Using what you've got

Since we've had such great weather which gave us so much time before we could plant, we decided to build stepping pads from our patio into the garden.  We used leftover bricks from resetting the patio and built frames out of the fence John kicked down.

Yes, we know that wood frames buried in the ground will eventually rot, but the soil from the garden should be holding the bricks in place by then.  So we're good.

John in action!

Also, since we've had such great weather we made our kids come outside and help us build the stepping pads to the garden.  

But first the answer to the question:  "Why build stepping pads from your patio to the garden?"

Answer:  Because we took the railroad ties out of the new! improved!! patio, we added about 4 feet to the garden.  I saw 2 problems with this:

1.  We did not need 4 extra feet of garden.  We never imagined that we would have this much space and it is overwhelming, not to mention that I don't think the neighbor (Hi Linda!) is too happy about her view of vegetables.  I suspect she was hoping for some lovely flowers...  so we were trying to minimize the amount of unruly veggie plants and not let ourselves get to crazy with overplanting.  We are taking it easy this first year to see how it goes...

2.  On those rainy days when you just have to have a tomato/pepper/herbs, we thought it would be nice to have a dry path from the house to the tomato/pepper/herbs without having to get our feet muddy.

So there.

We decided that 3 pads would serve our purposes nicely and use the leftover bricks perfectly.  John measured how big the frame should be so we wouldn't have to cut any bricks and he and Sam went to town dismantling the discarded fence to harvest a few good pieces to build the frames for the bricks.

Don't let this fool you, Sam did most of the nailing.
I just happened to take the picture when Will was working.

Sorry Sam.

Look how excited they are!   It's infectious isn't it??  Not even 3 seconds after Will nailed the frame and I took the picture, they both were saying "Are we done?"  Gah.  These apples are falling pretty far from the tree aren't they?  No we are NOT done.

Deciding on the layout.  I don't think there is anything worse than getting done with a project
and noticing that it is not quite even on one side.

So worth it.

Next was the super exciting layout phase.  This is where we set them down, step back and move any/all of them fractions of inches before we decide we like where they are and pick them up to level them.

So, when the layout was finally right we picked up the frames (which for some reason pissed off the kids - I think because we spent a lot of time getting them just right, or maybe they thought they were closer to being done and free from landscaping hell) and made sure that the top of the bricks were level with the top of the patio so it would be a seamless transition from patio to garden.  

Don't know why I took pictures from 2 angles, but...

...you're welcome. 

Now all we had to do was recreate the same process as laying the patio using the same basketweave pattern and finish them off with sand in the gaps between bricks.  

This really took about an hour from start to finish, but you'd think that we had worked those kids since dawn.  At this point, John and I were more than happy to tell the kids they were free to do as they pleased.  And then they disappeared for the next few hours until they got hungry.  Quality parenting.

Here they are done and ready for action.

We also turned over the existing dirt and added some compost.
Now we wait until we can plant some veg and herbs! 

Cost breakdown:  $0

The cost to our kids' psyches from this hour of torture is yet to be measured, but I know they were both proud when they saw the finished product and knew they had built a part of our garden that would last a long, long time.  

Did I ever tell you about the patio?

Whoops.  We spent a bunch of time resetting our patio recently.

Here is what it looked like on moving day.

I swear it's underneath the crabgrass - do you see the bricks?? 

Here is another (worse) angle.
It's sloping TOWARD the foundation.

So yeah, we spent a ton of time rebuilding a retaining wall and then moved on to the patio.  It took a little more time than we thought, but since we can't plant anything in late March/early April, we had the benefit of awesome weather and nothing else to do but rebuild stuff.

I've forgotten the order of operations, but it goes something like this...

1.  Pick up bricks and restack them near where you're going to reset the patio.  Duh.

2.  Level the new bed for the bricks.  We used a gravel/stone mixture the guy at the landscaping place told us to.

3.  Reset the bricks.  We used a basketweave pattern because that is what was there before and since we removed the railroad ties from within the patio, we didn't want to take the chance that we'd run out of bricks.  It was a close call anyway, but we made it with a few to spare :)

That's how many bricks we had left.  

Close up of the pattern

We used spikes from the railroad ties we removed
 to keep our level line for laying the brick.

Note about keeping the lines straight.  We totally spaced this part.  We thought it would be awesome to have it ready to go and then have the kids come out and help lay the bricks.  We also thought this would take about an hour.  Wrong on both counts.  What happened is this.

it was 1000 degrees outside that morning

it was 1/2 hour before lunchtime

the bricks are not in any way, shape, or form a uniform size

Here is a recipe for disaster - put the factors above together and you get a cranky family trying to finish something as fast as possible so they can go inside and cool off and eat.  

Also you get a really crooked line for your patio.

So, we went inside and ate, the kids got busy doing something else, and John and I went outside and realized that we needed to pull up the 2 or 3 rows we already set and start over.  So we did.

We also realized that we needed to have some sort of guide for keeping the lines even.  We grabbed some spikes we kept from removing the railroad ties (they are 3 feet long BTW, you haven't lived until you spend a day prying those out of 30 year old rotted wood) and strung some twine for our line.  

Don't think we are MENSA material here, I'm pretty sure that is what you are supposed to do, we just thought we were too talented and didn't need the extra guidance.  Chumps.

Moving on...

After you've spent several hours - the charming rustic bricks that aren't the same size make for a lot of trial and error in setting them - you are ready for the next step...

4. Sweep sand into the gaps.  Repeat (and repeat) as necessary.  We didn't use the polymeric sand, just regular old sand.  This takes some patience since the sand needs to settle within the cracks.  We spent a little time each evening for a couple of nights sweeping sand into the gaps that kept reappearing, and then had a terrific thunderstorm to really pack the sand in between the gaps before it looked perfect.

Here are some photos...

BEFORE:

I still can't believe we bought this...

We didn't realize until we were ready to reset the patio,
but the pattern of the railroad ties were
a couple ties short of a swastika...

Creepy.

And AFTER:

Keepin' it real.  That is the low rent version of a step.
Ignore it, just look at the lovely patio with sand in between the bricks :)

Here is what we did with the extra bricks.
Details to follow later, this post is long enough.

Again, just look at the finished product :)

And a dramatic before and after for you:

Before:

After:

That is the EXACT SAME SPOT in the backyard.  EXACT! SAME! SPOT!  Sorry for the shouting,  but it's pretty damn exciting.

OK, long enough post.  I'll do another one soon about how we made the kids build the brick pads for stepping into the garden.  It's a good one. 

Since I'm using the blog to document transformations, I'm going to do a run down of costs.

Bricks:  $0 (we used what we had)

Gravel/sand:  $70

Pizza/beer: $30

So that's about right - $100.  Not too shabby.

Bring on the April showers!

Reality has sunk in friends.

I did a tiny little list of outdoor projects for this spring/summer here, and if you click over, you will see no mention of removing a crap load of railroad ties and installing a new retaining wall.  Honestly, it wasn't even on the radar until the weather was too nice not to tackle something ambitious.  But now we have to get to the stuff we actually planned on accomplishing.

Or do we?  We got an estimate on removing the trees (ash & pine) - $2600.  So yeah, those trees are living to see another day.  So cross that one off the list for this year.

Next up -- THE PATIO.

We figured that the work on the retaining wall should be done first so we have a level that we can work with since the spaces are adjacent.  That way we wouldn't reset the patio and then realize that we needed to install a ton more dirt - or worse - dig out a ton of dirt in order to have everything level with each other.  Now all we have to do is level the patio to the garden (much easier) and we're in business.

Yes, I know it.  I'm delusional.  I know we've done it backwards.  We'll live, I promise :)

So in the spirit of procrastination, I decided to paint the rain barrel.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Cute, huh?  Since it goes on the north side of the house which doesn't see the sun I painted it a very bright green (it doesn't look that bright when it's set in it's final resting place).  Then I added some yellow and teal polka dots.  For fun.  We'll hook it up this weekend and can cross that one off the list.  Oh, wait.  It wasn't on a list.  

Let me get my list and add it on there so I can cross it off :)

Kitten Update

I'm calling it.  I'm almost certain that they have mastered the litter box.  No new accidents for many weeks now.  They will never know that they were about 48 hours from eviction.  

And they have grown into regular outdoorsy cats.  Vera spends as much time as she can outdoors chasing anything that moves - real and imaginary - and has already fallen off the deck.

Rick prefers to stay inside during the icky daylight hours (he's part vampire I suspect) and will only go outside when it is dark.  Dork.

My how they've grown...

See what I mean?  Dork.

She crashes hard.  

Aww.  Such sweet kitties.  

Whereas I use many, many cliches to document our laundry room reno

Let's go back in time to September - MUSIC INTERLUDE - do you remembah...

On and on baby!

Right, September.

We closed on the house in late August and moved in a week later so we could get a couple of projects done so life wasn't too disrupted for us.

Project #1 - The Laundry Room.

Some before shots...

A cacophony of pattern

On the bright side, there is lots counter/cabinet space :)

What more can I say?  Nice how the ceiling
in the sink cove is wallpapered too -
really the extras mean so much.

Actually, if I was forced to keep one wallpapered room in the house, I'd have chosen this one.  Maybe since the background of the pattern was white, it didn't seem too claustrophobic.   Who knows?  

Here is what went down.  We had a lovely little party before we moved in.  We wanted all our friends and family to see the house before we got to work, just so they would understand why we no longer have free time or extra money.  I kid, really we wanted people to come over so they could bask in the beauty of what a professional decorator's advice in 1980 looked like - and because we like them.  

Sam invited a few of his friends over and before the party started I told them that if they wanted to try to remove some wallpaper, they were confined to the laundry room and laundry room only.  In the confusion and fun of the party I didn't realize that they took it as a challenge and went to town on the walls.  

Here is what 14 year olds don't know about removing wallpaper.  Everything.  It was a mess.  So our first project was most definitely the laundry.  It made perfect sense because we could get the wall behind the washer/dryer finished before we installed the machines and then never have to worry about moving them again.  So here we go...

I think the previous owner was concerned about moisture in rooms causing the wallpaper to separate from the wall.  In the basement bathroom there was a fair amount of Elmer's glue holding some seams in place.  Nothing like the laundry at all.  Every bit of paper that wasn't ripped off the walls by sugared up 14 year olds was adhered with Elmer's.  Side note, steamers don't work so well on Elmer's glue.  

So the wallpaper removal phase that was supposed to take a few hours took 2 days.  And left a huge mess of gouge marks and embedded glue on the walls.  We decided to skim coat the entire room before painting.  Another 2 days.  Sigh.

That glue isn't very scrubbable, it's Elmer's

Moving on...

We bought some lovely glass mosaic tile to put up between the counter and upper cabinets and around the sink.  Then we picked a color to coordinate (BM Woodlawn Blue).  Then we painted.  3 coats.  Ack.  The night before we moved we went and purchased the laundry machines, but didn't have time to install them.

Here is what happened next:

We moved.

We had to unpack.

We needed to get the kids to school and feed them.
Plus we got sweet little kittens, and this room is where their food and litter box live.

We hooked up the new! improved!! washer and dryer, and since the room was painted and looked fresher - we conveniently forgot about installing the glass tile and left the room as is until November. 

Fast forward selector...   

The weekend before we hosted Thanksgiving we thought we'd give it a shot.  It went very well and looks lovely.  Here are some tips about installing glass mosaic tile:

It's really easy.
Especially if you buy the stuff already on the mesh backing.  We actually didn't have to make cuts along the horizontal line and we were able to end reasonably close to the line we wanted to without having to make cuts along the vertical lines as well.

Don't get cocky and think that since it's easy, you can mix up all the mortar you need and it won't dry out before you're done.
We had a bit of an issue with the amount of tile we purchased not being enough and had a frantic round of "what if we did this" and phone calls to Lowe's before we had to punt and install the tile around the sink 5 courses shy of where the other tiles ended.  By this time the mortar had become a bit unworkable, but we didn't let that stop us, we made it work and got er done.

Mixed cliches aside, we really should have mixed up a new batch of mortar, I'm pretty sure we just got lucky and caught the very tail end of the life of the mortar.

Don't be scared of cutting the tile. 
This is what held us up for the longest time.  John the tile cutter had never cut glass tile and was unsure of how to start.  We just tried a glass cutting tool and it worked for us since we didn't have any complicated cuts.

Don't buy that crazy expensive stuff if you're only doing a small tile job.

Here is our homemade mortar and grout mixing attachment:

 And the homemade glass cutting jig:

They worked just fine for us and we spent $0 dollars.

Since this post is dragging on and on, I'll just post a few pictures.

IN PROGRESS:  Painted, but not tiled.
This is how the room looked for a couple of months.  

IN PROGRESS:  Oops, some tiles slid!
NBD, I just popped them off and reset them with
some crazy glue.  And they are still there.

AFTER:  Not grouted yet, but very pretty.
Notice my trick photog skills, you can't tell that the tile
on the left is 5 courses higher than the tile around the sink.
Or maybe you can?  Don't tell me.

A note about grouting,  it is super easy, just do it.  It's a hassle, but so worth it in the end.

And now, the after photos...

AFTER:  All grouted and shiny

AFTER:  Lookin' good 

AFTER:  I still need a curtain.

 But for now it's nice to see Spring happening :)


 

AFTER:  I really don't know what to do with all this counter space

BEFORE:  One last time - I promise 

AFTER:  Much calmer, don't you think?

Still to do:

Sew a curtain (can't decide between something natural like burlap or some kicky fabric)

Contain the mess o'cords that connect our lives to the outside (phone/internet)

Install a shelf above the sink to hide the fact that the tile doesn't match up height-wise

Spring Break! Woo!!

We were given a gift this week.  Wonderful, fantastic, magnificent weather.  Our original plan was to settle on a master bedroom color, paint and start decorating the room.  Instead we knocked down an exterior fence, dug up some 30 year old railroad ties and built a new retaining wall.  Whew.

Here is the story in pictures:

What it looked like last fall

Contemplation.

This whole project was spearheaded by the kids' refusal
*cough William cough*
to eat a yummy pizza that we had ordered for Spring Break!  Woo!! dinner.

John was a little cheesed off, so he went outside and kicked the fence down.

I kid.

He really wasn't that mad.  But it took less than a minute (48 seconds) to kick the fence down.

Apparently they didn't pour concrete foundations for the posts.

Our lucky day I suppose....

Phase one.  Which was all we were going to do this spring.

We decided to build a new! improved!! retaining wall and take up the
30 year old railroad ties which were rotting away anyway.

We weren't going to round the corner this spring,
we thought we could livewith it this summer and possibly do it this fall.

But then the weather was perfect for outdoor projects, so...

... we rounded the corner and decided to knock this section out as well.  

Not even kidding, this photo is nearly the exact angle as the one above.
That's what the wall above looked like this last fall

Here is a closeup of the rotting railroad ties.  The rot
did not make them any easier to remove.

Not. One. Bit.

Only 2 more levels of railroad ties to go!!

Now, I'll skip to the good part.  Because how many pictures of John, Sam or I swinging various implements (sledgehammers, chainsaws and axes OH MY!!) to hack away at some railroad ties can you look at?  Seriously, those were AWFUL.  I suppose they were properly installed with 3 foot long spikes holding them steady.  But so many of them were rotted with weeds growing through them we just bit the bullet and moved forward.  

But seriously, it sucked removing them.  I can not stress enough how bad it sucked.  Trust me, it did.

Moving on...

Yay!! Almost done :)

And now, the big reveal...

BEFORE

Seriously.  This is the same spot.  Seriously.

AFTER

Ahh.  All done :)

We can't plant anything for another 5 or 6 weeks, but OMG it's awesome.

No more weeds or rotten railroad ties.

And another angle..

 BEFORE

annnnnddddd....

AFTER!!!

Here is the view from the deck.
The veg garden goes on the left, and cutting garden goes on the right.

We are thinking about building a nice fence to give us some privacy back there,
but will definitely not get to that anytime soon.

We're tired.  And happy.

So there you have Retaining Wall Adventures 2012.  The first installment.