Patio Day 3

The mud pit is gone....
Now we have a very level gravel.... area.

This would have taken me a month. Not to mention... A few choice words... because the idea of leveling a yard and using a string to measure one end to the other that I saw in tutorials... was terrifying.

So now it is all ready to go. They are waiting on the stone we picked out to get delivered.. and once they get it... (hopefully tomorrow) they will come and finish up the patio!

I am so insanely excited to see this finished.

We will actually get some use out of our backyard this year :)

Crossing my fingers I get home from work tomorrow and find a finished patio! :)

Patio Day 2

So the patio guys came on Friday and started digging... and removed our deck stairs (which need to be re-routed... so that they will land on the patio)

Friday they dug up the area... and leveled it all out. and now that there is a giant slab of dirt I finally can visualize how big our patio will be. Staring at the grass and trying to visualize it was hard so I was crossing my fingers it was the size I wanted... and it is! Thank goodness!

Now once they finished on Friday... Saturday it rained... and rained... and rained.

So I had a giant mud pit in our back yard... that my 3 year old desperately wanted to jump in.  Giant hole filled with mud was the most appealing thing he has ever seen. He just knew... that mud meant worms. Is it normal that little boys love worms. I mean. the other day he was talking to something on the table and I was like what do you have. walked over and that little stinker snuck in 3 worms that he had laying up on the dining room table. He was devastated when I made him take them back outside... in his words "But mommy... those are my friends!" Sigh.

So the giant mud pit in our backyard all weekend was hard on him. All those friends... so close by that he wasn't allowed to play with.

So after day 1... here is our backyard.

So there you have it. Day 1 progress. to dig that... it would have taken me a month. and to get it level. Pfft....

Hopefully the weather cooperates this week!

Patio... Day 1

I am so stinking excited about this project!

This is a project I am happy to say we are not helping with. We have a couple of HUGE projects going on right now... and this one.. we are just paying to have done... and not having to lift a finger. which is awesome! We are actually hiring a local company to do it for us

So here is the before shot of our yard... and this grassy slump is where I want a patio... We currently have a walkout basement to ... weeds. It is terrible

We have the deck above... which I want to change the stairs.. so that they land on the patio. so those will be moved. and I am not sure how much of it we will be able to use they are in pretty bad shape

but for now...

Here is day 1 of the patio project.

Beautiful. huh?

Yes.... That is my trampoline sitting awkwardly right next to my house. Why you may ask? well because the Easter Bunny brought it for Maddux and that was the only level spot we had at that very moment. So there it went... and yes it sat there. Yep... those neighbors. But not much longer...

and those gutter thingys we cant figure out where those even came off of. So its a mess.


Two of the biggest challenges with this house.. for me were the dining room and the yard. I almost didn't want the house because of them and Jerry had to convince me...

Luckily those are two things were are currently tackling...so once these are finished... I will be a lot happier with the house...

Now that we have a plan for two problem areas... I am very excited.

The company came out yesterday.... Marked the area. we finalized the stone we wanted and color. And Monday they begin. Best part of all they said as long as there is no rain they should be finished by Wednesday!

Our backyard is getting some major updates this year. and it needs it. bad.

I want to plant under our deck in part of it. Anyone have any shade plants they love?

Deck... Day 1.

So we finally started a couple of outdoor projects.
One of them is our deck. It was in bad shape when we bought the house...

We have some rotted boards that need to be replaced.... and overall it is pretty dry.

It needs some work.

This summer we are putting in a stone patio off the walk out... so we need to move the stairs so that the deck will walk down to the stone patio.

So day 1 our deck looks like this

First thing to do was bleach it and power wash...
which brightened up our deck A LOT.

So next up... replacing the one bad board. sanding down the deck.. and staining.
We are moving the railing and changing the stairs once the patio goes in.

So anyone have any deck stain they would like to recommend? Do you use a sprayer?

Hoping the rain holds off this weekend so we can get this done!

Monthly Report - May

Right now I am working on a huge house project. Probably the biggest one I have done yet. But it is a surprise. And since it is currently monopolizing my time. I thought I would do a month wrap up post for May


So here is a look back

Geeky Romantic Star Wars Art found Here.

Dear Maddux Post & MelodyAnn Photography Giveaway

Baseball Table shown Here.

DIY butterfly shadow box art 

2013 Summer To Do List

NeonRow Giveaway... if you missed it you should check out her Etsy Store!

MeMaw Mothers Day Gift

Mothers Day Aunt Print

Mothers Day Pots Painted by Maddux

Here is hoping to an even more productive June... :) 

Interview with Maddux

The other night I decided to sit down and ask Maddux a few simple 
questions to see what he would say ... 
And pretty much... None of this surprised me except for 
what his daddy's favorite thing to do was. That one... still makes me laugh


Who is your favorite person? Mommy
How old are you? Three
What is your favorite color? blue
Favorite song? Goooo Superheroes
Favorite movie? Super Friends
Favorite toy? Wonder Woman
What is daddy's favorite thing? smelling flowers and water
What's Mommy's favorite thing? Jumping 
Where do you want to go on vacation? The castle with Mickey
Favorite food? Peanut butter and banana tacos
Best friend? daddy
Favorite super hero? Iron man, captain America, and avengers
Where does dad work? In the car
Where does mom work? In the house
What do you want to be when you grow up? A monster
whats your favorite book? Avengers Assemble
Whats your favorite shirt? Jacket
Favorite animal? lions.... monkeys... tigers.... frogs... and worms
Favorite drink? Water in my super friends cup
What is your favorite treat? Cookies!

Black Doors Update!

Took a week off of blogging... Then one week seems to turn into 2.
It's hard to take a break and then jump back in. But finally back on track.

So...

Paint Sprayer = best thing ever!

With this bad boy...

I was able to finish up all the doors I have been putting off... in one day. Amazing. 

I went out there every couple of hours... 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint. Let them dry over night... and ready to hang the next day. so here we are! 

All the doors upstairs are now finished.. 

and.. if you didn't notice... all that trim is finally painted white also. (except a few windows....)

I never thought the day would happen!

Finally this can be crossed off our GIGANTIC to do list!

Now to just finish off all the moulding and get those up on the doors. but hey... at least we finally have doors back on all the rooms. That's a start :)

The final doors will look like the last photo above. I have moulding on about half the doors. it is a tedious... boring process. so I tend to ignore it for a few weeks :)

So do you keep a to do list of home projects... ? Anyone else get excited when you can finally crossing something off of your to do list?