Yard Work And Such
We inherited a lot of yard maintenance to take care of from the previous owners. I mean A LOT. With six acres I am sure that some of that is inevitable, but this is just over the top. The must have never done yard work once while they lived here. Never. The weeds, even in the close to the house areas, were over my head. The trees had split and grown funky many years ago. The rock garden was more like a dirt pit scattered with rocks. Need I go on? So, point being, this is our first spring here and we have been putting in a lot of hard work out there. I can’t wait to get a new shipment of rock and show you how the “for now” patio area is coming. But, for right now I thought I would show you just how much tree trimming we accomplished the other day.
Here is the shot looking back at the house and you can see how the rock beds are coming along and things are even turning green now!
And that is only the front! Hey, we have neighbors! 🙂 There were many other trees like this all over the property, not to mention weeds that had become their own trees all around the house, barns, and outbuildings. We have even uncovered some things we didn’t know were there when we moved in!! No joke! The other day we found an old metal lawn chair set up by a cattle shoot. They had made a shooting range down there and we couldn’t even see it! We found an old wheel borrow with what used to be flowers planted in it, various pieces of junk, both useful and non, and even learned we have an old hand-pumped well! And it works! Yea, so anyways, on to the fun part. With all of this hard work I just knew there would be some enjoyment in the end. Trimmed branches and a wine bottle…
Just a touch of spring, for the yard and for the house! Just in time for Easter. Gorgeous! 🙂
Evolving Living Room
We finally have some progress! No, the walls are not painted. Still peach. But, the little love seat has been replaced with a large L shaped sectional couch!! This makes the room so much more cozy and functional for us. Now I just can’t wait to entertain. And paint!
Here is the view into the living room from the doorway. The sectional is a perfect suede in a neutral cream color. The button tufting at least makes the more modern shape a bit more traditional. We all know I love button tufting, right?
What do you think? Better, no? When the walls are a nice gray I think things will come together even more. I am also working on making a tray for the ottoman, because we are now not using the old coffee table. I will update when I get that brainstorm finished!
One More Office
Things have been busy. Extremely busy. But, I have been productive, and coming up in the next week or so I do actually have some updates and projects to share! I finally started a new job in Iowa and have settled in living in our new home all the time now. This has kept me on my toes, and also been stressful, but at the same time I have been able to spend more time in our home and accomplish A LOT!
So, to tide you all over I wanted to share another adorable office I came across on VT Interiors blog. And, stay tuned for some peaks and projects around our house! 🙂
Lawn Chair Paint Project
I got the new lawn chairs done just in time for the party. Remember these sweet but boring old fashioned lawn chairs we picked up?
Well, with some bright paint and a bit of handy work, they are now unique and look good together!Â
What do you think? I think pretty soon all of these random tid bits will come together!
Picnic Tables and Hammocks
We are getting there! Almost ready for the party! And, not to mention, an enjoyable and usable summer yard! I snagged this little red pillow and teal votive holder yesterday:
It feels cozy now. And don’t worry about that plant hanger behind the table. Something has a spot there, but I will show you in the party pictures. We also got the hammock in the mail and hung it the other day. If you have never relaxed in a hammock then you haven’t lived. This is the coziest spot in our home now! I can see that Tony will never get the yard mowed now! 😉 I also added a couple pillows there.
Also don’t mind the bushy, patchy grass. We are letting that grow as long as possible before the party so that the freshly planted stuff has time to get strong before all the company tramples it. The grass we planted just a few weeks ago has really taken off though! (Probably thanks to all of the annoying rain we have had!)
Look how long and thick some of it is already! And, see the spruced up chair in the background? I will post more on that project soon. The dogs also say hi!
One more thing we added over the weekend was a vintage fiberglass picnic table. My grandparents have had this table ever since I can remember, and now it is ours. But, it is sun faded and scratched. I am looking for a way to refurbish fiberglass if any of you out there have suggestions. I read that some people have had luck with Penetrol. I tried that last night. This did give it a great shine, but as far as bringing back color, I didn’t think it worked. Not to mention it would never bring back the one extra faded area in the middle!  Here it is, and let me know if you have any ideas!
Sweet, huh? Don’t worry, the yard won’t be so stuffed full of junk when the party is over. The other picnic table goes back to the previous owner of the house. We are just using it for extra seating. This gorgeous guy stays! 🙂
P.S. I just wanted to say that Tony has put in many hard, hot hours cutting and dragging out tree limbs and overgrown “things” from this yard. Even though there are still some naked patches and unruly weeds it has come a long long way from the unusable yard it was when we moved in. Thanks Tony! 😉
Fire Pit Finished
I picked up a few bricks yesterday and we finally got to work on finishing the fire pit. Yes, we are short by exactly one brick (not a bad guess!), but that will be taken care of next weekend. The bottom two layers which we laid a while back were now settled in mud and ash since we have been using the unfinished pit. After much digging and playing the mud we finally had them all arranged and neatly packed in. We cleaned out the bottom and laid a few rocks. What a difference! And, grass is poking up where we put grass seed already! We were so excited! Maybe there will already be some green out there in time for the party! I’m hoping it is strong enough be then so we don’t crush it all!Â
Yes, one quite obvious brick is missing! 😉
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And here is the new chairs and table that we picked up over the weekend. They will be getting a special paint treatment…soon!
At first I was disappointed to not have found two of these style chairs that match, but we now think it will be fun to do them indifferent colors and embrace the uniqueness! (Plus, I couldn’t beat the price we found these for!)
Overall, it was a very productive and fun weekend. And, our softball team won our first game!
Yard Progress
A lot of work and a few sore muscles, and we now have a usable yard. The backyard, as I have mentioned before, was three lots of mounds of compost. An unusable waste is what I call that. Compost is a great idea, but an entire three lots full? No thanks. So, I set out to get the yard summer-ready. We are finally almost there.Â
I started by pulling the massive amounts of growing weeds out of the compost piles. Once fairly clean, my options for the compost were to either give it away to people who used compost or to spread it out evenly. Upon further inspection I realized that the compost was old and mostly now decnt soil. I decided to spread it and make level ground around the fire pit area. This took an entire day and I was definitely sore after all the work, but it was well worth it. We sprinkled grass seed on the raw dirt areas and are hoping that something other than weeds sprouts by the time we have our backyard engagement party.Â
These pictures look boring after the rain, but it was much cuter the other day (and will be when we have company over!). We have moved the picnic table out near the fire and have a table cloth for it. We also have a large hammock and fun pillow ordered for in between the trees. The large log near the fire is actually a seating area. We are using it as-is right now, but will form it into a bench later. We also have some cute red paper lanterns to go in the trees and a few buck candles to go around the area. I think it will all come together well.
We also worked on the side of the house near the alley. We have a hard time finding keys and getting into our kitchen door in the dark, so we added a few inexpensive solar lights to the walk-way. They really make a boring area look homey. The former residents of the house also left an annoying pile of rocks near our parking area. We have no idea what they were meant for, and they are now growing weeds. So, we dug in and Tony arranged them where my car goes. There is only one slab on cement and a lot of mud where I park. This may not be the cutest solution, but it definitely helps and now its all ready for when we get more cement poured (or better yet-a garage!). Didn’t Tony do a nice job making the rocks look neat and even!?
And, on a prettier note, our peonies are in bloom! Another bush of pretty pink flowers is also in bloom, which I think might be a kind of roses. Here is a shot of the rose bush and the bouqet we cut for the table and even some for the bathroom. They smell great and you gotta love a free touch for the home! 🙂
So there you have it, our yard progress. Not super exciting, but it has opened the way for us to work on a few more diy projects for the yard. We will keep you updated!
Counter-Tops!
They are in, and it’s official- I love ’em! Here is a dark before to remind you:
What an improvement, don’t you think!? It is all coming together so nicely. We do have a few more projects in the works. See that vent pipe above the stove? That is getting boxed in, no more tacky-ness. We also have a great set of lights that are being installed which I will reveal later. A few creative touches are in the process as well.
Notice the old microwave is gone and a hood was installed in its palce as well…
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What do you think? Suggestions?
Kitchen Sneak Peak
The kitchen is almost done! I’m exhausted, but it was totally worth it. Here is a little sneak peak for you until I am ready for the final reveal:
If you like these little snap shots then stay tuned for the rest…
Sweet Little Details
I really believe that it’s the little details in a home that make your space special. Ok, that sounds cheesy. But, it is true. We have made some major repairs, spend lots of money, and in the end it’s the little projects worth a few bucks that make me so proud of our home. I have been excited for days about the new towel bar we hung in the bathroom. This is not only a convenience, but looks so much better than having the towel laying on the sink all the time- and, it only cost me about $3!Â
So, last night while finishing up the living room curtains we also hung up some coffee mugs in the kitchen. I bought a few new red mugs at Wal Mart for $2 apiece. I got a few cup hooks, and viola! Instant face-lift for the kitchen space. I love my bird of paradise mugs, but these look much more updated and will go great once we finishing the painting of the cabinets. Tony actually hung a separate board under the cabinet so that the screws for the hooks wouldn’t go all the way through. He also had to slightly open up the cup hooks, as the mug handles were a bit wider than standard ones. All in all I think they look great and will be awesome in the new kitchen too!
I know I said that I would be starting to work on the cabinet painting last week, but I got a bit lazy. I really am going to work on it this week, so check back for updates and tips on the cabinet painting!
Make Mine Eclectic 