Category: yard

2020, make it yourself, outdoor spaces, outdoors, Personal, projects, remodel, repurpose, Wood crafts, Woodwork, yard

Repurpose and Remodel: Restoring a Handmade Porch Swing

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My grandfather was an excellent carpenter. He and his brother built me many neat things over the years but my favorite is this porch swing.

It’s handmade, solid wood and heavy. In fact, it’s so heavy that in the 15 years since he built it for me, I’ve never had a place to hang it. It’s been in my mother’s basement for years.

As you can imagine, 15 years in a damp basement takes its toll. We had several rotten slats and a rusted chain. We were blessed the frame was still in good shape .

I promptly ordered the things I thought we would need and I got to work replacing the slats that were rotten or warped. I toyed with replacing all the slats but since some were in great shape, I decided against it.

I then gave the whole swing a good sanding with my orbital sander and removed the rusty chain.

I then put two coats of primer and one coat of paint on the swing and replaced the chain with a new one.

My mom got me this arbor for my birthday so I could hang the swing. It’s very pretty and very sturdy. And we know the song isn’t hanging straight- the arbor isn’t exactly level yet. We haven’t anchored the arbor yet because we are waiting to put down some pea gravel to deal with the mud. We also want to cut those bushes but there are birds nesting in them, so we want to wait until they leave.

I’m so excited to have this swing at my house- finally! I miss my grandpa so much so I am happy to be able to have this gift he personally made for me. It looks so pretty hanging from the arbor. It brightens up our yard quite well!!

I can’t wait to finish this area so I can show it to you!!

2020, DIY, make it yourself, outdoor spaces, outdoors, patios, project planning, projects, yard, yard clean up

Creating a fire pit patio

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As most of you have probably figured out, we are in the midst of a little backyard revamp. We have been working on revamping our flower beds, tilling our garden spot, and changing out banisters and rails on our porch.

Our garden is ready to go!!
Flower bed clean out

A few weeks ago, we got a very nice propane fire pit. We had this small, not very useful paver patio.

It was so narrow you could barely put a chair on it without tipping off the back. We didn’t really use the space well either. We decided a long time ago we wanted to expand the paver patio to the fence and extend it a little more in the front. Since our state has implemented stay home orders, we aren’t going anywhere on the weekends. This gives us plenty of time and opportunities to get our projects done. Plus, Lowe’s has been having some killer sales.

Did you know you can order and pay online and park in a pick-up only space and they’ll load it up for you? Just like Instacart. And no going inside the store and getting sick.

We measured and discovered we would need 2 more rows on the back and one row on the front. This came out to 24 pavers. We ordered and paid online and Lowe’s loaded them up for us. We got home, leveled off our patio area (it isn’t perfect but close) and installed the pavers.

Phase one complete

We are not yet finished. We are in the process of building some chairs for this space, which we will show you soon. We are also going to add some tables or garden stools and some colorful plants. I’d love to have a different sign and some string lights as well. I cannot wait to show you the finished product! Tune in often to check out our backyard progress.

Our patio “still to-do list:”

*build four wooden chairs

*add some cute tables or garden stools

*add some decorative elements, like string lights and cushions and a new sign

Check back soon!!!

2020, DIY, floral, outdoor spaces, outdoors, projects, spring, spring cleaning, yard, yard clean up

Springtime Spruce-Up

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I don’t know about you all, but I’m willing to bet you find our current self quarantine situation challenging too. We are struggling to adjust to working from home, homeschooling, and not being able to leave the house. In some ways, I am embracing it. I am an introverted homebody so I actually don’t mind the extra time at home. I’m also loving being able to have more time with my girls.

I’m also finding time to dive into some of my DIY projects. We’ve been working on our backyard lately. We had some flower beds that had been badly neglected.

Welcome to the jungle, we got weeds and rocks…

Well, now that’s just embarrassing. Random pole getting swallowed by a tree, more weeds than flowers and a broken birdbath? I don’t think it could be much worse.

We started by removing the random pole. It’s rained so much lately that I just rocked the pole back and forth and then pulled it up out of the ground.

Then, we removed the broken birdbath and took that thing to the dump. We trimmed the trees and pulled all the weeds. That took awhile. Lastly, we put down some fresh pine straw.

Whew! That’s better!

It’s amazing what only a few changes can make.

This is so much better.

What quarantine projects are you doing?
2019, declutter, fall, home maintenance, outdoor spaces, outdoors, seasonal, yard, yard clean up

Fall Yard Maintenance with Lumber in My Minivan

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Fall Yard Maintenance with Lumber in My Minivan

This is not your typical Lumber in my Minivan post. Most of our posts involve building things but this post? This one involves tearing things up.

We let some parts of our yard get overgrown and out of control.

Like this side yard flower bed we couldn’t see and never thought about. Seriously.

It looked like our house was abandoned from this shot. We lacked the equipment to make this look nice again, so we hired it out and now our home looks inhabited again.

Isn’t that 10,000 times better? I can’t wait to show you what we are going to put there instead.

We did some clean up of a different kind today, too.

This deck had seen better days. It was old, unused and many of the boards were beginning to crumble and rot.

We made the executive decision to remove it. And while I never thought I’d enjoy being destructive it was actually a lot of fun.

The floor boards were super easy to remove, as they were screwed in. I just got out our power drill and went to town.

The next part was none to easy, but it went much faster once we bought the crowbar and sledgehammer.

Bam! Two hours later, we had completely busted up and hauled off all of it. We still have to go back and clean the area up, but it looks better already. I can’t wait to show you what we put here- it’s going to be amazing.

I now know why Chip Gaines loves demo day- it’s a blast!!

Plus, you all know I love getting new tools and I got a new sledge hammer and a new crowbar out of the experience.

Have a wonderful day! Catch us Wednesday for a Pinterest roundup.