Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Lots Going On

Homeownership is treating us fairly well.  We love having a home and something we are able to call ours and make our own.  Here are a few projects that have been started some finished some in progress still.
The yard has some nice landscaping but it is what I call 'hard' landscaping, mostly rocks some hostas, a few burberry bushes and what I believe is a holly bush.  Anyway, we took out the burberry bushes, they are beautiful but they have thorns and that is the last thing I need Noah getting into.  Some far we have planted a rhubarb plant (love strawberry rhubarb pie), day lillies (I am not sure they are going to make it, Noah kept pulling them out) and a hydranga (not sure about that spelling and not sure that it is going to make it either).  It was a going away gift and it got a little fried in the cab of the u-haul on the way from Texas. 

We started removing some of the rock and we plan to seed it with grass seed and that will give us a few more feet of usable yard and less rock.  In the rock section at the top left of this photo below is where the rhubard is and we hope to remove more rock and make it a small garden (that is on next years list of to-dos).
This project is still in progress because this is the first dry day we have had in over a week.  David and I worked some more on it today - we love being outside in our yard.
Okay, don't worry it didn't snow in June.  This picture is from March when we put in our offer to buy.  But I am showing you this picture because our house sits on a corner and the backyard sits between the back of the house (which you see here) and our garage and runs along the street.  With small children and a dog first thing on our to-do list was to put up a fence.
We have some great friends who own their own contracting business and we hired them to fence in our backyard.  They did an awesome job and we L-O-V-E it. It looks great, we can let Molly (our dog) out and we don't have to worry about Noah running into the street when we are all in the backyard.
Noah said he was supervising, such a little handy man!
This curio cabinet was my grandparents, I remember exactly where it sat in there home.  Well anyway, my aunt offered it to us when we bought the house and I was so excited.  We plan on putting it in our dining room.  It was a deep red color with a brushed black over it.  It was cute but I wanted to clean it up about and make it a little more classic I guess.  The glass on the bottom was also broken so I need to either replace it or I have thought about putting in a piece of fabric...that might not make since but it makes since in my mind.  So for the last two day I have been spray painting it black but I have left the inside this deep red, I think I like it that way.  It is still a work in progress, I will keep you posted.  (I also have two other pieces of furniture that I am updating/refinishing)  Fun times!

4 comments:

Kerry said...

Wow! You guys have been super busy! Sounds like things are going well so far. We live on a corner lot too. No backyard at all. Last summer we fenced in one of our side yards and it has been fabulous! Best money we have spent on our house to date! Glad to hear you are getting settled. We had our first sunny day in a long while today too!

Sarah Jane said...

Thanks for stopping by our veggie blog!
And what a beautiful curio cabinet. Gorgeous!

Nate & Mary Beth said...

Rebekah - love your fence! We too live on a corner lot and have a decent back yard - that's not currently fenced in. Was wondering if you'd be able to give me some details on your fence - where you got your materials, how many feet of fencing you used and cost (if you don't mind sharing). We're just trying to get an idea. By the way - connected to your blog through Angela S. Your family is so cute! Thanks for your help!
Mary Beth Breen

Elder Family said...

Mary Beth - so good to hear from you! It has been a long time. I do not mind sharing at all, if it helps. I we had to fence just over 80 ft of yard. We were going to purchase the panels but they all came in 6x8 foot sections. The purpose of the fence was not privacy issues but to keep little ones and our dog in the yard and not running out into the street. Plus builing a 6ft. fence required a permit. So it is about 42in. tall and is a shadowbox style. The guys cut the wood and made their own panels. All in all the total for labor and materials was just over $1700 - an investment but one that will last and one that makes our yard that much more enjoyable. Oh it is a pine, weather treated wood and was bought at Menards. We have no plans to paint it because it would just me one more thing to keep up with and we like the natural look. Hope that helps.