Landscaping and outdoor maintenance

After almost 2 years in our house, we are finally focusing some much needed attention on the outdoor spaces. We started by removing a very large bush from our front yard a few weeks ago. Almost 2 weeks ago, we finally picked up a truck load of river rock to fill in the raised bed we had made in it's place.

I think it still needs something, maybe a shepherds hook with some hanging flower baskets. I'm not sure, but it is definitely much better than before.
There was some rock leftover, which we put to good use in this planter under our deck. It was an eyesore with lots of weeds before. I weeded it really well, laid out some weed blocker and then covered it with the remaining rocks.

Unfortunately it was not enough to cover the smaller planter on top, but we plan to get more rock eventually for the rest of the planters along the front of the house and in the backyard. This one especially is due for a change, as it fills with grass and weeds and looks more like one of those "wildflower areas" along the highway than a cohesive garden you would see at somebody's house.

After spreading the rock, we moved onto the deck. We had several boards that were rotten. The kids had actually picked at one of the rotten boards all the way through so that one of their small feet could get stuck in the hole. We replaced 6 boards and then painted them with paint we had made to match.
I had started re-painting an exterior door last summer and the paint was so bad, I threw the can out without finishing the job. I put a fresh coat of our deck paint on the door and it turned out so well, I decided to do our front door as well. The wood skin of the door was peeling and flaking off, so I sanded it down to a smooth finish and then began painting. It took two coats, but the door looks so much more welcoming and inviting.
Randy's brother came over with his skid loader and removed the remainder of the dirt pile from the end of our driveway. Eventually when we fix the broken concrete in our driveway, we plan to pour concrete in that area as well as more of a parking pad.
Finally, we picked up more sticks and weeds from the yard and had another bon-fire. We still have to trim back several branches from the trees around the house before we have the roofers and siders here in just a couple of weeks. We have noticed a new leak and also some discoloration in the ceiling, so it is definitely becoming more of a necessity.


I am also very excited to see how it all comes together! Keep posted for pictures of the transformation!

Busy Weekend!

We made lots of progress this weekend on our little landscaping project in the front yard. We put in a few railroad ties around the stump that remained after removing a very large and ugly bush. We then filled in the bed with dirt from a dirt pile that was left at the side of our driveway by the previous owners. We rescued some very large rocks from our back yard, which we arranged in the bed to cover the remainder of the stubborn stump. We still have to buy some rock or mulch to finish off the bed, but it looks so much better! I can't wait to show off the before and after pictures.

We also made a few changes in our living room. We have had our sofa/chaise for almost 8 years and were ready for a change. We have been looking for living room furniture and found something last week that we could not get out of our heads. I listed our couch on craigslist to see if there was any interest and it sold the same day! I was ecstatic that we did not have to worry about what to do with the old couch, but then had a bit of panic that we did not have anything to replace it with. The sofa that we found that we could not get out of our heads was a sofa sleeper and they did not have any of the coordinating pieces available. We were unsure whether we could live with a sofa because we have always had sectionals. Also we were unsure whether we could find something to coordinate with the sofa to fill in the seating in our living room. After looking at a few more stores, we always came back to the sofa and we knew it was meant to be. Fortunately, one of the main benefits of the sofa is that it is a Flexsteel. My mom works for Flexsteel and we know that the quality and durability is some of the highest in the industry. The sofa was offered at an unbelievable price for the brand and the fact that it is also a sleeper (contains a queen sized bed)! Finally, because my mom works for Flexsteel we are hoping to be able to either order a matching piece or find a coordinating piece that will fit our needs of giving us ample seating.

With the addition of the new sofa, I have some plans to make some other changes in the room, including painting the walls and a cabinet we use for toy storage. I am so excited to get to work on these changes and even more excited that in just a few short weeks, I will be home full time for the summer to spend time with my kids and to work on these and many other projects. I have so many projects that I want to
get started on, I hope you will stick around to see some of these transformations!

What did you do this weekend?

Landscaping

We had a massive bush and several small trees located on the front corner of our property. The bush had been planted by previous owners of our house to disguise the fire hydrant, gas lines, and electrical box that were also located on this front corner.

Though the bush did do a great job at disguising the ugly utilities, that was all it was useful for. The deer liked to eat the leaves off of the bush, but since they could only reach about halfway up, the bottom was dead and bare while the top was green and leafy. The bush was also located in a position that it blocked some of the view from inside our house and also your view of oncoming traffic as you tried to exit onto the highway. Last year when we moved in we had the power company assess two dying trees on the opposite corner of our lot which were also blocking our view of the river. They determined that they were a hazard to fall on the power lines and had them removed at no cost to us. You can read about that here.

The other night around 6:00pm my husband suggested that we cut down the massive, ugly bush. My husband does not get the urge to do projects around the house very often, so I jumped at the suggestion. As soon as we cut into it, we realized that it was a much larger job than we had anticipated, but we were committed. My husband wielded the chainsaw, while I piled the branches up out of the way. About 45 minutes later when we had the whole bush cut down, Randy was sweating and exhausted! Unfortunately we still had to clean up the front yard! He pulled up the lawn mower and trailer and we piled it high with branches to drive to a burn pile in our backyard. After a few trips, my mother and father-in-law showed up. My father-in-law took up the chainsaw and cut back the stump even more. My mother-in-law helped take care of the kids and also to unload the rest of the trailers full of debris. Fortunately we finished just as it was getting dark.

It made such a huge difference! It looks so big and open. I would much rather live with the ugly stump, dead grass and visible utilities than the massive bush.

Here is a picture of Randy and our two little helpers! He took them for a ride in the tractor once we had finished moving all of the debris.

The next day I took a picture in the daylight.


With all of the utilities, it is going to be impossible to ground out the stump and plant grass as we had planned. Instead we will be creating a planter box with either stone or railroad ties and planting something much smaller and more beautiful.
I won't be holding my breathe waiting to finish up this area, just waiting patiently for the urge to strike my husband to take on another project.

Timberrrrrrrrr!

When we purchased our riverfront home there were two large trees blocking our money shot! We could not imagine why the previous owners had not done anything about the trees, especially since the trees were dead. Needless to say removing the trees was one of the first things on our to do list. Within a few days of moving in (October 1st) my husband had called the power company about the trees. He informed them that the trees were a hazard of falling down, especially during a freezing rain storm. They put in an order to come look at the trees and said that they would be there in a few weeks. A week or two later a man came to look at the trees. He agreed that they were dead and would be a hazard as they could fall over and tear the lines down. He said that they would schedule an appointment to come out and cut the trees down a few feet from the ground. The stumps would remain for us to remove ourselves. Basically, they would cut down the part that would damage the lines, but the rest was up to us.* Within a few weeks the crew came and cut the trees down and hauled away all of the debris. Though they left stumps, we did convince them to cut them lower than they were required to do or would have done. My husband is a great negotiator! Here you can see what a difference it made with the first tree down:

You wouldn't believe the amount of light that came flooding into our living room as soon as the first tree was down. As they went for the second one, our neighbors approached the house. They were upset that we hadn't talked to them before having the trees removed. We thought that the trees were on our property (they were!) and that it would not be any of their concern. In hindsight, we wish that we would have informed them in advance, just to be neighborly and keep things polite! We found out afterward that the barges coming up and down the river now shone their lights into their front windows and their dog was up barking most of the night.

They cleaned up all but a few chunks of the trunk, which we ended up hauling to my in-laws to be cut up and used in their wood burning furnace. So much better!

A few weeks later we had to hire somebody to come out and grind both stumps down so that we could plant grass seed. The grinding of the stumps, $75 each, was the only part of the project that we had to pay for. It was well worth the investment considering how much it brightened up the inside of the house and also opened up the view of the river. We would definitely gain that back if we ever decided to sell our house.
Here it is since we planted grass seed this spring, almost can't tell that there was ever anything there!

We still have some work to do in the front yard, including ripping out this large bush and a tree which has come up in the middle of it. I just have to keep reminding myself that we are going to be living here for a very long time, so I have lots of time to plan and save to do things the way I want them.


I am joining Debbie from Debbiedoos Before and After Party
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2010/08/harvest-romance-and-another-lamp-redo.html
and Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick

* I cannot guarantee that the power company would provide this same service in any or all situations. It depends on the health of the trees themselves, proximity to power lines and the work load of the tree removal company among other things. At the very least it is worth a try to see if they can be of any help in removing branches that are closest to power lines so that you can take down the rest of the tree without damaging their property.

Walkway

The previous owners of our house had left a pile of about 12 pavers on the driveway. I decided to find a place to use them as I did not know what they had originally intended them for. I had thought about making a path to a birdfeeder that stands in the middle of our backyard, but thought that that may be hard for Randy to mow over week after week. I then focused on a small area in the backyard that had some pretty landscaping and led to a gate, but did not have a defined edge or walkway and it seemed to be the perfect fit.



I think that the walkway turned out beautifully and was the perfect finishing touch for the area.