the top has been painted at least 4 times. It’s an easy job and the plain black base allows it fit with almost any decor. It is a perfect kid’s room desk and despite its age, has really stood the test of time.
BEFORE: Desk, chair and hockey shelf from Shay’s old hockey themed room.
AFTER: A new paint job and some updated fabric will help coordinate these old items into Shay’s new bedroom design.
Shay actually loved the style of the top, but wanted me to redo it so that the colours were consistent with his new decor. Basically, all I did was give the urethane on top a light sand so the paint would stick, prime it and then play with some paint to get the desired look. I did add a bit of glaze to the paint because I already had it on hand. The glaze is great for mixing colours together and slows the dry time slightly so that you can “play” with the paint a bit more. Once the painting was done, I added three coats of urethane to seal it and make it more durable.
Since I was already in the midst of painting, I also decided to give the hockey stick shelf a bit of a new look, by painting the shelves black. I really like the black as opposed to the original red even though I’m not yet sure that the shelf will remain in Shay’s new room. Either way, I thought that fresh paint in a more neutral colour would make it more marketable on Kijiji when we post all of his other Jets/hockey room accessories.
Of course, the previously reupholstered blue chair would no longer work. I have upcycled a few of these old style folding chairs, so giving this a new look was probably no more than a half hour job. You simply remove the screws. lay new fabric overtop (or remove the old first) and use a staple gun to secure it in place. I had left over fabric from previous projects, so the fabric cost me nothing.
Well, so far its been a great summer! We spent the first week in my home town enjoying our time with family and friends. It was awesome connecting with so many people that I hadn’t seen in years and in some cases decades! I must admit I was thoroughly exhausted after so much visiting and many late nights (I’m actually surprised I can still do that). So after arriving home, I did take a few days to relax before embarking on big project number 1 – my 12 year old son’s room.
Although it doesn’t seem like that long ago since we completed his Winnipeg Jet’s hockey themed bedroom, his bedding had been the same since he made the big move to his big boy bed over 9 years ago. With the bedding looking very tired and a gaping 3 foot hole on the underside (he caught his foot in a small worn patch), it was in fact deemed necessary to do yet another bedroom make-over.
Goodbye hockey themed room!
Shay has always been very set in his ways. He had a very clear idea of what he wanted, so the design factor was pretty minimal on my part. He wanted a black and white room. The great thing about his colour selection was that it tied in nicely with Eden’s city themed bedroom which is also primarily black and white. In addition to his choice of colours, he already had two navy blue walls in his room, so painting black over the navy was virtually a snap, but the third wall was formerly beige and did require 3 coats to get proper coverage. So, the job began by sanding out the red stripe (a hard and tedious job), patching, priming and finally painting the walls. He chose to have three black walls and one feature wall. The idea of having a primarily black room may seen daunting, but Shay’s room has an incredible full wall of windows plus two additional windows in the main space and yet another smaller window in his walk-in closet.
One of my first jobs was to repair the door knob hole in Shay’s wall. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until I was mid repair that Shay spilled the beans and told me it was actually his dad that made the door knob hole in the wall while trying to do a slam dunk on his over the door basketball hoop. Although I had never directly asked what happened, I had always assumed it was Shay that had done the damage during his endless hours of basketball play in his room throughout the winter months. According to Shay, Tim said “don’t tell mom” ~ of course, this little secret wouldn’t have been as easy to keep had I asked, but I never did. The part I didn’t get was, why is it that I am doing the repair then? When I asked Tim about fixing the wall, he told me it would be a big job and began to list all the steps that it would take ~ to me this translated as – I will do it “someday”. Unfortunately, that seemed like a long way away and if I was going to knock off this project I had to begin by doing my first ever major wall repair. I began to search the web looking for instructions on how to repair a door knob hole and found what seemed like a great tutorial that outlined the steps to fix the hole. I didn’t tell Tim because a part of me wanted to surprise him and show him that I could do it without his help. Here is what the hole looked like.
Here is the hole that was behind Shay’s door.
Here is another shot of the hole.
Click the picture to check-out the full tutorial.
The directions on Snapguide were super easy to follow and I must admit I not only impressed myself with my handy work, but my husband as well! The key to the repair was really leaving the extra edge of drywall paper on the outside edge of the square I cut out. The overlap of paper helps hold the drywall piece securely in the hole. Made sense and worked like a charm.
I certainly can’t claim perfection, but pretty good for a first try.
Here is the repaired wall. You may also notice that I spray painted the old door knobs. It’s too early to see if they’ll hold up, but so far so good.
I enjoy ice cream, but have never really been a fan of ice cream cakes. I have always loved a good old fashioned home made birthday cake. Shay recently celebrated his 12th birthday and when I asked what kind of cake he wanted he said he didn’t want one at all. I pretty much insisted that he had to have a cake or cupcakes, as our guests would expect it. He flatly declined both options for his birthday with his mates and opted to take his friends to Dairy Queen for Blizzards on the way home from his paintball party. I had to admit this seemed a bit too good to be true ~ I didn’t have to host it in my home or haul any food to the party. We literally packed up the boys and a cooler of drinks and spent the afternoon paintballing. On the way home we stopped at DQ before dropping the boys off at home. Too easy!
However, I did have to insist on a cake for his family party. He finally consented and asked if he could have an ice cream cake. I had never made one before, but thought it would be fun to see what I could come up with. In the end, I have to say even I was left wanting seconds. I ended up using a combination of several recipes and ideas to come up with this fabulous homemade ice cream cake recipe. It was delicious and I have a feeling it might become a regular request at our house.
Ice Cream Cake Extraordinaire
Ingredients:
20 ice cream sandwiches
Oreo cookies, crushed and separated (2/3 package + remainder split in half)
3 Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme candy bars
large Cool Whip
Smucker’s Magic Shell
Smucker’s Chocolate Sundae Syrup
Oreo Ice Cream, softened
Jello Vanilla Instant Pudding
foil
cake pan (I used a 9 X 13)
Preparation:
Soften ice cream (just enough so that you can stir in other ingredients).
Line the cake pan with foil – be sure to extend it a few inches above the edge of your pan so that you can grab the edges when removing the frozen cake.
Make your own Oreo Crunch (similar to the chocolate crunch in the cakes at Dairy Queen). Mash 2/3 of a package of Oreo cookies into crumbs and add the bottle of Magic Shell to the cookie pieces. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the softened Oreo Ice Cream with the instant pudding powder and half of the remaining crushed cookies. Stir well and then fold in half of the Cool Whip.
Break the chocolate bars into small pieces to decorate the top.
Assembly:
Add a layer of ice cream bars to the bottom. Make sure they fit tightly.
Drizzle chocolate Sundae Syrup on top and spread evenly to create a thin layer of sauce (not sure how much I used).
Add the Oreo Crunch. Spread evenly over the syrup.
Add the ice cream mixture evenly to the top.
Arrange a second layer of ice cream sandwiches.
Top with remaining Cool Whip.
Sprinkle the top with remaining crushed Oreos and the broken chocolate bars.
This cake extended out the top of my pan, but maintained its shape and froze well. You can make this ahead of time which is super convenient. To serve, carefully lift the cake out using the foil edges. Set the cake on a tray and serve immediately. Add extra Sundae topping if desired.
This cake was a big hit and served a party of 13 with about 6 pieces leftover to enjoy another day. I’d guess it would easily serve 20! I love how versatile this recipe could be ~ you could use the basic idea and generate a totally different cake by simply changing some or several of the ingredients. So many possibilities by simply changing the cookies, chocolate bars or flavour of the pudding or ice cream. So easy and yet a real crowd pleaser.
If you should decide to try out my recipe and make some of your own creative changes ~ be sure to let me know how it turns out! I can’t wait to try some other combinations ~ already thinking about Pralines ‘n Cream ice cream with Skor bar and butterscotch pudding…maybe vanilla wafers??
Well, it’s been a few weeks since my last post, but I’m back from my short holiday and ready to roll. I have big plans this summer and am trying desperately to stick to some sort of a schedule. Obviously, it’s my vacation time as well as the kids, so we definitely need to book in some fun, but I have a very daunting list of “to do’s”. Last year, we tackled Eden’s room and did a complete make-over of her space. It was a big undertaking and took up most of our down time. Of course, we were away for 3 weeks, so between our holiday and her room there really wasn’t time for much else. With Eden’s fresh new space, it didn’t take long before Shay was begging for changes in his room as well.
So aside from all the things I want to get done, I’ve added Shay’s room to the list! I can’t imagine that I can complete even half of what is on my list, but here are some of the things I’ll strive to get done this summer and of course, I’ll keep you posted!
Shay’s bedroom make-over
Dining Room table – Refinish our old antique table to replace the glass one we’re currently using.
Living Room – We are finally going to replace our couch! We all know what that means….we’ll also need a new coffee table, lighting and of course, accessories!
I am super behind in my scrapbooking, so I have set a goal of one lay-out per week during the summer. This won’t catch me up completely, but would certainly help to get me on track.
Have I mentioned purging ~ well, we can’t forget that! My plan is to tackle one “collection” per week. Some tasks will be very manageable, but others will take several hours of commitment to get through. I have already gone through my recipe cupboard and have it looking more organized. I was able to purge 6 cookbooks and clean-up the clutter of photocopied recipes. I can’t say I’ve gone through all my recipe binders and removed those I don’t use, but at least the cupboard is looking much better. Still on the hit list are: towels, linens, Christmas decorations, photos, books, toys and the kitchen (yikes).
Prep, prime and paint the new laundry room space (I’d love to see it all set-up and ready to go, but I’m not sure we can pull that off this summer.)
Mud room make-over ~ this is a bit of a pipe dream and I really have no idea if I will get anywhere with this project, but it is also the area I hate the most in our house. It is completely dysfunctional and very ugly. There is inefficient (or should I say non-existent) storage and it’s completely void of any design elements. Let’s just say it’s a sore spot with me, but the biggest issue is that it will be a huge job and one I can’t do alone. We’ll have to see what’s left in our budget and how much stamina I have left after attacking some of the other items on my list.
So with that said and my goals shared, I’m off to accomplish them.
Over the holidays I was searching for some Christmassy recipes for a dinner party we were hosting. I love trying new recipes and am really into cranberries right now. Cranberries are a super food that often gets overlooked because of the tart flavour. Obviously, as a stand alone snack, they aren’t great, but I often add frozen cranberries to my morning smoothies and love them. WebMD suggests that cranberries are second only to blueberries in their total antioxidant capacity.
Cranberries have vitamin C and fiber, and are only 45 calories per cup. In disease-fightingantioxidants, cranberries outrank nearly every fruit and vegetable–including strawberries, spinach, broccoli, red grapes, apples, raspberries, and cherries.
One cup of whole cranberries has 8,983 total antioxidant capacity. Only blueberries can top that: Wild varieties have 13,427; cultivated blueberries have 9,019.
Dr. Nalini Chilkovalsooutlines seven reasons why we should include cranberries in our diet on Cancer Schmancer. Check it out to see how cranberries can benefit your over all health and wellness.
I came across this recipe for Roasted Balsamic Cranberry and Brie Crostini on NeighborFood and it sounded delicious. Sometimes when you read a recipe you just know that it is going to be fabulous. Such was the case with this one. I knew it would be a winner and it certainly did not disappoint ~ thanks Courtney! You really must visit her blog and check-out the fabulous pictures. When I made these I was in the midst of preparing for company and in all honesty pictures were a mere after thought (and as you can see my daughter had changed my camera settings and I didn’t even get one good picture).
Roasted Balsamic Cranberry and Brie Crostini
Ingredients:
2 T. butter, melted
2 T. olive oil
½ a french baguette, sliced thin
12 ounces fresh cranberries
2 T. balsamic vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 T. rosemary
4 ounces triple cream brie, thinly sliced
fresh thyme sprigs to garnish (optional)
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the butter and olive oil in a small bowl and whisk. Brush both sides of the baguette slices with the oil mixture and place on a baking sheet. Set aside.
3. In a second small bowl, add the cranberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and rosemary. Mix. Spread the mixture out on a rimmed baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
4. Place the cranberries in the oven and roast for five minutes. Add the tray of baguette slices to the oven. Roast for an additional 6 minutes. Remove the baguette slices to flip them over and return to the oven for another 4-6 minutes, or until crispy and golden. At this point, the cranberries should be popped open with juices running out. Remove both the cranberries and baguette slices from the oven.
5. Top each baguette with a slice of brie and a spoonful of cranberries. Garnish with thyme, if desired. These can be served while the cranberries are still warm, or you can make the components ahead of time. The cranberries can be chilled overnight and the crostini will keep in a zip lock bag. Simply assemble and serve at room temperature when you’re ready!
When I made this appetizer for our dinner party, I ended up with a small amount of the cranberry mixture left over. I simply refrigerated it in a covered container and served the cold mixture over a bed of greens with purple onion and feta. No dressing necessary. This made a salad that was both beautiful and delicious! In fact, it was so good that I’ve since made another batch just for salad topping. Mmmm….so good!
The combination of flavours in this recipe is so great, that I really hate to mess with it. However, I do try to reduce the sugar in recipes when possible. Next time I make it I will try to reduce the sugar amount slightly – I might try 1/3 of a cup and see how that works. Enjoy!
A list of engaged subscribers is one of the most effective and reliable marketing resources. A good list so valuable that it can’t be bought. Why? Because when subscribers sign up for your list, they’re signing up to hear from you and your company. Subscribers have to be earned. What are the best ways to build a list? We’ve collected the top 15 to share with you today.
Take a look at the 15 tips we’ve collected to help you build your email marketing list:
Offer quality content. Nobody gives up their email address for free. If you want to build a valuable relationship and engage your audience, you need to provide content that is worthwhile and interesting.
Put sign-up forms on every web page. Your sign-up form should be everywhere your potential subscribers are. Make sure it’s visible and easy to fill out.
Use social media to collect email addresses. Integrate your sign-up forms with social media platforms. Driving traffic from multiple sources allows you to build a strong email marketing list much faster.
Design your sign-up form carefully. Ask only for information you plan to use. A good rule of thumb is that less is more — the shorter the sign-up form, the higher the conversion rate.
Show your privacy policy. Inform your readers that you will not share their personal information with third parties. A clear privacy policy helps you build trust and convince visitors that it’s safe to subscribe.
Show samples of your content. Let your subscribers know what they are signing up for. Use your older content samples to “sell” the email sign-up.
Include a call to action. Put a call to action in your submit button, e.g. Sign me up! This makes the sign-up process more engaging and improves the conversion ratio.
Give away freebies. Think of a relevant incentive for your audience (e-book, infographic, whitepaper) and provide it for free.
Ask subscribers to share. Take the time to prepare valuable, shareable content. Remember that putting the social share buttons is not enough; you still need to ask your subscribers to use them.
Build a content distribution strategy. Producing great content is only half the battle. Make sure it’s visible to the right audience. Define who your ideal audience is and find out where they like to congregate online. Then choose communication channels accordingly.
Publish landing pages. Create a squeeze page where visitors can download premium content in exchange for their email address. A dedicated web page helps users focus on the call to action and increases conversions.
Include testimonials on your landing page. Social proof helps build trust toward a brand and its products. Use testimonials from satisfied customers to help visitors make a decision.
Blog regularly. Great content brings more traffic. Develop a realistic content publishing schedule and stick to it.
Guest post on popular blogs. Publishing your content on other blogs is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry and introduce yourself to new people. Include a backlink to your blog, and your blog’s search rankings will go up.
Collect email addresses at offline events. Be ready to collect email addresses at trade shows and conferences. Ask for business cards or use the Forms on the Go app to instantly add people to your list.
As you attract qualified leads, you’ll be able to guide them through the decision-making process by aligning content to specific buying cycle stages.
Now you know a handful of great ways to build one of the most effective marketing assets — your email marketing list.
Want more? Check out the new GetResponse List Building Program, available free to anyone with a GetResponse account — even a 30-Day Free Trial account. To sign up for our free course, click here.
After a leisurely start to the day, we finally hit the road around 10:15 a.m. We had pre-booked a camp site in Kanarraville, Utah, but the lady said just to pay when we arrived. The drive time was estimated to be about 7 1/2 hours and we were excited at the prospect of setting up camp in a park that had laundry, drinking water, flush toilets, showers and wi-fi. When we arrived, we were disappointed to learn that she planned to have us pitch our tent on the front lawn in front of the office. Tim was less than impressed as this was obviously not a designated site as there was no picnic table, parking space or fire ring, but rather a small patch of grass between her flower beds! Perhaps if this had been explained when I pre-registered we would have just “passed” on this option. The Red Ledge Campground looked like a nice enough campground, but we found it a bit misleading with regards to the tent site. Had she offered us a discounted price for the patch of grass, we may have been less perturbed, but no such luck. Since we had not paid yet, we politely declined and moved on. This made us a bit apprehensive because we were in a very touristy area and knew that finding another spot may not be that easy. Luckily, we had picked-up some brochures at a Visitor’s Center and found something comparable in Leeds, Utah.
The Zion West RV Park offered all of the same amenities, but we did end up paying more. The site was $20 + $2 for electrical + an extra $5 each for the kids. So at $32 American dollars for a tent site, it wasn’t cheap, but certainly allowed us to get some laundry done and enjoy a nice warm shower. The facilities were super clean and well maintained. The campground is sitting right at the base of the mountains in a dessert-like environment, but there are plenty of trees for shade. I would highly recommend it.
Day 6:Zion National Park
Tim and I did a very similar route on a road trip we took back in 1996, so although we were both very excited to do this trip again with the kids, I must say visiting Zion National Park for the first time was probably one of the attractions I was most excited about. I happened to find Zion last summer when I was researching “the narrows” for my Manitoba Stay-cation theme. I was completely captivated by the images I found and it peaked my curiousity enough to follow the links and find out the source of the beautiful pictures. As soon as I discovered that “The Narrows” was a popular hike in Zion National Park, it quickly got added to my bucket list of places to visit. Being a national park, there is a park entry fee of $30 per vehicle which seems super reasonable based on the amazing day we had. The pass is good for 7 days, which makes it an even better deal if you are staying in the area longer.
The Virgin River is a seemingly small river that flows through the park. Despite its size, the river has eroded the most incredible canyons through the red rock of the mountains. Zion truly has some of the most incredible and mesmerizing scenery I’ve seen. It is breathtaking and leaves you almost saddened by the knowledge that there is no possible way a picture will capture the true impact of this geological marvel. The combination of red rock, high plateaus, maze of deep canyons inside “the narrows” and striking rock formations are beyond explanation. You really must see it to believe it.
Despite the 39 (103) degree temperature, we all agreed the conditions were perfect for our visit. I was feeling a little nervous about hiking “the narrows”, but knew we had to at least attempt it and just go as far as we were comfortable. After getting off at the last stop on the shuttle route, at Temple of Sinawava, you take the 1.1 mile Riverside Walk to where “The Narrows” begin. (The shuttles are free with a park pass.) Hiking “the narrows” involves hiking up the canyon in the river, against the current. It is really important to check the conditions prior to embarking on this as there is a risk of flash floods. Luckily, there was only a 5% chance of rain and very low chance of flooding on the day of our visit. The flow of the river was only 30 cubic feet per second which is relatively slow and easy to navigate. The narrows remain open as long as flow is below 150 CFS, so we really lucked out. On top of that, the intense heat made the river hike incredibly refreshing as opposed to the “hypothermic” affect it can have when temperatures are cooler. Much of the hike is in the shade of the canyon walls, so wading in the cold water without the sun to warm you up could definitely be cold. The river bed is completely covered with rocks, so it is really important to plan ahead and wear proper foot wear. Some people wore their runners in, while others tried to make passage in their bare feet. Yikes! We brought water socks and for the conditions, they were fine. There are shops inside and outside the park where you can rent shoes for hiking of “the narrows”. A walking stick is highly recommended and we rented them from one of the outfitters for $7 each and were really thankful that we did. Although we didn’t find the hike too difficult, it was strenuous and you really need to watch your footing. The walking sticks made this much easier. Our kids (11 and 13) also found the hike very manageable. The entire hike is 16 miles and you need a permit to do the last part. You can walk up-stream as far as you want and then turn around and come back. We made it as far as Orderville Canyon and then decided to veer off from “the narrows” and hike the smaller slot canyon. We hiked about 25 minutes into Orderville Canyon before turning back. This was our favourite part of the hike as the passage was quite narrow and required a bit more skill at some points. Shay loved this and was eager to be first to test the depths and footing. For a majority of the hike of The Narrows, we were in water about knee to mid-thigh deep. In Orderville Canyon it got as deep as our chest in some areas. Because of the intense heat, at no time were we cold. The water felt great. Although we personally did not encounter any wildlife in “the narrows” a fellow hiker was carrying a small water snake he’d picked up in the canyon. After only a small panic attack, I overcame my fear and trekked on, but admittedly somewhat less relaxed than before. We ended up hiking up the canyons (Narrows and Orderville) a total of 3 hours before turning back. We expected it to take a little less time going back, as we knew we would not be stopping to take pictures along the way. We also managed to pick-up our pace as we were more confident…in fact, a little too confident I guess, as I slipped on a wet rock and banged my knee in an attempt to save the camera. Although my knee got quite scraped up there were no cuts or broken bones and the camera miraculously escaped injury as well. (I was pretty nervous about taking our good camera on the hike, so insisted that I carry it the whole time so that I’d only have myself to blame if there was an accident.) It only took us an hour and a half to hike back to the beginning, so it was a 4 1/2 hike plus the 1.1 mile hike back to the shuttle. Needless to say our feet were sore. Some girls on the bus said they did not enter Orderville, but hiked to the end of “The Narrows” and back in 7 hours. According to them, the water was deeper the further in you went. The hiking shoes that you can rent probably have more padding/support on the bottoms and would help prevent sore feet. If we were to do the entire hike, we would rent the shoes next time, but our water socks were fine for what we did, but all of us did have sore feet by the end.
This was the point we reached before turning around.
After hiking for about 5 1/2 hours, we didn’t have much steam left, but did decide to take the shuttle back to Zion Lodge and do the one hour hike to the Emerald Pools. Although this was also beautiful, not much could top the views in “the narrows.” One of the highlights was the two baby deer that crossed the walking path no more than 4 feet in front of us.
If you plan to visit Zion, make sure to do your homework and plan ahead. You don’t want to be bogged down carrying a heavy backpack, but you do want to make sure you take along some snacks and lots of water. There are filling stations at various locations throughout the park, but you still need to be prepared for the conditions and a long day.
We enjoyed our time in Zion so much, that we ended up staying much longer than anticipated. We didn’t end up leaving the park until around 6:30 p.m. By this time, we were all hungry and tired. We did the unspeakable and stopped at McDonald’s for dinner. We picked up some food and hit the road, as we still had a 4 1/2 drive through the mountains to Grand Canyon National Park. As we left the park, we were lucky enough to spot several more deer on the road side and a family of mountain goats just a few feet from the van.
We arrived at our pre-booked site at 12:45 a.m. and proceeded to set-up the tent in the middle of the desert by nothing more than the beam from our flashlight. Luckily, we’ve had lots of practice and can now set-up our tent and make the beds in less than 15 minutes. The night air was cool and refreshing which made for a good night’s sleep. (I didn’t sleep as well as the others, but I think it is just my age. After the big hike in Zion the day before, my body felt like every inch was in pain. It was hard to find a comfortable position and I spent most of the night tossing and turning….in very slow motion.) Despite the aches and pains, it was a fantastic experience and a day to remember!
Many years ago, my grandparents were downsizing and had an auction sale prior to moving into a seniors’ facility. I managed to pick-up their antique coat rack at the sale. I loved the coat stand and it also allowed me to keep something that had belonged to them. Over the years, it suffered many chips and nicks and although the transformation was far from dramatic, I am pleased with the results of the stripping and staining.
When stripping, I find the Crica 1850 products work great. They are strong and fast acting products that require proper gloves and protection. Although effective, be careful when using these products. I’m not quite sure what type of wood my coat rack is, but the grain is not very visible and it seems to have a natural redish hue ~ maybe fir? I chose a deep brown stain that helped to tame the red and a satin finish, as opposed to the old high gloss. I love how it has more of a matt look.
both edges of all the paint strips. This may seem a bit overwhelming, but believe me it is the key to achieving the best results possible. The truth of the matter is PAINT BLEEDS UNDER TAPE, so you want to control this by making sure that the paint that bleeds is the same colour as your base wall (white bleeds on white). There is nothing as disappointing as removing the tape and finding that the colours you’ve used have leaked over top of one another. I have to confess the white boarders made this job pretty easy because all of my sealing was done in white. If you have different colours up against one another, you need to make sure that the colour you are sealing with is the same as the colour it will bleed onto. For example if I didn’t have white boarders, I may have grey bleeding onto black and visa versa. I would need to use the appropriate colour to seal each and every strip/edge of tape. This is much more work.
Day 5: Rexburg, Idaho to Leeds, Utah
