Garden Update

We've had a very warm Spring for Colorado. Normally I plant our tomatoes and basil the first week of June, but I decided to risk it this year and move it up a month. I have wall-o-waters around the tomatoes and milk jug terrariums for the basil plants at night, and I figure that for what I spent on the plants (super sale got me a tomato plant and 3 basil plants for $6), if my experiment doesn't work out, no tears will be shed. I'll hold off another couple weeks on the rest of our starts, but I couldn't wait to get the basil and one tomato plant (I'm experimenting to see if we can get fruit earlier this year) in the ground. Patience has never been my strong suit. 

Our "cool-weather" lettuce, spinach and kale have been producing like crazy, too, and I love eating our dinner salads from the garden every night. 

Imperfect Gardening

I’m ready for Spring. We had a really moderate early winter in Colorado – I was at the park with Thomas in a tank top several January days. But February reared its ugly head and I’ve got a big case of Spring Fever.

So, I’m planning our vegetable (and herb) garden. I’m making a conscious effort to be better about eating from the garden this year. I’m not a great vegetable eater, but I know the importance of A) eating healthily and B) setting a good example for my son who’s also not a great vegetable eater, so I’m committing myself to the process this year. Plus, I thought the garden would be a fun project for T and I to work on together this summer. I’ll have plenty of time on my hands this summer with a toddler and a newborn to have special projects for just me and Thomas, right? We don’t have a very big garden, and generally I successfully grow basil, one or two other plants (last year it was lettuce in spring and eggplant in the summer), and a too-late-for-my-patience-level harvest tomato. So this year I’m planning better.

Last year’s tomatoes were super late to produce fruit, so I’m doing an experiment this year – container planting and ground planting. I usually start the tomatoes from seed and am lucky to transplant one. But I decided last week that was ridiculous - we don't have room to try lots of different varieties, so I'm just going to buy a few starts this year and call it good.. We’ll see how it goes. I’m also considering trying a Wall O Water for an earlier planting date. Verdict’s out on that one. 

While searching for square foot gardening inspiration, I found this photo and it's a perfect depiction of the space we have, though I think we'll opt for not building up the garden into a raised bed this year and do it next year if this year is a flop:

Source: oldtownhome.com via Emily on Pinterest

Anyone else have their garden plans ready to go? I can't wait to get the dirt under my fingernails - Mr. B turned over the bed yesterday and we'll mark out the plots this week, then it's lettuce time!

Side Yard Before and Afters

Remember our side yard project? Yeah, it's been pretty much done for two months. Can you say terrible blogger? We still have to paint our half of the fence - the fences were supposed to be painted by the builder, but our builder never painted ours before going bankrupt - awesome. Anyway, the plan was to paint the fence later this summer when it started to cool off, but I was recently appointed to our HOA's architectural review committee and we're looking for a contractor who will just spray all the fences at a good price, so I'm holding off to see if that happens. We also have to string the lights over the planter boxes, but you'll get the idea here.

 Another neighbor did the entire design for us, and we love what he came up with. We sit out here at least three nights a week with the neighbors, but we also use the space individually for dinner parties, etc.

 The kids' play area with rubber mulch.

We wanted to paint the Adirondack chairs, and when our neighbor said "I want them to be the green that you have all over your house" I knew that we were going to get along just fine. We found these for $29 a pop at Home Depot, and had the color made by color matching the green geometric fabric on my ottoman.

So that's our side yard. See more befores here and and in-progress patio close-up here.

Side Yard Project - Patio Complete

Mr. B and our neighbor made a ton of progress on our side yard project. The boys started by digging french drains for our downspouts and laying out the playground area (no pictures yet - still work to do). After we girls were able to go look at patio pavers together and decide which ones we liked (I picked these cobblestone-esque 16x16 pavers at Lowes. They're Charcoal and Tan. Which works perfectly in a space shared by a tan house and a charcoal house), the boys got to work digging, tamping, and laying the patio and small retaining wall.

Just pretend that our fence is painted, it helps the visualizing.  Anyway, it took about a week of working at night after dinner and kids were in bed for the patio and retaining wall to be ready for our inaugural fire pit. And we've been out there every other night since it was completed.

Please excuse the dog butts - I was working with darkness and a limited window of time between first fire pit lighting and first marshmallow roasting. Now it's the girls' job to stain the chairs and pick materials for big planter boxes that will flank the patio,and the crusher fines, river rock and trees are being delivered today. It's going to be awesome when this is all complete - which is going to happen quickly!

Side Yard Project - Before Pictures and the Plan

We have a weird side yard between us and our neighbors.  It's about 50/50 in our neighborhood if people put up a fence or not in this unusable space. Almost everyone has thrown river rock down in the space. A few people have built sheds, but in general the space goes unused.

The reason for these awkward side yards? The alley garage that I love splits our properties in two. I love that we don't have snout houses in our neighborhood because the garages are out of sight. I love that the alleys get people outside and talking. But the awkward side yards are a drawback. Let me show you what I'm talking about:

Anyhow. We were going to put a fence up and build a path from gate to gate last summer and call it good. But then our neighbor's house went up for sale - they'd rented it illegally (rentals are only allowed for proven hardship and for a max of two years per our HOA rules) for four years and finally got caught. (I was 100% not the nark. For real. My nark days are over).  In Denver, neighbors traditionally split the cost of fences. Fences are the norm here. And with no one next door, I didn't feel compelled to foot the entire bill.

Anyway, the house next door went up for sale, then went up listed as a short sale before going into foreclosure. B mowed the grass next door all last summer - when someone should have been mowing our grass while we were having babies and having their heads operated on. But I don't hold grudges. But I digress. In February our new neighbors moved in and they're awesome - happy hour kind of people with a little girl who has three days on Thomas and a really cool older son.  We knew things were going to be good between us when B offered to help them move boxes and our neighbor said, "That'd be great. We don't have much, my wife's a total minimalist".

So as we were talking about putting a fence in, the neighbors said "Why don't we just make it a fun hang out instead of letting it go to waste - put in a little area for the kids and a patio for us?" Mr. B was sold at the mention of a tiki bar (which I vetoed). We consulted a Realtor who advised us to keep things separate enough that we can easily have two separate spaces for resale purposes. And a neighbor and friend is a landscape architect, so he drew up the design for us last week. And it's going to be awesome.

Here's what we have to work with:

The unpainted fence is ours. That's priority #1. There will be a river rock bed with aspen trees along the property lines (in lieu of a fence). We'll build a small patio with pavers that we can remove should we need to have completely separate spaces. And at the back of the yard:

We'll have the kids area (actually two) with rubber playground mulch. We're not doing anything extravagant - Thomas's sandbox will go on our side, maybe a Fisher Price slide on the other and a sail shade over the top for shade.  We're all pretty excited about it - have I mentioned about 1,000 times how much we love our neighborhood?

DIY Placemats into Pillows

Last year I was going to replace all of our outdoor cushions.  Remember that?  Well, I didn't do it.  But I did stumble across Target's outdoor collection a few weeks ago and bought four placemats to make lumbar pillows for our patio.  I love the style of our outdoor chairs, but they aren't comfortable.  But the cost to outfit the chairs with all new cushions would be absurd - we'd easily replace the chairs with comfortable ones for the same price. 

It's easy to make a pillow out of a placemat.  I ripped the seam out of one short side of the placemat, stuffed the innerds of a big bed pillow ($2 at Target) into each one, and did a quick straight stitch to sew them back together. 

Here's a chair with an old, faded ticking pillows we were using to make the chair more comfortable. 

And the outdoor placemats turned pillows.

We spend a lot of time on the back patio in the spring and summer - B and I will have the occasional happy hour and deconstruct our workdays/projects/events/latest dramatic situation on warm afternoons while Thomas plays in his jumperoo or we'll turn on the lights and play Gin Rummy or Scrabble after Thomas is in bed.  Because we're pretty much 80 years old - and we wouldn't have it any other way.  Just think of how awesome we'll be at being 80 when we really get there.

How's your outdoor space coming along? The kegerator's full (because there's still a little 19 year old frat boy left in 80 year old B) and the chardonnay's chilling - come on by for happy hour anytime.

Spring Fever

I started some seeds last night. I'll start another batch - for the warm weather veggies and herbs - at the beginning of April. But pouring that dirt into the seed tray has me ready for the warmer weather. Which conveniently is here right now, though I'm not expecting it to stay.

Red peppers, rosemary and basil for this batch of seed starting.  Peas and lettuce are going in the ground today (B's mom is coming down to help me turn over the gardens).  The starts along with seeds for squash, tomatoes, cilantro and pumpkins will go in the ground in mid-May. 

Anyone else getting a start on their gardens? I'm looking forward to it this year!

Mum's the Word

It's getting cooler here - especially at night.  Is there anything better than waking up under the warm comforter when the air's a little bit cool? We replaced the flowers in our flower boxes with mums last weekend in anticipation of fall- I love oranges against our gray house.

I was outside taking these pictures when Casco's favorite family in the neighborhood drove up.  The dad said, "Don't tell me you're putting your house up!".  Apparently normal people don't take pictures of their houses for their house related blogs?

And, because I don't know these people very well (outside of the fact that their three boys think Casco is awesome...so they have good taste), I didn't feel like I should say, "Oh, no, I just have a blog about my house and am constantly taking random pictures and occasionally make fun of people in the neighborhood".  You know, just in case this family is good friends with the Pot Lady. Or the cultivators of the giant weed that grew into our yard.  So I said, "No, I just like to have a picture of the house and everything for insurance if we should ever need it."  ....right, because I think that far ahead.

So Casco's biggest fans now think I'm a paranoid nutcase.  Which is correct, but you now, we were hoping to keep up the charade of normalcy while we lived here.

Stacking the Deck

The biggest house element that Mr. B and I theoretically disagree on are decks.  Mr. B dreams of a big back deck someday, I'm partial to patios and porches.  I generally make the argument that decks go with a certain - more contemporary - house style while the traditional house style we both favor does not lend itself to a deck.  Now, I realize that some decks are necessary for connecting a main level to the back yard by stairs, but my preference in a perfect world is for a stone patio over a deck.

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What about you?  What's your preference for backyard dining/barbecuing/lounging?  Are you all about the wood deck, or do you prefer a stone or cement patio or porch?

And speaking of patios - ours is coming along.  I just have to replace the sewing machine needle I broke to finish up one project and I'll post pictures.  We pretty much love our backyard now.

May Flowers (and Showers)

We took my beloved IKEA window boxes down for the winter and B's been chomping at the bit to put them back up, but we had snow a few weeks ago which postponed my summer excitement.  I know next to nothing about flowers so last year we put some pre-arranged pansies in there, but this year I wanted something a little more thought out.

So, I went searching for inspiration:

Country Living

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Now, purple's usually my last choice - but apparently I'm drawn to purple flowers in window boxes.  Against our gray house with blue shutters, purple seems like a good choice - monochromatic yet pretty.

Now, remember how I wanted "thought out" flower boxes? Here's how I think: I went to the greenhouse and I picked up some blue flowers and some pink flowers, moved them around in a cart to make sure I liked the way they would look, and called it good.  A little pink to keep things fresh and bright, but mostly deep blues...okay, purple.  I cannot wait for them to fill out a bit more.  

The galvanized IKEA planter boxes are creating quite the firestorm in our IKEA-less neighborhood.  People want them.  Mr. B keeps trying to give away my third prized box when people stop to ask about them, but I am selfish and don't allow it.

On an unrelated to flowers but related to IKEA note, my sister-in-law is in California on vacation and sent me this text message yesterday: "Oh my god i LOVE ikea!!!".  It was music to my (a tiny bit jealous) ears.  We were meant to be.

Twinkle Twinkle

Do you know what I absolutely love in the summer?  Eating (or cocktailing) outside under twinkly lights.

I've been meaning to string some lights across our back patio for the last few summers - and never got around to it.  But this year, I'm determined.  Of course, if I lived on water - or a boat - it would be even more picturesque.

I just have to figure out how exactly we'll go about doing this.  What about you? Do you love patio dining and all the ambiance it entails? Or are globe and twinkly lights for Christmas only?

Patio Furniture Update - Part 1

This is our patio set.  I bought the table and four chairs on Overstock.com three years ago for about $150.  I love the style of the furniture - it was not unlike the Pottery Barn Potrero set available at the time but on a smaller scale.  It's held up well and fits our patio perfectly.

See, there are our dead grass patches.  Just in case you were feeling ripped off last week.

The only problem is that the chairs have never been comfortable - and I'm biased against any X-back chair design now as a result. B and I have adjusted for our own outside dining purposes, but we always feel guilty having guests sit there.  The cushions that the chairs came with have seen better days and I've never been a fan of the yellow - so I decided that this would be the year to revamp the chairs.

So, I'm going to cover the existing cushions in white now that the yellow has faded.  And then I need to make something for the backs.

So here's the question: Do you prefer matching chair cushions with an attached seat and back?

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Or, do you like the look of a seat cushion and a coordinating (or matching) throw pillow for the back?

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Sound off on your preferred look - I don't have a favorite as long as the chairs become sitable for our dinner guests.

Pretty Garage Plans

Blogging's been a little slow lately - we're both busy at work and in the midst of a few projects from this list when we're not working, but not at a posting point with any of them.  Don't you hate those in between phases?  I'd post pictures of our dead lawn that we're reseeding for you, but really...it would be a picture of dead grass.

So reviving the backyard aside, the next big project I want to tackle is the garage.  My grandpa used to paint his garage floor almost every year.  My mom cleans her garage once every few months.  B's mom and dad tackled the organization of their garage a few years ago and it still looks spotless - they even bought us the awesome low white cabinet underneath all the tools as a housewarming gift.  We come from a long line of garage pride.

And the garage pride didn't pass us by.  Seriously, one of my biggest pet peeves is when the neighbors park their cars in the driveway instead of in their garages - it was my mission to get both of our cars into our garage the night we moved into the house.  I get secret joy out of watching the non-garage parkers scrape ice off their windows in the winter and drive away cackling to myself "Serves you right, suckers.  Park those cars inside where I don't have to look at them!"  I am aware that I'm not a very nice person, I'm working on it.

This is half of our garage.  We keep it pretty clutter free, but it could use some sprucing up.  Last year, B wanted to Epoxy the floor, but the Home Depot paint guy told him that it wouldn't work because we'd parked on our garage floor for two years and it was too dirty.  He gave us a brochure to have it done professionally, we were annoyed with the sales tactic and didn't think about it again.  Then, last summer, I stumbled across Katie's garage floor and she assured me that an old and dirty garage floor could be pretty, too.

So I'm back on the garage beautifying plan.  The first step is to clear everything out, power wash the floors, apply a solvent to any oil stains and get started with the epoxy process so that we go from what you see above to something more like this:

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After that the plan is to pare down - organize all the cans of paint that we have laying around, get rid of crap, and get everything off the floor - in an organized manner.  On the other half of the garage, we need to come up with a recycling and trash solution that doesn't involve trying to toss recycling over my car and into the bins.  I leave the house frequently to find empty cereal boxes on top of my car.  

So that's the plan - I'll share more photos as we get started and things are underway.  My side of the garage is a disaster - oil stains, cereal boxes and all.  What's the status of your garage? Beautiful piece of art? Dumping ground? Somewhere in between?  Anyone successfully epoxied their floor?  Suggestions for dealing with So that's the plan - I'll share more photos as we get started and things are underway.  My side of the garage is a disaster - oil stains, cereal boxes and all.  What's the status of your garage? Beautiful piece of art? Dumping ground? Somewhere in between?  Anyone successfully epoxied their floor?  Suggestions for dealing with the grudge I hold against the people who can't fit their cars in their garages? I think therapy might be my only hope at this point.