SPRING...and all the work it brings

Its almost here! Spring is one of my favorite times of year (next to fall). And with comes the task of yard work. There are some leaves left over from last year that are screaming to be raked but there are also other big projects on the horizon for our front and back yards.

First things first, our house doesn't have a front walk way. You step off our landing to a see of grass. In the winter guests have to go through our (super messy) garage because we can't shovel the grass. And that means there is also no walk way from our front door to our driveway. Here are a few paver walkways ideas that I just love.

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While I really like the pattern in pic #1 I don't really like the color.  I am a big fan of the greyish-blue tons mixed with some neutral tones. And the other 3 are spot on in the color department.  I also like the organized chaos of the other ones.  There's no definite pattern but it still looks put together and like thought went into the placement of each piece.


We have a really big back yard and a ton of trees. That means there is a lot of shade. Which is great for entertaining but not so great for certain plants. This year we are hoping to plant a collection of shade plants to brighten up some neglected parts of our yard.

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I love the mixes of shrubbery and flower plants.  The hard part will be narrowing it down to ones that fit the space and go together. I am fully looking forward to many trips to Steins!



Another project we want to tackle is building a fire pit.  We have already picked out the perfect spot in the yard. While I'm sure the mister will draw up something I found a few that I quite like.

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Its no clue that I love square things so naturally I am drawn to the first one. And that slate tile is to die for. The ones with "built-in" seating are always nice but there is also something about the super simple ones that catch my eye. I'll have to see what the mister comes up with...


One of the other things we have talked about is possibly adding another tree to our yard, a Japanese maple.  Whenever we see them we always say how much we like them.  The shape and size are great and they come in a few different colors.

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This year we are also transplanting the willow we started growing last year and continuing our attempt to keep our grass green and out other plants alive. We planted quite a few last year and I can't wait to see how they do this season.  I'm ready for you Spring!

-Marsha

Our Home So Far

When the mister and I first toured what would become our future home it was like stepping back in time.  Blue shag carpet covered the entire living room.  Wood paneling covered an entire wall as well as above the fire place.  Striped velvet wall paper, gaudy carpet and matching mauve toilets and sinks overwhelmed the bathrooms. And the kitchen was plastered floor to ceiling with baby pink tiles and flowered wall paper.  

Miraculously we saw past all of that and signed our names on the many dotted lines and became first time home owners.  Since that day we have poured time, money, and sweat into updating our home. We literally drove from signing the paperwork directly to our house with crowbars in hand to start ripping down tile!

The mister is a jack of all trades so we have been able to do most of the renovations ourselves.  Here is a list (and a few photos) of what we have done so far...

-Took down the wood paneling in living room around fire place and replaced it with drywall and molding

-Removed all wallpaper and carpet from full bath, painted all walls and ceiling, installed new light fixtures

-Removed all wallpaper and tile from half bath, refinished counter, painted walls and ceiling, installed new light fixture, removed carpet and replaced with wood flooring

-Repainted walls and ceiling in the living room, tore out 2 stone planter boxes (that actually still had dirt still in the bottom of them!), removed all carpet and replaced with wood flooring

-Painted dining room and installed new light fixture (also had to move electrical over about 1 ft)

-Removed all pink tile and wallpaper from kitchen.  Skim coated and painted all walls and ceiling





-Removed closet near front entry way to open up doorway to a bedroom that is now becoming the den

-Removed all lava rock, railroad ties and rotting wood from around the front yard, planted lots of new plants and flower bulbs, filled new beds and surrounded our birch tree with mulch and edged them large river rocks, also seeded all the grass and spread milorganite twice a season, trimmed a few of the larger trees



Wow.  When you write it all out it sounds like a lot.  And I guess it is.  Since it was done over the course of a little over a year it doesn't seem like we were taking on a ton at a time.  That's the way to get stuff done!  Focus on today and eventually you will get a whole crap ton done!  Haha.

Since we still have so much more to work on I will do a whole other post about upcoming projects (some are fast approaching!).  Can't wait to share what we have planned!




-Marsha