Monday, May 29, 2017

One step closer to finishing the yard

Susie and I spent the afternoon at a beautiful gardening store this weekend, carefully selecting the plants for the yard.

After much debate, we decided that these Westringia Morning Lights would be nice for this spot to the left of the brick path:



I also got rosemary for the triangle bed to the right of the path, and Susie is going to give us a cutting of her lavender for the spot right next to it:



A few more herbs in there, to add to the giant mint on the left of the photo, and it will be a nice little kitchen garden.

Just a few more finishing touches out there, and I will call the yard finished!

Monday, May 22, 2017

Two Things, Plus Two More Things

Finished two more things this weekend.

First, I have been feeling like the guest room needed something. Maybe a headboard for the bed. I had been thinking about painting one on the wall, when a conversation with Amanda gave me an idea.

I used the last big section of old kitchen counter (which would have been thrown away by now if it weren't so huge that cutting it down into chunks was going to be a project all of its own):



Stretched a brown sheet over it, added a piece of trim cut from the old 2x4's we took out of the back of the house, and attached it to the wall:



Not bad! Just what the room needed.

Also finished up with the terra cotta tiles left over from the kitchen floor (and the tiny tiny patio). Smashed them up & put them around the plants in the front yard:



I also got very lucky this weekend, and inherited the card catalog from AJ's classroom. I put it on a set of drawers I already had. Fits perfectly!



Lastly, as I was lounging about on Saturday, enjoying our 75-degree weather, I wanted to share this view from the hammock -- it's a climbing rose bush that our back neighbor has neglected for the past three years (much to our benefit -- it's now about 20 feet tall):




Thursday, May 18, 2017

More progress in the yard

Made some more progress in the yard this past week.

Used some left over gravel to edge the walkway:




After much hand-wringing, I decided to not go whole hog with a vegetable garden this year. So much work! After finishing school, all I want to do on the weekends is goof off. So, why not?

AJ trimmed back the jade in the front yard this weekend -- I grabbed some of those trimmings and planted them in the vegetable bed, along with some wildflower seeds. No longer looks like a dust patch:



But of course I do have my peas. And they're very happy, especially with this piece of corrugated steel behind them, adding light and heat (although obviously not in late afternoon, when I took the photo):



Lastly, the hanging chair arrived:



AJ approves:

Next, a few more plants for that bare spot in the triangle bed on the right of the brick path, and for a bare spot to the left. Then we can call the yard done!

(for now...)