Small Home Improvement Project - Backyard Spruce Up

 

Our mornings have been cool enough I was able to get back outside and do some more work.  I wanted to tackle the eyesore that I could view just outside my living room window.  Primarily the lower deck which is where I had "temporarily" placed some wood for a project I was planning.  It didn’t happen.  This summer I've worked really hard to renovate my entire yard, from the curb at the front to the backyard fence line.  It has been a huge endeavor and a lot of work, but what a transformation.  Yard work it much more manageable and everything looks so nice and pretty outside.

 

A bunch of stuff that is heading out of here

Earlier this summer I had made some decisions with regard to my list of projects.  As a result a lot of the wood I had accumulated for those projects was no longer needed.  I took pictures of the things I no longer needed and put it up on my neighborhood Facebook Buy Nothing Group and those things are now gone.  I've culled the list once again and now I have another pile of stuff to get rid of.  What remains is neatly tucked away for projects I do intend to complete.

 

This is so much better!

Once the lower deck was cleared away and swept off I was able to move the BBQ back to where it used to be and where I prefer to have it along with the grilling station I had made for my daughter's graduation party.  The grilling station is on the short list as I no longer have a use for it and it too will soon be going away.  Once the bench and all the extra wood is gone it will really open up the backyard nicely and make it much, much easier to keep clean and maintained through the seasons.  Now when I look out my living room window I really like what I see and I breathe a little better.  I'm getting there!

 

Small Home Improvement Project - The 2nd Bedroom - Decorated

 

I began collecting and making items to redo this bedroom years ago.  It's my neighbor's fault really.  She gave me this beautiful white vintage bedspread and I knew I couldn't use it until my girls were grown and gone.  A mother just knows these things.  A white bedspread and children, not happening.  Not at my house anyway.  So I tucked it aside and dreamed of all the things I would do with this bedspread and the room I'd create around it.

 

I think this bedspread is just beautiful

Several years ago I picked up some vintage lamps, very similar to the ones I had as a child.  I acquired lampshades at thrift stores and even got one at Lowes on clearance.  I made doilies and dresser scarves that I carefully packaged and stored away for "someday".  I made pillows that I would add to the bed I made up with that beautiful bedspread.  And I had keepsakes from my childhood tucked away in my bedroom closet.

 

I recently got this handmade wooden doll cradle on Facebook Marketplace
The Irish Chain quilt I made while waiting to adopt my oldest daughter

In celebration of my children heading off on their own journey into adulthood I went on a little shopping spree one morning.  It has been soooooo long since I've done a shopping spree for frivolous items and I had a lot of fun.  With some of the money left over from my big landscaping project I was able to get quite a few things I otherwise probably wouldn't have.  I picked up a set of white book shelves, new blinds and some darling curtains and a can of spray paint to refresh an old desk.  I also ordered a pink fuzzy rug from Amazon.

 

The refurbished nightstand with a vintage lamp & shade

A few years back I had picked up a nightstand at a neighbor's yard sale for $10 and refurbished it.  I had stripped off the very bad paint job it came with and sanded it smooth, replaced the warped back with a new piece of luan, and repainted it.  I even added a new knob and stitched a darling little drawer liner for it.  Again, I kept it safe until I could place it in this room "someday".

 

More to come!

Now that "someday" has arrived and the room has been renovated (I still need to do the closet) I was able to get in there and put the finishing touches on this space and use my carefully created and curated items in here.  I could not be happier with how this sweet little room has turned out.  I'm not quite finished in here as I've got several plans for this room and it will be a work in progress, hopefully for a very long time.

 

Small Home Improvement Project - The 2nd Bedroom - Complete!

 

After completing the demo on the bedroom I took an inventory of supplies I still had out in the garage.  I had quite a few things saved out there knowing this project was on the list to be completed once my daughter moved out and was off to college.  Then I made a list of items I still needed and after shopping around and checking prices I placed an order to Lowes for most of those things.  I wanted to make sure I was really careful with my spending because I didn't have a much of a budget for this project.

 

Oops! Naughty bunny!

On day two I picked up my Lowes order first thing in the morning, then headed home to wash the walls and the ceiling in preparation of paint.  I also used spackle to fill holes in the walls left by nails and wall anchors after I removed some shelves.  Our sweet little bunny had a nibble on the wall near the door so I repaired that as well.

 

My order from Lowes, minus a backordered item

The next day I used trim I already had in the garage that I'd acquired from the FREE WOOD bin near where I used to work.  I had purchased a twelve piece pack of trim from Lowes, but it wasn't quite enough to finish the room and they were short on trim, not to mention the price has shot up on that stuff.  So I needed to get resourceful and fortunately I had quite a few pieces that were very similar I could use in strategic places.

 

Some of the supplies I already had out in the garage

I used one piece, the least similar one, under the wall mounted electric baseboard heater because I knew it wouldn't be easily seen and no one would notice it didn't match.  I then remounted the heater and gave it a coat of white paint to cover up its outdated original color.  I had the paint in the garage so this was a no cost project.  I also gave the phone jack a makeover with that same paint so it would blend into the wall much better.

 

Ready to start installing the new mouldings

On day four I brought up my compound miter saw to cut trim up there and save my knees from multiple trips up and down the stairs.  That proved to be a really good idea.  I then went to work trimming out the door frame and all along the floor.

 

New moulding along the ceiling

I had to wait until my decorative corner pieces arrived before I could trim along the ceiling.  Finally, four days later, they arrived and I was off and running.  By the time I was done my scrap pile was very small.  I didn't waste a thing and had just enough to get the job done.

 

Talk about cutting it close (no pun intended) but, this is my scrap pile
 after I finished installing all the trim.  No waste on this project!

Next up was to caulk all of the trim and let it cure overnight before I painted everything with two coats of pure white paint.  Fortunately I already had one gallon in the garage so I only needed to purchase a second gallon.  Boy has the price of paint gone up!  Along with everything else, I suppose.

 

Hurray for paint!!  Pure White by Behr - Love it!
I always remove the outlet & switch covers as well as drop the light fixture so I get everything

When I picked up the decorative trim pieces I also picked up a gallon of "Oops!" paint to use to seal the floor.  Once all of the walls, the ceiling, trim and the door was painted I did a massive cleanup.  After sweeping the floor I vacuumed it and laid down a nice coat of paint to seal the plywood and keep what drywall mud remained on the floor after scraping entombed.  As I have completed each room in my house I have done this to protect the new carpet and keep the dust and dirt better controlled.  I think it has helped immensely.  The paint I got for the floor was ugly, but it did the job and was only $11.

 

I'm pretty sure the name on the swatch was "baby poop"
I can't imagine why someone would want to return this lovely color to the store - ???

Ready for carpet!

With the room all done I was ready to install the carpet and call this job complete.  I ordered the carpet from Home Depot and installed it myself.  I ordered extra for the closet, but renovating that closet will be a job for another day.  After eleven days of working on this bedroom I was more than ready for a break before taking on another project.

 

I removed the heater from the wall (after shutting off the breaker!) and painted the wall behind it
Then I reinstalled it, masked off the wall and used white spray paint to give it a refresh

The final tally- not too bad!

I didn't have any money set aside to do this room, but because I did so well with my landscaping project, I was able to shuffle some of those funds over to this project.  I got the entire room done for less than $400, which quite honestly blows my mind.  Getting the carpet on sale for half price and installing it myself was a huge help in keeping the cost down.

 

Like the icing on a cake 😋

Ta da!  All done!

Now I get to do the fun stuff.  Decorate!

 

Small Home Improvement Project - The 2nd Bedroom - Demo!

 

I got the bulk of the landscaping project completed just in time for the triple digit heat to hit.  Not to worry because I had another project in mind for when that happened and everything lined up perfectly as my daughter moved out leaving her old bedroom was desperately in need of some love and attention.

 

If you have been following me along you know I've been going through my entire home room by room over the past few years updating and refreshing those spaces.  So far I have completely redone done our living room, dining room, kitchen, the entry way, the hallway and our stairs and landing as well as our downstairs bedroom.  Upstairs I redid the master bedroom, main bathroom, linen closet and the upstairs hallway.  I even did the garage.  My daughter has had zero interest in redoing her room so I have been patiently waiting and a week after she moved out I got busy, with her blessing too.

 

I plan to redo this room much the same as I did the other two bedrooms so the first thing I did was remove the old worn out carpeting, all of the padding as well as the tack strips along the edge of the floor.  Next I removed the trim from the perimeter of the walls.  After pulling out all of the staples left from the carpet pad I used my scraper and scraped the entire floor to remove the loads of splattered drywall mud left behind by the contractors.  I really do not like that they leave this stuff behind like that.  I then used my hammer to reset any nails that had popped and were sticking up.  Once I gave the room a good sweeping and vacuuming it was ready for what I planned to do next.

 

A shower and clean clothes was the next order of business as it was a very dusty job and then I went out to the garage to see what home improvement supplies I still had out there.  I gathered those up and took them upstairs to the bedroom.  Then I sat down with my laptop and placed orders with Lowes and Home Depot for the rest of the things I needed.  I am super excited to get to work on this project and show you the transformation.  On a tight budget too.  Stay tuned!

 

 

More FREE Gravel… Or Was It?

 

A few weeks ago, over 4th of July weekend, another huge pile of gravel came up for FREE on Facebook Marketplace.  I knew it was enough to finish up what I needed for the front yard so the girl and I headed off with our shovels to the town next to us and picked up a load.  However, on the way home I got pulled over by a sheriff's deputy because someone had reported a concern that we were stealing this gravel.  Once I showed him on my phone the conversation with the owner of said gravel he was totally fine.  Super nice and I told him I was just impressed somebody cared.  When I got home I contacted the lady I was getting the gravel from and we had a good laugh.  I told her I'd contact her for bail money when I went for the next load.  She said she had my back!

 

Before

After!

Super funny situation, really nice deputy (cute too!) and it gave me an opportunity to thank him for his service to our community.  Being a cop is tough work.  It also opened up a great dialog with my daughter on how to properly behave when you are pulled over by the police.  Just be nice to them, cooperate and you're good to go!  Don't act like a jerk.  Be respectful.  I think I did a good job setting the proper example too.

 

I know gravel isn't to everyone's liking, but for me this is the perfect solution

My goal was to unload the gravel under where I have the clotheslines so when I drop stuff, which I do (a lot), it wouldn't get all muddy and dirty.  I was also able to connect to the gravel and pavers in front of our deck steps.  I started spreading it fairly thick and made it all the way to the pond.  I was super happy with how it looks too.

 

Thanks in no small part to my feline supervisor things look great!

The next day I went and picked up another load with no incidents this time.  I finished up around the pond and filled in all the way to where the grass ends, officially finishing the front yard landscaping project!  Whoo hooooo! And since I didn't have to post bail or anything, yes, this gravel was FREE.  

 

Hmmm.  What do you suppose is going on here?

But wait, there's more.  Of course there is more.  Right here next to the front porch I have plans.  However, you're going to wait to see what those plans are.  I'm just wicked, aren't I?!  No worries.  I promise you won't have to wait too long. 😉

 

 

The Landscape Project Update & $$

 

I can honestly tell you I've never really had much of a yard here as long as I've owned this house.  The first few years we transformed it from a tangled, overplanted jungle to a lawn with a few flowers.  Over the years other projects and life in general took precedent as I watched the sod I had installed many years ago wither and die off due to poor soil and lack of sunlight.  With limited funds, knowledge and time our yard took the hit.  Last year I was determined to change all that and finally make the outside of my home match the inside.  In early spring of 2021 I began the demo and then as many of you know life threw me a curveball.  But that's okay, because it allowed me more time to plot, plan and research this project.  And save up some more money too.

 

Fast forward to early spring 2022 and we got rain.  Lots of it!  Which was good because we needed it, but it sure did put a damper on my plans.  So I waited.  Some more.  And in mid May I was able to get outside and get started on this long awaited landscape project.  I worked on my yard in between wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning storms throughout the month of May and progress was made.  I even resurrected the old raised beds at the very back of our yard and my daughter and I planted a garden.

 

I devoted the entire month of June to this project and by the end of the month I had made it from the curb at the street all the way into the backyard to the end of our upper deck.  Right now the lower deck is housing my project woodpile and the rest of the yard is the garden and chicken coop area.  I have grand plans for that once the garden is harvested this fall, but for now my main focus is the rest of the yard and the upper deck.

 

It amazes me the transformation I have been able to make in just six weeks.  From a barren wasteland to my dream landscape.  We now have a weed free gravel parking area with a beautiful little flowerbed and a darling little fence and gate that opens into our front yard.  We have a lawn with more flowerbeds filled with plants and shrubs.  Our pond is up and running and surrounded by a lovely flowerbed that runs the length of our house wrapping around to the backyard deck.

 

We have a lovely seating area in front of the pond where we can sit and enjoy the shade in the canopy of our trees and the sound of the water from the spitting frog.  From where you sit you can see the entire yard, front to back.

 

I added another flowerbed underneath the pear tree with plans for blueberries and strawberries next spring.  All of our flowerbeds are edged with rocks we already had in our yard until I got to this one and had to acquire more rocks.  I picked up a truckload of FREE rocks thru Facebook Marketplace and continued on.  All of our soil has been amended with our own homemade compost and our new plants are thriving.  I've never seen so many earthworms in our soil as I do now.

 

Our deck was sanded and stained in 2020 and we added a pergola.  A year later it suffered a wardrobe malfunction with the lattice top, but this year I was able to get it repaired and finally added the lights I had set aside from our Christmas décor to the perimeter.  Our deck is now a lovely outdoor space we get to really enjoy and we have been.  We have a nice seating area plus a table with stools for eating along with our barbecue.

 

Originally, I had set aside a $1000 budget for this project.  This year, due to inflation and the rising cost of just about everything, I saved an extra $500 to add to my budget and figured I'd go as far as I could with that and see where I ended up.  I had been saving Home Depot gift cards for over a year and had several of those to add to the pot as well.  So are you dying to see how much I spent on my landscape project so far?  Did I budget enough?

 

Well, since you asked, I have spent $557.96, just over a third of my budget so far.  The bulk of that was for the faux grass which we absolutely love.  By reusing a lot of things I already had and acquiring expensive items like rock and gravel for FREE off of Facebook Marketplace, plus doing all of the work myself it save me a ton of money.  My girls also bought me some of the plants and shrubs as gifts for Mother's Day and Father's Day which was a big help too.

 

I'm not done.  I still need to bring in more gravel, I have plans for a front porch update, I want to do something around the hose bib area and I've got big plans for making a beautiful vegetable garden area in the backyard.  Plus there are a lot of other little tinkering projects I want to work on around the outside of our home.  Plenty to keep me busy.  So what do you think so far?

 

Small Home Improvement Project - Another New Flowerbed & Renovating Some Old Ones

 

When I first moved into my home in January of 1995 our entire yard was seriously overplanted and so crowded with overgrowth that you could not walk from the frontyard to the backyard.  The only way to access the backyard at that time was through the house.  I spent the first few years removing so many scrubby trees, shrubs and plants that were planted way too close to one another.  In fact, where the new flowerbed is now used to be home to an oak tree, a birch tree, a spruce tree plus half a dozen junipers.  Way too much stuff in such a small space.

 

Ta da!

For a good long time this was just an area to park our car and our trash and recycle bins.  Not much excitement going on.  Since we moved the fence and then gave the entire driveway a refresh I decided it was also a good time to add back some curb appeal.  As you can well imagine the soil was pretty poor so I hauled six buckets of our homemade compost from the backyard and got it all turned into the ground.  Then I left it to settle overnight and gave it another good turning the next day.  I am amazed at how quickly adding this compost transforms the soil.  Just a few days and it's like magic.

 

These are from my neighbor and they get little white flowers

A trip to Home Depot with a gift card provided a new shrub and a few perennials.  My next door neighbor provided me with some sedums.  I bordered the bed with rocks I had in our backyard as well as a few that I'd dug out of the ground while turning the soil.  I think I'd like to add some daylilies here too.  The finishing touch was to add some bark mulch.  All in all, I think it turned out pretty good and is exactly what this area needed.

 

This was the area under our pear tree

I've been working my way from the curb to the backyard and I've finally made it into the backyard.  As I've been working on the frontyard I've been pushing stuff into the backyard and making decisions with regard to my project woodpile.  I decided to abandon some of those projects and make things a bit easier on myself so I offered up some of my woodpile on Facebook.  It went fast.

 

This is how it looks now

I redid one of the flowerbeds next to our back deck on each side of the steps and reinstalled some pavers in front of those steps.  The flowerbed along the side of the house now curves around the corner to the back of the house and meets one of the flowerbeds by the deck making it much more cohesive. My daughter bought me a burning bush to plant in there and as it grows it will offer a shield for the ugly utility box on the back of the house.  While I was at it I also refreshed the gravel in front of the steps and even gave the drain under the downspout a bit of a facelift.

 

The flowerbed from the frontyard now connects to this little one in the backyard

Close up of the drain area

The next project on my list was to renovate the flowerbed where our pear tree grows.  This fall I will be pruning that tree and next spring I plan to invest in some blueberry bushes and possibly some strawberry plants to put around the base of the tree.  For now I am just getting it ready for planting so I cleaned out the area, added compost and turned the soil.  Then I bordered it with more rocks I picked up from Facebook Marketplace.  I added a shrub to one end of the where it borders the frontyard.  Once it is complete I think it will be very nice.

 

And the newly reinstalled pavers with fresh gravel

I have a lot more little projects to work on in both the front and backyard, a few things I want to do to the exterior of the house and there will likely be more gravel collecting in my future, but I've managed to finish the bulk of my project list already.  I'm rather surprised by that to be quite honest. It seems like it has gone rather quickly.  The best part though is whenever I look out my windows or step outside I am very pleased with what I see.  For the first time in my life I have a home with a beautiful yard.  The yard of my dreams!  This is so exciting!