Project: Front Yard

Over the last two weekends, David and I spent one day working on a border for our front yard. It was perfect since we had extra stuff from doing the backyard. We had extra border, extra fabric to lay down and we have enough mulch to last us a few years :)

So the Sunday before last, we put Christopher down for a nap and just dove in to the project. We started with the area by our front door.

It had this icky moss that was growing, so that was an easy decision.

Then moved down the house. We decided to go as far as one piece of border would take us. Work in batches right?

(That's Cody's butt in the photo, he was outside with us the whole time just finding any little piece of shade he could.)

We created and edge all the way around so we knew where we were going and could eye-ball it out.

Christopher woke up from his nap. I sat him in the doorway so I could get him set up.

so I brought out his frog chair, his "book" (David's manual), a sippy cup and his hat and he sat and watched us for about 30 minutes.

And I wasn't kidding, I think Cody would have gone under the car to get in the shade if he had fit.

After a while, Christopher wanted to do something else, so I got him set up with chalk. That lasted about 20 minutes.

(note: he looks unhappy here, but he wasn't, I'm not sure why he looks so sad)

See? Happy :)

And the dirt. OMG, I didn't think we'd have that much dirt.

Anyone want some nice rich Salinas soil? It's great....

Oh, yeah, back to the border.

We got it shoveled out, racked it clean

Cody approved

See how pretty?

This is when we took a break, took Christopher in for lunch, played with him for a bit and put him down for his second nap. With him down again, we dove back in. (remember, this is now 2pm and we've been at this since 10am)

Break time

Putting the border in.

And then we moved over trip after trip of wheelbarrow full of mulch from the backyard.

And more

(We put down the weed barrier stuff before hand)

See?

And more mulch

And more

This is where we stopped that day. It was 4pm, junior was just waking up and David and were about ready to collapse.

So we picked up where we left off and started again this past Saturday morning.

I will spare you the paly-by-play but here is the end product.

It's not perfect, but it's so much better

(see that really green patch of grass back there by the gate? We had leftover sod from the back yard and put it in here, it's the greenest part of the front yard now)

See how pretty?

Ok, that's it. I'm almost exhausted just going over all the details again. Se spent another 4 hours on it Saturday. So all in all it took us about 10 hours and we only had to buy one extra set of border for $30. So to do the front border, it was only the extra $30 and a few days of feeling really, really sore. (But I love looking at it when I get home!)

Happy April Fools Day!!!

So today, for mine and David's work, I made Hamburgers.


See...


Don't they look yummy, and gooey with cheese? What? It's out of focus? Here, let me fix that.



 








So much fun to make! And eat! It was a bit of work, but I spread it out over a few evenings.

They are pretty much yellow cake cupcakes, split in half. That's a circle of brownie as the patty. After I cut them, I tried to shape them a bit. But actually, the best "patty" ended up being the last. I was one short and only had scraps left. So a put a bunch together to make a "patty". David said it was best as it looked more like a patty since it had been formed. I had to agree. But looked at all 23 patties I'd just made and decided for my first time, the cut ones would do.

Then I put the different frostings on. David and I actually had a conversation about the order. We decided cheese on the patty, then lettuce then ketchup. And then some seasame seeds on top. Both of our works loved them.

I am so happy with the way they turned out.


I got the idea over at Bakerella, here.

Done Part 2

Ahhh, the joy of completing a project. However with this one, we had a little help. DUH!


When David and I bought our house, the backyard was "ick!". The "lawn" had more weeds than grass and we had a constant growth of mint growing in it. Except for every time I smelled the mint I wanted a mojito, we didn't like it. Plus the fences were covered in ivy. Like 6 inches deep on the fences and about 3 feet deep on the ground. I believe a play yard set was found half buried in it when we moved in. When we bought it, we had all the ivy removed and left it at that. Last summer, we it came back. Revenge of the ivy! Argh! It was almost ALL back!


So David and I spent a few months going at it. We did some research (what wife of a geek doesn't?) and found that the leaves are so waxy, you need to cut them back and spray just to get them to start to die off.


So one weekend we went out, started chopping away. Then David went through with weed killer. It worked, a bit died off. Of course, being who I am, we found out fairly quickly that I was allergic to english ivy. Fun times people!


So a few weeks later we did another cut back and sweep with weed killer. This time however, I was in a long sleeve shirt, gloves on, and rubber bands around my wrists to avoid "slippage". Yes, the rash was that bad. The protection worked and no more rash. We did this about 3 or 4 times and the ivy was gone.


Then we roto-tilled the yard. Well, David started then we got a bit of help to finish. That brings us to the first "before" photos that I can find.









I should mention here that our AMAZING lemon tree only DOUBLED in size once we got rid of the ivy. We can't give lemons away fast enough, and they are Meyer (sp?) lemons!!


Then we had a border put in.

I love it!


And then we had the mulch delivered!

Yes, it was too much mulch (ha ha). A ton for $35!!!! We are going to me mulching ALL over the yard now! :)


The grass was delivered the next day!





We were so excited at this point! We knew it would be soon...


Then the fun stuff started!

The mulch went in!


The sod was placed...



AND... Our new backyard!






Before the sod went down, we decided to put down sprinklers. It's such a small area that it only needed 4 sprinkler heads. But now we need to run then a lot and stay off the lawn for about 1 month. Not even mow it. We had some sod left over, so it went right outside the gate towards the front yard where the grass had just been beat down after so many years of walking there.


We are so excited about the yard. The dogs have enjoyed looking at it from inside the house. NO dogs on the new yard! :) I can't wait for our first dinner out on the patio. Just in time for warm weather and fun times outside with junior.

Done!

Almost a year and a half ago, when David and I bought our house, we knew that one of our future projects would be a complete remodel of our master bathroom. Of course, that is going to be a MAJOR and costly undertaking that will be in the future. In the meantime, we figured out a minor and inexpensive fix.


World, meet the eye sore of our master bath, the vanity.



Yeah, ewwww. Ancient cabinets, under an ancient sink/counter, attached to an ancient faucet.





Eww, eww, eww, eww.


So we started.... the project. I was so excited. I think I was just happy knowing the old sink was going to go away.


We headed over to Home Depot and found the same sink/counter top in white, on sale. Woo hoo! (this is actually where this whole thing started, we saw it and thought... hmmm, could we? yes, we could, and we did). We found a new faucet that was on sale as well, double woo hoo. We figured, this isn't final, we still want to do a major remodel eventually, we just need our sink to be a little nicer in the meantime.


Of course, when you head to Home Depot without measurments and find something on sale the wife/husband talk goes something like this.


Husband: "We don't know the measurements of our sink, we can't get it. We should go home, measure and come back." (good reasoning)


Wife: "I bet it's this size. Let's get this one." (not good reasoning)


Husband: "We should measure it. What is they say? Measure twice, buy once? Or is that cutting?" (again, good reasoning, bad memory)


Wife: "I'm pretty sure this is it. My makeup brushes fit here, our toothbrush holder here, that here... fits perfect. I'm pretty sure it's this one. Plus, if it's wrong we still have to come back." (Wonderful reasoning)


Husband: "Hmmm, you're probably right wife. You are always right, you always know best, you are so smart and beautiful too. Let's get it" (Perfect, wonderful reasoning)


Ok, so maybe he didn't say that last part but he was thinking it.


So home to the demo part. (which really just involved removing the top.)





But what to do with those ugly cabinets? Paint them of course!


With drawers out and doors off, I (with David's help) painted them. (No really, I painted all of it but one part.)


And Voila!



I was already in love at this point. We have the black trim on the tile, it worked perfect.





And yes, that is a TON of paint for this tiny project. But that was the only size they had so they gave me the gallon at the small price. Now I'm trying to figure out what else to paint black... :)


I painted the doors and drawers...









Then we replaced the what had to be 30 year old valves.





Before:



After:



Yep, I'm a home owner. I love the look of brand spanking new water valves :)


We connected everything to the sink...






Then, before we could put the sink on, we had to touch up the wall a little. David filled in gaps, I painted. (I'm telling you, we are going to create a side business here... I just need a name)


Then, we put the hardware on the doors and drawers and put them on.


Ahhh... beautiful...



And then... we put everything together...


















(Sorry, ignore the weird tints. Some of these were at night and it's soft lighting in the bathroom)


I love it. So we have a new sink for little money.

Sink - $74
Faucet - $24
Valves - $5
Paint - $15 (I think)
Hardware - $15 (about)

Total - $133 (give or take)

So for under $150, I feel like that bathroom has a whole new feel. I love it.

World, meet my new sink.