Category: Yard Spaces

Lots of Work and Some Play

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

Sometimes, we work on our house, but that little project isn’t worthy of a post.  Today, we’re sharing the boring projects/maintenance we’ve recently completed.

Ben brought a pressure washer (Vincent calls it a water compressioner) home to wash the mold off the north side of the house.  I complained about it here, and Sam M suggested a hot pressure washer.

He hooked it up to hot water and it worked quickly and came off easily.

Then Ben used a leaf blower in reverse to suck the leaves out of our window wells.  Nothing life changing, but it looks much better.

Before the attic become sweltering, we decided to install an exhaust fan in the master bathroom.  Previously, this was a half bath, so it never had a fan.

It made a mess in our tub, (Mickey didn’t approve) but it was long overdue.

Side note: When Ben was younger, he asked his mom what the bath fan did.  She replied, “It takes the bad air and puts it outside.”  He asked, “Under the rocks?”  She said yes (they had an earth berm home).  She asked how Ben knew this.  His response?  “Because I’ve smelled under them before.”

Our window boxes looked terrible; everything died over the winter.

See, dead.

Another side note: When Ben was about 4, he went outside and saw icicles had fallen off the house.  He called to his brothers, “Guys, look at the icicles, DEAD”  Can you tell they grew up hunting?  Of course if they we on their side they were dead.  I about died laughing when I read that in Ben’s baby book.

To remedy this, we took a trip to Home Depot to pick up flowers.  I chose Coleus, Creeping Jenny, Impatiens, and Pansies.

Better, but I hope the tiny flowers actually grow.  If not, I wasted $15 per window.

I also had a few rose bushes die over the abnormally harsh winter, so I chose three plants for roughly $10 each from Lowe’s.  See how much bigger the new plants are compared to the original one on the right?

One of Ben’s apple trees died, too, so we bought four fruit trees to plant.  Two apples and two cherry trees. Vincent helped Ben while Everett hung out on the blanket.  I worked on refinishing the bench.

I also stole clipped a few lilacs from the neighbor’s bush to display in the dining room.

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby girl, due to arrive any day now.  I’m so excited to make girl items, and a butterfly mobile seemed perfect.  I bought a macrame hoop from Hobby Lobby for three bucks and chose assorted pink and purple card stock.  Using fine gauge wire, I separated the hoop into 8 sections.  Then, I drew a butterfly and traced half of it on my paper.  I folded the paper in half and cut out tons of butterflies.

I poked a small hole near the top of each with a needle and strung white thread through to hang the butterflies from.

Here is a shot from a BPOV (baby point of view).  A small cup hook easily holds the mobile above the crib.

Do you remember the scene from The Shining when Wendy discovers Jack’s ‘book’?  The pages covered with ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’

Well, sometimes, that’s what we feel like.  A trip on the boat, on a Thursday no less, can help that.  I love Montana lakes surrounded by mountains.  That never happens in Minnesota.

We had fun until the wind picked up and we had 8 foot waves to compete with.

Is your to do list overflowing with little projects and/or maintenance?  It can be overwhelming, can’t it?  What do you do to get a relaxing day away from your list?

Warmer, No, Hot Bench

Published on by Our Humble Abode34 Comments

I teased you all with the bench refinishing process yesterday.  You’ve waited long enough.  Feast your eyes on a sanded, stained, sealed, upholstered bench that nearly required more labor than my kids.

The fabrics are from Joann, so nothing crazy or expensive.  This way, when I change my mind, I won’t feel bad.  Though, I did choose a neutral fabric for the seat so I could change the pillows out to go with a different color scheme.

I found the ceramic stool at Ross a few weeks ago for $30.99, marked down from $45, but originally $95.  Score for a 68% discount.

The seat is a few inches taller than the cushions, because I used a 3/4 inch thick plywood and added another inch of foam.  One long cushion makes the piece look more like an outdoor bench than a couch, in my opinion.   And, the plywood base is much more sturdy than the sagging canvas.

Surprisingly, the trellis pattern wasn’t difficult to keep straight.  Perhaps because it is a small-scale?  Speaking of small-scale, I want to add another set of larger pillows to beef things up and add comfort.  Maybe 18 inch square ones?

Overall, I think this was a great transformation.  A little time-consuming, not too expensive, but I worth it.  Last night, Ben finally admitted he said he thought the bench was ugly so he wouldn’t have to help with it.  He thinks it looks cute now and said he saw the potential from the beginning.

Just after I finished upholstering the seat and setting it in place, I plopped down to enjoy it.  Then, Vincent sat down with a bag of tortilla chips.

 

For a more dramatic before and after, how about a side by side?

Now, for a cost breakdown:

Bench: Free

Sander and paper: Already owned

Stain: Left over from another project

Clear Protective Finish: $19.99 for a quart, with tons left over for another project

Cushions: Reused from original bench

Mattress Topper: $12.49

Fabric: $25.79, including two yards for the seat, two yards of vinyl, and one yard for pillows

Pillow forms: Living room forms displaced by new World Market pillows

Grand Total: $58.27  

Not bad, especially when I checked prices of similar benches I liked.  Like this one for $289.00 or this teak Smith and Hawken bench for $649.00.  That is a savings between $230.73 to $590.73.

The process was fairly simple, but time-consuming.  Nothing a patient DIYer couldn’t handle, though.  What do you think of the change?  Was it worth the time, effort and money?

Bench Warming

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

Earlier this spring, while my parents were out for a visit, my mom, the boys and I went for a walk.  On our route home, I spotted a neglected bench behind an AA meeting place.  I got closer and inspected the dated, dirty bench and realized it was an indoor couch left out over the winter.  It smelled off and had tons of gross stuff stuck to it.  But, it was sturdy and had clean, mid-century modern lines.  Because it was left outside for the entire fall and winter, I figured no one really cared for it.  I was able to find a phone number and called to ask if anyone wanted it.  My mom thought I was crazy to call about it.  I sort of thought so, too, but it’s worth a shot, right?  The gal I talked to said she needed to ask about it.  A few days later, I received a call from her.  Surprisingly, she said they didn’t see a problem with me taking it.  Within twenty minutes, Ben picked up the couch and had it in our garage.  He asked where I was going to put it.  I had the perfect solution.  On our front porch, of course, because for the past three years, we’ve had two chairs we stole from our backyard dining set out front.

Now, I know he desperately needs love, including sanding, refinishing and new cushions, but for the price, I couldn’t pass him up.  Yes, it is a he.  All men need a little work, right?  Haha.  Oh, and this photo does not do justice to the cushions.  in person, they look so much worse.  However, you can see the worn, uneven finish.

To make it look more like an outdoor bench and less like a Jeff Foxworthy “You might be a redneck” joke, I’m going to leave the back cushions off.

A deep, walnut stain, left over from the bookshelf I refinished last year would look great.  I have chosen a neutral geometric fabric for the cushions.  To jazz things up, I’ll sew simple pillow covers to change out when I change my mind.

It’s like that palindrome, a man, a plan, a canal, Panama.  Only, for me it’s a woman, a plan, a bench, pretty.  Or a woman, some fabric, a bench, bad weather.  Yeah, I couldn’t make it a palindrome, just like I can’t control the weather.  We’ve had nothing but rain this May.  Seriously, we’re usually at 2 1/2 inches for the entire month.  So far, we’ve had 5 1/2 inches and we’re forecasted for rain the entire week.  Once I find the time and we have decent weather, I’ll share more info on the update process and share after pics.  I still have to do some final number crunching to determine my best plan of attack.  Ben isn’t sold on it yet, but I’m 99% sure he’ll like it once it’s finished.

Until then, have you recently purchased or otherwise acquired outdoor furniture?  Are you sprucing up your outdoor space?  What is your must have outdoor piece this year?  I’ve coveted a ceramic garden stool forever, but I refuse to spend more than 25 bucks on one.  Call me a cheapo.  Have I sold you on the new bench?  Or do you lean toward Ben’s side?

Blog Fest: Patio Planning

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

With a year of blogging under our belt and seeing only one renovation project start from square one is a little depressing.  Too bad we didn’t hop on the blog train before we started finishing our basement, huh?  Well, this year, we’ve got some big projects in store and we’re going to take you along for the ride.  Let the Blog Fest begin!  First project on our to do list, rip up the old and pour a new concrete patio.

I’ve already shared my annoyances.  First, I think it would be helpful to share the layout of our current patio.  The walkway to the garage is completely covered with dirt, so I didn’t bother drawing that in.

The grey us where our current patio is, the dark grey as rock and the brown circle toward the top is the Ash tree, which we will cut down at some point.  The south-east corner doesn’t extend completely.  The new patio will, like this:

Over the weekend, we started planning the layout by pounding long nails into the corners.  Vincent had to help, of course.

 

With the stakes in place, Ben wrapped string around to form a perimeter.  Then we moved a few nails to tweak the design and took a few walks around to test the layout.

We decided on an angled path from the main patio area to the garage.


In addition to breaking up a ton (or several) of concrete, here is the plan:

Our current patio is roughly 8 feet wider than the planned patio will be, but will remain the same depth from the house.  We’ll add an angled walking path from the new, smaller patio to the garage.  The concrete will go around the basement bathroom window well (the half circle), up to the house.  A walking path will sit a few inches from the edge of my office window well (the white box with rounded corners), leaving room on either side of the window for rocks with a small plant.  I’d also love to have a row of hydrangeas along the eastern edge of the patio, to soften the edges and act as a pretty barrier between the yard and patio.  And because I love hydrangeas.  And because our yard slopes there and it may be tough for little feet to manage.  And because I love hydrangeas.

We’ll keep the concrete stairs because they are in perfect condition, just need a good cleaning.  The new concrete slab will sit a few inches higher than the surrounding grass to help keep dirt off, but three or so inches below the bottom stair.  This should help explain.

Because we’re removing the area where the grills are, we’ll have to relocate the grill.  Probably to the right of the stair was you walk out, south for the men reading this.  Why is it that men always use North, South, East and West when giving directions while women usually use right, left or straight?  Or landmarks.  When we pour the concrete in the back, we’ll also pull out the pavers in our front walkway to pour a seamless concrete slab extending from the stairs to our concrete driveway.

Some of the pavers will be repurposed as the grill platform.  How about a little side by side plan comparison?

What warm weather projects are on your to do list?  Have you ever poured a concrete patio?  Or completed any sort of patio?

Rain Checked Spring

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Spring officially began March 20 and I was so excited to say au revoir to winter.  Then, mother nature played a mean trick on the folks in Montana (and several other places) by giving us a dose of winter mid-April.  We made the most of our snow day and the snow melted by evening.  Now, our temps are about 20 degrees below average and I’m not liking it.  Our fruit trees don’t seem to mind, though.  Ben is happy he hasn’t had to worry about a late freeze killing his prized trees.  We’re already in May and our plants are just beginning to turn green.

The bleeding hearts on the shady north side are doing swell.

As are the neighboring lily of the valley.  Last year, these had already bloomed.

Before we filled our front flower bed with roses and rocks to eliminate weeding, we had tulips and Allium.  A few obstinate tulips have popped up from under the layer of landscaping fabric and rocks.  Such a sweet surprise.

Notice the rose bush behind.  One tiny leaf shoot?  Seriously, I was hoping for tons (literally, one ton) of roses this year.  That and two tons of apples from our trees to make apple crisp.  Speaking of trees, this is depressing.

Where’s the beef green?  This day lily might do something this year.  The past three years have only given us green.  Sad, because the flowers are a deep purple.  Don’t ask why I haven’t removed the tag…

One thing that hasn’t had a problem growing or photosynthesizing is our grass.  In fact, it has over-grown our side-walk.

Ben and Vincent dug up the grass and our side-walk is about six inches wider.  More good news.  We stained our fence last fall.  Because we had never used the stain, we wondered how well the finish would hold up over winter.

Luckily, the stain is still in mint condition.  Yahoo to not re-staining this year.

Have you been stuck in a winter rut like we have?  Or are you a lucky duck and live in a warm climate?  Have your flowers and/or trees bloomed?  What is your favorite plant in your yard?  Are you like I am and wish a magnolia tree would grow in your climate?  What other plants do you wish you could have?  I can’t wait to get some plants in our window boxes and for the fruit trees to flower.  Just a little longer…