Just a little preview of my next blog post.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
That's a Welcome Sign
Man, sometimes I'm super punny!
Check out the welcome sign I found at everyone's favorite gas station/gift shop in Brenham, Texas. For Christmas my mom and dad gave me the arrow hanger and a Christmas candy-cane hanging decoration. It sat in my hall closet for months.
On one of my many trips from Austin to Houston, I stopped at the gift shop and found the welcome sign for 50% off! Score. I paid $10.00 for it total.
It almost cost me much more than that when I lost my wedding ring at the gas station side of things, but found it after driving 1 mile on down the road, freaking out and turning around. But that's another story.
So, if you're ever in the neighborhood, you're "Welcome" to stop on by.
Check out the welcome sign I found at everyone's favorite gas station/gift shop in Brenham, Texas. For Christmas my mom and dad gave me the arrow hanger and a Christmas candy-cane hanging decoration. It sat in my hall closet for months.
On one of my many trips from Austin to Houston, I stopped at the gift shop and found the welcome sign for 50% off! Score. I paid $10.00 for it total.
It almost cost me much more than that when I lost my wedding ring at the gas station side of things, but found it after driving 1 mile on down the road, freaking out and turning around. But that's another story.
So, if you're ever in the neighborhood, you're "Welcome" to stop on by.
Them There are Walls
Last Friday night I looked at my husband and thought, "there sits a man who really needs a weeekend project!" I looked him in the eyes and said, "my darling husband. I love you very much. My potting shed needs walls and I think this is the weekend for it."
He looked back lovingly into my eyes and said, "okay." What a great husband. I'm sure I'm glossing over a bunch of his internal dialog and eye rolling, but that's how I remember the story going.
So, bright and early on Saturday morning, we went to the Depot (Home Depot) and bought a few sticks of wood. A few means a lot. Like $650.00 dollars worth of wood. I saved the receipt to show my grandchildren. One time your grandmother went to the Depot (Home Depot) and spend a small fortune on wood...ah, memories.
Most of this wood purchasing was my fault. My husband wanted to put plywood up on top of the studs and then Hardie siding on top of that. My idea was much prettier. I wanted cedar slats. Yes, one of the most expensive types of woods.
I think you'll all agree with me that my idea was much better than my husbands. AGREE WITH ME.
That leads us to the porch. What potting shed would be complete without a little porch to sit on and put stuff on and basically cause one's husband to loose his mind over. Why did he lose his mind? Because not only did I want a porch, the porch had to be covered. DUH! What if it rained. Wouldn't the door get wet? And what about when it wasn't raining. Wouldn't it be too hot to enjoy the porch. Needless to say, I won and now I have a 3ft porch which will eventually have a covered roof.
Big shout out to the new neighbor for coming over and helping frame the porch and drink beer with the husband. It was an enjoyable Saturday. Jeff and I worked together on Sunday to lay the deck and finish the cedar slats. Our hard work payed off as the shed is really coming along.
Our next steps are to finish the cedar slats and complete the roof extension.
There are big future plans. I won't write them all here as I want it to unfold over more blog posts (and as we have time), but they involve siding, a southern tradition, and a door.
Stay tuned!
He looked back lovingly into my eyes and said, "okay." What a great husband. I'm sure I'm glossing over a bunch of his internal dialog and eye rolling, but that's how I remember the story going.
So, bright and early on Saturday morning, we went to the Depot (Home Depot) and bought a few sticks of wood. A few means a lot. Like $650.00 dollars worth of wood. I saved the receipt to show my grandchildren. One time your grandmother went to the Depot (Home Depot) and spend a small fortune on wood...ah, memories.
Most of this wood purchasing was my fault. My husband wanted to put plywood up on top of the studs and then Hardie siding on top of that. My idea was much prettier. I wanted cedar slats. Yes, one of the most expensive types of woods.
I think you'll all agree with me that my idea was much better than my husbands. AGREE WITH ME.
That leads us to the porch. What potting shed would be complete without a little porch to sit on and put stuff on and basically cause one's husband to loose his mind over. Why did he lose his mind? Because not only did I want a porch, the porch had to be covered. DUH! What if it rained. Wouldn't the door get wet? And what about when it wasn't raining. Wouldn't it be too hot to enjoy the porch. Needless to say, I won and now I have a 3ft porch which will eventually have a covered roof.
Big shout out to the new neighbor for coming over and helping frame the porch and drink beer with the husband. It was an enjoyable Saturday. Jeff and I worked together on Sunday to lay the deck and finish the cedar slats. Our hard work payed off as the shed is really coming along.
Our next steps are to finish the cedar slats and complete the roof extension.
There are big future plans. I won't write them all here as I want it to unfold over more blog posts (and as we have time), but they involve siding, a southern tradition, and a door.
Stay tuned!
You can never have enough flower beds
I know! I know...iknow. It's been forever since I've last posted. Don't worry...it wasn't because I didn't have anything to write about. Quite the opposite in face. We've been busy.
The first project that you should know about is that we've created three more flower beds! Mostly, I did. While my darling husband was away working, I decided it was the ideal time to create more flower beds. We needed more flower beds. This of course was a very intelligent decision to make...while my husband was away working. My back is still sore thinking about the rocks, dirt, and mulch, irrigation, and plants.
So, here's an updated picture of the house. You can see how the existing flower beds are looking. Darn fine if you ask me.
Now for the two new beds in the front yard. Since we added the first one around Christmas time, the other two sets of trees looked lonely. We added a small bed around the big tree and a larger bed around the two Crape Myrtles.
If you don't already know this about me, I'm a daisy fanatic! I have a tendency to buy as many varieties of daisies as I can find. I wanted to create a daisy flower bed where the primary flowers were all daisies. Of course you have to add some other types just to add variety, so I also planted a hydrangea, two transplanted shrimp plants, and some white salvia. There was still a big empty spot after two weeks until I found a daisy gardenia. I can't wait for it to bloom!
The Crape Myrtle bed is all about shade. My grandmother, Juanita, loved ferns and that's one of my biggest memories of being at her house in Louisiana. She had these massive ferns and they were so beautiful. I decided that I should add some ferns to honor her memory and the shade bed was the perfect home. So, I added two Autumn Ferns. I also added some ivy, oxalis, lambs ears, and salvias. The front of the bed tends to get more sunlight that the rest so I moved the plumbago from the front bed and added it to the sunny area. I also attempted to move the lantana, but it didn't make it so I bought a replacement one. There are also several different ground covers that I'm excited to see grow into each other.
The last bed we added was in the back of the house. There's a massive, beautiful oak tree next to the house that needed definition. The sun is often blocked by the house and therefore was destined to be another shade bed. I added caladiums and black sweet potato vines.
The other addition, perhaps my favorite, is an evergreen wisteria vine that I want to train to the tree. It will bloom maroon in the summer and into the fall. So. Excited.
And finally, the bird house bed is doing wonderfully. Maybe my favorite plant in the bed is the Agapathus which is blooming! I fell in love with this flower during my trip to Argentina for my brother's wedding last November. They were everywhere and I couldn't get over how beautiful. They were on my must plant list and I ended up buying two varieties. The first one has been in bloom for a month and the other is just now shooting up a bloom steam. Everytime I see it I am reminded of my trip and my family in Argentina.
The first project that you should know about is that we've created three more flower beds! Mostly, I did. While my darling husband was away working, I decided it was the ideal time to create more flower beds. We needed more flower beds. This of course was a very intelligent decision to make...while my husband was away working. My back is still sore thinking about the rocks, dirt, and mulch, irrigation, and plants.
So, here's an updated picture of the house. You can see how the existing flower beds are looking. Darn fine if you ask me.
Now for the two new beds in the front yard. Since we added the first one around Christmas time, the other two sets of trees looked lonely. We added a small bed around the big tree and a larger bed around the two Crape Myrtles.
If you don't already know this about me, I'm a daisy fanatic! I have a tendency to buy as many varieties of daisies as I can find. I wanted to create a daisy flower bed where the primary flowers were all daisies. Of course you have to add some other types just to add variety, so I also planted a hydrangea, two transplanted shrimp plants, and some white salvia. There was still a big empty spot after two weeks until I found a daisy gardenia. I can't wait for it to bloom!
The Crape Myrtle bed is all about shade. My grandmother, Juanita, loved ferns and that's one of my biggest memories of being at her house in Louisiana. She had these massive ferns and they were so beautiful. I decided that I should add some ferns to honor her memory and the shade bed was the perfect home. So, I added two Autumn Ferns. I also added some ivy, oxalis, lambs ears, and salvias. The front of the bed tends to get more sunlight that the rest so I moved the plumbago from the front bed and added it to the sunny area. I also attempted to move the lantana, but it didn't make it so I bought a replacement one. There are also several different ground covers that I'm excited to see grow into each other.
The last bed we added was in the back of the house. There's a massive, beautiful oak tree next to the house that needed definition. The sun is often blocked by the house and therefore was destined to be another shade bed. I added caladiums and black sweet potato vines.
The other addition, perhaps my favorite, is an evergreen wisteria vine that I want to train to the tree. It will bloom maroon in the summer and into the fall. So. Excited.
And finally, the bird house bed is doing wonderfully. Maybe my favorite plant in the bed is the Agapathus which is blooming! I fell in love with this flower during my trip to Argentina for my brother's wedding last November. They were everywhere and I couldn't get over how beautiful. They were on my must plant list and I ended up buying two varieties. The first one has been in bloom for a month and the other is just now shooting up a bloom steam. Everytime I see it I am reminded of my trip and my family in Argentina.
Many thanks to the people who helped with these beds...Mom, Josh and Husband.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Birds are People Too
For Christmas my mom bought be an adorable birdbath! We put the bird bath under the tree in the front yard.
It looked so sad and lonely under the tree. We decided to add a flower bed.
It looked so sad and lonely under the tree. We decided to add a flower bed.
We LOVE it!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Blades of Glory
Do you see this fan? Do you?! I mean...have you looked close enough to appreciate the awesomeness that is this fan? I have lived with this monstrosity for over a year now and have planned it's demise since we moved in.
I hate this fan. I mean...I REALLY hate this fan. If there was a redeeming quality about this fan, it was lost in the 1970s when brass and cane was in "style." Did I mention that the house was build in the early 1990s? So, tell me how did THIS fan end up in my house? Time machine? Family vault? I'm not sure exactly, but it is time this fan died.
Obviously this view is shared by many, especially my mother who gifted us with a new fan for Christmas. Jeff and I were so happy! Replacing this fan has been on our to-do list, but with this gift it promptly was escalated to the top of the list. Yes, above the siding for the garden shed (pout).
There is a challenge with replacing this fan. It's in the living room which has a vaulted ceiling of over 24 feet. The pole that the fan hangs from is also brass which means it has to be replaced. In order to do that, we have to rent scaffolding. NICE!
Also, the wiring of the fan is a fun story. I thought it would be wonderful to control the settings of the fan. As you can see this fan has chains but you can't reach them so it's remained on high since we moved in. We don't use it. I hate chains that hang into the room so that left either a wall switch or a remote control. I bought a cool wall switch that dimmed the lights and changed the fan speed. Jeff was none too pleased as the existing wiring had a light switch by the front door and a different switch for fan on/off and light on/off on the living room wall. My cool switch proved useless.
We bought the remote control. Easy right? Wrong, since a piece of the control has to be included in the base of the fan...attached to the ceiling...24 feet above us.
Today, I have this picture and an assembled ceiling fan in the garage. I'm starting to like the old priority of this fan on the to-do list. Oh, well. To be continued next weekend I'm sure.
I hate this fan. I mean...I REALLY hate this fan. If there was a redeeming quality about this fan, it was lost in the 1970s when brass and cane was in "style." Did I mention that the house was build in the early 1990s? So, tell me how did THIS fan end up in my house? Time machine? Family vault? I'm not sure exactly, but it is time this fan died.
Obviously this view is shared by many, especially my mother who gifted us with a new fan for Christmas. Jeff and I were so happy! Replacing this fan has been on our to-do list, but with this gift it promptly was escalated to the top of the list. Yes, above the siding for the garden shed (pout).
There is a challenge with replacing this fan. It's in the living room which has a vaulted ceiling of over 24 feet. The pole that the fan hangs from is also brass which means it has to be replaced. In order to do that, we have to rent scaffolding. NICE!
Also, the wiring of the fan is a fun story. I thought it would be wonderful to control the settings of the fan. As you can see this fan has chains but you can't reach them so it's remained on high since we moved in. We don't use it. I hate chains that hang into the room so that left either a wall switch or a remote control. I bought a cool wall switch that dimmed the lights and changed the fan speed. Jeff was none too pleased as the existing wiring had a light switch by the front door and a different switch for fan on/off and light on/off on the living room wall. My cool switch proved useless.
We bought the remote control. Easy right? Wrong, since a piece of the control has to be included in the base of the fan...attached to the ceiling...24 feet above us.
Today, I have this picture and an assembled ceiling fan in the garage. I'm starting to like the old priority of this fan on the to-do list. Oh, well. To be continued next weekend I'm sure.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Four walls and five working windows!
Last weekend Jeff and I tore down the final wall of the shed and rebuilt it. We went back to the Depot and bought another 20 2x4s. There is now not a single original 2x4 in the framing of this shed!
After finishing framing the walls and installing the windows we tackled leveling the shed. Yes, several times of the lifetime of this project we realized we were working backwards. According to Jeff's level our work here is now complete. All it took was jacking up the building and adding concrete blocks until it was perfect.
Talk about difficult to start from the roof then go to the walls and finally the leveling of the structure. What can I say, we like a challenge?
I'm was a little tired of going to Home Depot so this weekend we took it easy and didn't work on a single home project! We're going to buy the siding when we get back from our Argentina trip in early December.
Here are project photos of the shed:
After finishing framing the walls and installing the windows we tackled leveling the shed. Yes, several times of the lifetime of this project we realized we were working backwards. According to Jeff's level our work here is now complete. All it took was jacking up the building and adding concrete blocks until it was perfect.
Talk about difficult to start from the roof then go to the walls and finally the leveling of the structure. What can I say, we like a challenge?
I'm was a little tired of going to Home Depot so this weekend we took it easy and didn't work on a single home project! We're going to buy the siding when we get back from our Argentina trip in early December.
Here are project photos of the shed:
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