Category Archives: Front yard
Halloween 2010
Nate gets this look on his face when I start to talk about decorating for the holidays. Its not that he doesn’t like the decoration – he just hates the mess I make putting them up and taking them down. I don’t blame him – my creative process for these kind of projects is not very organized.
Last year I was so overjoyed with the possibilities and I went a little crazy.
… and unfortunately it turned out to look more like a rave party than Halloween.
This year, I decided to keep things simple.
Orange twinkle lights hung above our new picture window with a black and purple pom-pom garland my mother gave me. I set the lights on a timer so that when I got home from work, the lights were already on.
I was at Micheals about a week before Halloween and they already had a bunch of decorations on clearance. I picked up two Martha Stewart window decals. The skeleton one went up into the picture window. I absolutely love it. It looked so cool with the lights at night. I plan on using this next year.
I also put out my crazy cat face I got at Target last year, plus my fake pumpkins I picked up at Michaels. My parents gave me three Cinderella pumpkins from their garden than I plan on roasting, but until then I set them on my porch for decoration.
Inside, I just added little Halloween touches to the current decor.
I poured last year’s candy corn into a square vase and added a tall pillar candle. I also bought a simple and inexpensive berry branch from Michaels that I stuck into a blue vase I thrifted years ago.
Finally, I put out a Slatkin & Co. Leaves Candle. It has a nice aroma apple, cinnamon, mulled cider and berry. Plus it burns forever. I love it.
I am a major candle lover, but I am trying to move to away from cheap candles towards healthier options. The Slatkin ones are a compromise until I find quality soy candles that burn clean.
On Halloween night, we only had ONE trick-or-treater and he was about 17 years old, but I was still glad that my place was decorated. Driving up to the house every night, made me smile and really that’s what it is all about!
Door Install Part 1
Although the new windows were very exciting, Nate and I were both thrilled to finally get in our new working doors. Their installation made an instant visual upgrade to our house.
The most complicated install was our double slider. Its original configuration was not structurally sound so the new door was pre-built with the panes of glass above the actual door to give it as much support as possible.
Now all the windows and doors just need to be framed with trim and we are good to go!
Windows Part Three
Crazy how one change can make the house look so different.
It’s such a relief to see that our dream of opening up the front room not only looks great, but looks right.
The actual opening for the window was not easy. The installers had to cut each side of the concrete block before they could bust out the opening.
Then frame the unfinished concrete with wood and set in the window.
A lot of hard work, buy boy does it look good.
And now we finally have light in the front room.
It is so much more inviting. I love it.
Windows Install Part 2
I think I mentioned that today is the BEGINNING of our entire house window and door install. We have been waiting almost three months for these babies to get placed in our house. Needless to say, as my work day progressed I was more and more nervous to drive home and see what progress had been made.
As I pulled into the driveway, I immediately saw a difference.
All the windows minus the front window next to the door had been replaced.
Because of the cost associated with completely removing the frames from our concrete block construction, our windows are actually retrofitted. This means that the installers removed as much of the original window frame as the could from the opening and then installed the new window on top of the original frame. Basically all the windows are a little smaller to fit and the framing is a little larger.
You can see the extra “frame” on this window compared to the older one.
If we had the resource to remove all the frames, I would have done it. No question, but given our choices I don’t think the larger frame is too bad. Certainly something I can work with!
Our giant panes of glass along the interior patio were also replaced with two paned glass. This was one of the jobs that I did not want to do myself! It was an easy decision to leave the removing and disposal of the glass to the professionals.
The interior framing of all the windows will happen next week when the doors are installed.
Tomorrow the guys will finish the front picture window. This should be our most dramatic change. Stay tuned!!
Windows Install Part 1
I am so happy to announce that our windows are being installed today. (Can I have a big woo hoo!!!) The wait has been excruciating long, but now I can finally see what all this patience has earned me. (Double paned windows, baby!!)
The crew arrived right before 8AM with a trailer packed tightly with all our new windows. I saw a few glimpses before I headed to work, but I will have to wait through the work day before I see the transformation. We have been told that the window install will take two days so this is only the very beginning of the process.
Windows and Doors
I have been keeping a secret. For a couple months, Nate and I have been researching, visiting showrooms and weighing options. On what you ask? Well, after a very long deliberation, we purchased all new windows and doors for our house. Its a major investment and our first major reno on the house.
I was adamant to follow the proper homeowner protocol of getting three different vendor quotes, checking out the companies and really weight all our options before deciding.
We signed the contract back in May and now we are waiting. The vendor has told us it will take 2-3 days for the install. I can’t wait. Its going to be such a major boost to our house!!
Stay tuned – we should be scheduling the install in the next week or so.
A full weekend
My main goal was to transplant as many bulbs from the front and back garden as I could since we will be rototilling up most of the backyard and the side yard.
I started with the irises along the back of the house and side yard. They were all moved to the bed next to the carport.
Next, I moved to the front yard and dug up the sparaxis and freesias.
I am not sure how the bulbs are going to do. I have noticed some of the transplants have wilted, but unfortunately their wasn’t another way to do it.
I also transplanted a Cleveland sage that was growing haphazardly between the roses in the front yard. It has also wilted, but I hope it will come back strong. From what I have read about the plant, they like deep waterings spread far apart so I am just going to let this guy alone for awhile.
