Yard work

Finished up our border that goes around the rest of the house. The vines that were under there were taking over! They were growing up the columns on the deck. Plus they didn't come out to the rocks..

..so I ripped them out and mulched the whole area.

No before picture but right beside the steps was a huge yellow rose bush. It was too tall and was so wide, it covered almost half of the stairs. So Alan ripped them out. We got a Firepower Nandena and transferred 2 Gerbera Daisies that weren't getting much sun. This opened the stairs up and made this space look much bigger. See the vine creeping under the stairs?

 

Yard work

I'm gonna preface this with I wrote this blog on April 13.. I have forgotten to post it ;) 

 Today was such a gorgeous day. I knew I wanted us to be out most of the afternoon.

A local school was having a plant sale. These ginormous tomatoes were $1 each and the 4 pack of cucumbers were $1. The tomatoes are German Johnson. I've never grown that type but they are supposed to be really good. A little longer growing season at 80 days but it'll be okay. So around July 4, we will have tomatoes, hopefully!

I also pulled lots of weeds and cleaned up the flowers and bushes

House updates

Toys R Us for new toys to keep the girls busy.. Starbucks for a coffee and then Lowes for painting supplies for the laundry room. All before 11am on a Saturday. Back to the house and painted some trim.

Planted 6 Leyland Cypress at the corner of our lot. 

Found this drink dispenser and tiny mug at a local thrift store. It was in my plan to get one for our laundry room redo and I'm so glad I found this! $6 for the dispenser and .50 for the mug? Yes please! It is a little slow dispensing the detergent but it sure does look pretty! 

Weekend house projects!

We strayed from our ongoing to-do list over the Winter. This weekend, we started back and actually completed 1!

We also got some Leyland Cypress from Costco that will be planted in our back corner this week.

We are repainting and remodeling the laundry room. This includes painting the door that we come in from the garage, and the garage closet doors black. We are repainting the laundry room the same color but will be switching out the light. Lowering or replacing the shelf and adding some art and storage bins.

 The current state.

 

When our HE washers die, I am going back to top loaders. Not a big fan of the HE washers.

With that said, I love this shelf right behind the washers. Somewhere to sit detergent, a lamp and some pretty stuff. The only negative with our room is our security system 'brain' is right behind/above the dryer so a shelf going all the way across wouldn't work. I would love to be able to hide that brain though. 

love these as detergent dispensers

Replacing the light with something like one of these..

We also painted the door leading into the house from the garage black.

The other project that is now completed is our crawl space door! We worked hard the past couple of years on the landscaping border. This weekend, we picked some square and rectangle stones in the matching color. Put them in, topped with paver sand, bought some more border rocks and mulch and ta-da! Now to paint that door black to match everything else...

House Improvements

Our bedroom and bathroom had been lacking some art on the walls. It was always put on the back burner as we focused on the main rooms and outside. We finally buckled down and bought some stuff. It makes a HUGE difference!
 

Our 'water closet' looks SO much better!

The tree picture is beside Alan's side of the bed.

The rest of our bedroom art/shelf. We also got new bedding.

 I bought this cross picture because I loved it. When I got it home, it was going to be nearly impossible for us to hang it straight with the way they had the hangers so we got a shelf for the kitchen, which we needed anyway. I had the blue creamer bottle and the circle. It's now over by our breakfast nook table.

Back door painted!

After finishing up the landscaping rocks/mulch, we moved on to the next project - sanding, priming and painting the backdoor! Alan painted our front door black last summer or the summer before.. So we decided to paint the back door black to match!

all sanded and ready to be primed

all primed and white trim painted

all done! We wanted some white trim to match the window panes

The next couple of weeks we will be preparing and having Madison's 5th Birthday and party and then September holds our 10th anniversary which includes a weekend trip plus Alan is taking Madison on her first tent camping trip, so I'm not sure how many house projects will get done in September.. Maybe some small things. October is just as busy!  The Fall/winter we will focus on the inside and planting privacy trees and  fruit bushes/trees. Love getting projects done!

Landscaping, done!

Ya'll, we finished a project! We now have landscaping mat, black mulch and landscaping rocks all around the house! With the exception of flanking the sidewalk with them and working under the deck overhang, we.are.done!

 It is on the list to add a border to the inside of the sidewalk..

now to pressure wash that stain ..

 Yes, it's supposed to not be a straight line....

Maybe a new sandbox should go on the wish list...

And now the wish list to finish up right around the house.. because I love a good wish list.

flanking sidewalk rocks(only on the mulch side)..

and a/c cover of some sort

a hose holder for both sides of the house

Projects on the immediate list:

- painting the back doors black and the trim white. Hopefully starting this week.

- working on wallpapering the dollhouse that we have. More on that to come :) 

- getting ready for Madison's 5th(!!!) birthday party.

Five on Friday - House things and a busy Summer

A lot going on! This is a long read ;)

(one) I can't believe preschool starts back in right at a month. This Summer has flown by! We have had lots of play dates, library/splash pad meetups and the girls are all around getting along and playing so well together. They will go play in the playroom for bits at a time so I can get stuff done!

(two) We finished up Bloodline Season 2. It was really good and I'm so glad they decided to make a 3rd Season. If you're looking for a Netflix show, watch it. It does have cussing but the plot is great! Season 2 was so very stressful and a nail biter! When the last episode was over, we both just sat there and looked at each other like "Well, what do we do now?!" While we wait on Longmire to return for Season 5 in September, we started 24. With 197 episodes left, I think it may get us to September ;) It's pretty good and has picked up some action.

(three) We have been working hard on our yard! Adding landscaping fabric, new mulch and putting in landscaping rocks and river rocks has made a huge difference. It may be taking us forever, but we are aiming to be completely done by next week! Then we will be working on painting the back door black!

Been working on this side of the house for the last couple of weeks. You can't really see them, but there are 3 pink plants behind the Iris. I'm hoping they grow thick enough to cover all of those boxes on the house!

Going from this...

hard to believe this was less than a year and half ago!

to this is a drastic change..We just put down river rock under the a/c pipe and the gutter spout. Now to get a hose holder and this side will be complete!

The green bushes in the back are all gardenias and doing very well.  

The little ones in the front are pansy.

(four) We have started party planning for Madison. We decided that since she had so much fun on a water inflatable slide that a friend had rented(she slid for 3 hours straight!), we would go that route this year. She's been begging for another Pump it Up party but we made the decision for her. I mean, why have one 2 hour party when you can rent this for 3 days?! She mentioned it again and we finally told her and she was excited! Whew! She's also requested the theme be PJ Masks(a Disney Junior cartoon that has 3 superheros on it)

(five) I have recently fell back in love with Pinterest. I've always loved it but now I'm on it at night pinning yard/house ideas, PJ Masks party ideas and whatnot. It feels so good to pin something, do it and go back and delete it. Maybe that's just the OCD in me ;) Also found my love for Amazon wishlists again. I'm constantly adding things to our House wishlist. Easy to add when I'm thinking about it and that way I can go back when I want to buy it and it's there!