What about find a die cut of a church/catherdral windo and put pictures in each of the windows? think of church related things to decorate the pages...candles, bible, pews, crosses, baptism fountain, parts of a bulletin if your church does that. Does this help at all?

THanks for your input to my post. DH has not told SD's we are married because he is basically afraid of them. Of the two SD's, the older one is very much like her Mom and once when he came to younger SDs basketball game, (to which he had been invited), the older one wanted to have him ARRESTED, just like her mommy did. SD said he had "no right to be there", and started screaming and yelling in public, so we just quietly left. These kids are so messed up, and we both tell them very very little about our lives because of how alienated they are. I made it sound like it was just HIS fault that they don't know that we are married, but it is also my doing. We didnt invite them to the wedding for many reasons (they are both not well, being number 1!!) and BM used to threaten us all the time that if and when she found out where and when we would be getting married, she wanted to come to the wedding...can you imagine her at our wedding, I am personally afraid of her because she is not well. THe thing that does get to me, and as you guys pointed out, is that I am NOT his messenger girl. At first, because BM had him arrested twice (Once we were in the attorney's office, preparing paperwork for him to pay ADDITIONAL child support without her asking, because she had the kids full time because the kids did not want to be with him part-time, which he and I understood, because they are teen girls and their "home base" was with Mom, and BM called him on his cell phone, the lawyer and me and DH and secretary of lawyer were all there, and she says to him (she didnt know where he was and that he was preparing to pay her extra child support even though she had not asked for it), anyways, she says "the cops are coming to get you, because I feel like stirring up crap, so get ready". She did this because it was labour day weekend and she KNEW that if he got picked up, that he would spend THREE days in the clink, for NO reason. Just did it because she could...He did get picked up but thank goodness the lawyer vouched for him and they let him out in an hour, after listening to his lawyer swear that DH had been right there with all of us!! Anyways, at first, that was why I would call the kids for DH or pick them up to bring them to visit us, etc..because BM is just vindictive and not well mentally and is angry and crazy-acting. BM tells us now that she thinks she is bipolar. I don't think she is bipolar, she is a narcissist for sure though. Anyways, I just wanted to sort of further explain what is going on but I do agree with you 100% that he needs to look after "his little darlings", as you put it. I guess that I don't want to spend time with SD's anymore and I need some help validating that. I feel gulity to a certain degree and DH said to me "well I tolerate a lot from our kids . To me that is just him laying guilt on me. I can't stand to see them "use" us and be mean to him. DH does not want to spend time with SD's without me, because as Silversword put it, I am the "buffer". How do I get out of this role that I have gotten myself into, I like the "I'm busy" message, any other ideas as well...how do I explain to DH how they make me FEEL....? I think they make DH feel the same way, because he said to me "they don't like me either you know" but I can't accept the way they act, I can't "fake" it anymore, he wants me to go out with them and act all happy and hahalalala for a few hours and then we don't have to see them again for a month or so. Am I being difficult, I guess that's what I am trying to figure out. SD's are just so not NICE. I did tell DH that for Father's Day, HE should take them camping . DH just about had a heart attack and said "I am NOT doing that!" Every time we take them somewhere, one of them gets aggressive and nasty and fights and gets mad at DH, one time we were 3 hours away and he wanted to get in the car and drive them home they were so bad!! And dumbdumb me says "oh no, they'll be ok, give them a chance!!" No wonder he wants me along!! sheesh...!!

Depending on your area, some places have remnants available for sale. We have a slabyard that is only remnants -- they buy up leftovers from fabricators and sell them. Another idea would be a pre-fab place -- they generally have straight runs of counter or vanity tops available in granite, marble, quartz and even soapstone. Some even sell these pieces with an unfinished edge, so you can finish them however you wish.

These color combos would look great. White trim, paint the brick & siding gray. Some trim pieces like the shutters were painted black. We painted this in Calgary back in 2013 and it still looks great today. Those colors will never go out of style. White trim is a classic. The brick will have some contrast against the siding because it is a different texture so don't worry about it being all the same color. The white trim will really make it pop. Paint the gutters,fascia and soffit white too. I'd get some type of decorative wooden piece for the middle of the siding and paint it black. Just like that piece on the garage. You could paint the brick window framing white. test it out.