Summer Projects

At the start of summer, we got to Arcata with a rowing list of things to get done.  Nine weeks and nothing to do.  It seems like the perfect time to get things done, right?  By the end of the summer half of the half of the things we'd hoped to do have still been left untouched and a few spontaneous ones popped up.

Project #1: Our house in June- the grass is green, the flower beds are overgrown with a mixture of weeds, summer flowers, and spring left-overs.  The borders and hedges need a serious haircut.  So, check, the yard is neatened up...

... just in time to dig it all up.  Most of the year good ole Mother Nature keeps our yard green and growing.   Once June sets in, though, the ground dries up and if we want to keep the grass soft and green for bare feet and the flowers growing, we have to water.  With one hose and a large yard it is a time consuming process.  Water 15 minutes.  Move. Water 15 minutes.  Move. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.  This process needs to continue until the rain comes back in October (when we are, of course, not there).  So, Erik spent hours designing and installing a very efficient irrigation system (complete with a rain sensor).

 Though I had it all organized in my mind that we (and what I mean by we, I mean Erik with a small amount of my assistance) would have this whole project wrapped up and completed within a week, it didn't exactly work that way.  After renting a trencher, doing some more handing digging, and getting a pretty fabulous friend (Alvin) to help us out we finished up the project... three weeks after we started.

The after pictures? Well, just our yard looking like it did before...

Project #2: Simple, but nice.  We took down all the cupboards around our kitchen window in April, replaced the window, and painted the wall to match the rest if the kitchen (though we need to switch out some of the old, peeling drywall for tile sometime soon).  We still needed some storage, so Erik took some nice scrap wood and created a rustic set of shelves.  We are really pleased with them.

We started with one shelf... 

And moved on to two...

Project #3: Replace the old slider door that we could no longer see through...

See I can help, too.

... and sometimes the best help is to oversee the work and check for quality.

Project #4: Adding/taking away this and that to the yard (especially now that we can keep it watered). Like...

...this cheery plant that looks at me through my bedroom slider...

... this new-to-us (via Grandpa Tipple) Maple which we hope to train into an interesting shape...

...old bathtub, just waiting to be filled with spring bulbs, asparagus, and rhubarb....

...removing the very fragrant (ah-choo) Tick bushes/trees from the hill and...

...adding a Dogwood tree, hydrangea, and a few other transplanted bushes.  As you can see, this is still a work in progress.  Needs some more TLC...

... put in a few more stepping stones...

... adding another blueberry bush.  Yum!

There were some more plants we bought, pitched, and planted, but I shared the ones that I was most excited about.  I can't even begin to imagine what our yard will start to become once we live there and can take care of it year round!

Project #5: Paint anyone?  I love to paint.  I have been itching to repaint the bathroom and Erik and my bedroom.  I have been putting it off because Erik and I have been planning to remodel the bathroom and close up the door between our bedroom and the bathroom.  I decided I was tired of waiting and decided to tackle both jobs at the same time.  First up, the bathroom cupboards.  We had started to play around with possible cabinet colors about three years ago.  Since then, we've had splotches of color we didn't like on the side of the cabinet.  After getting some new samples, Erik and I found something that worked for us.

Erik, prepping for a new coat of paint.  Some how I managed to get completely out of the sanding!

When we decided to paint the bathroom cupboard we wanted to freshen up the the insides as well.  Erik I wanted to so something fun on the inside, some kind of pop of color.  Erik and Cairo went out to the store to pick out the paint.  Now, we are keeping our bathroom in the blues, grays, and greens.  I thought that Erik would get a bold, bright, or fun shade of these colors.  Of course, all I said was "get something fun" (thinking that it was obvious that it should be within the color palette of the bathroom).  What did Erik come back with?  Shiny, plum purple.  It was a fun color, just not what I expected and since it was going on the inside of the cupboard it didn't really matter.

Paining the outside of our new cupboards a medium gray.  In this picture, I already pained the walls a soft blue-gray and Erik put a few coats of his beloved purple on the inside.

We also added hardware to our cabinets.

I would call this picture the "after-we-painted" picture since this is far from the after picture I want.

We still need to replace the counter, pink sink, pink toilet, pink fiberglass shower (that covers the window), replace the window (that is currently behind the fiberglass), add a bathtub and tile, and drywall over the doorway into our bedroom.  Maybe next summer...  :o)

Then, we moved into the bedroom and painted over our sad beige walls with something a bit more interesting.  We wanted to do something bold, so I started by sampling some colors that were a lot darker than I would normally choose.  These were the first three.  I got another three after that.

 While testing the colors, I accidentally made a stripe.  Erik and I liked that idea.  So we chose two complimentary colors of gray- one slightly darker than the other.  We got the darker color with a bit more gloss, too. Then the painting began.

As you can see, we only did this on one wall.  Our room doesn't get enough light to have such a dark color all around.

Still missing- the crown molding at the top.  We plan to put that in place over Thanksgiving break.  Plus, we need to update out picture frame and do a few more things.  At least we are moving in the right direction.

... and still, there's more...

Project #7: Build a new fence. 

 The side yard fence had to be pulled out the summer after we moved in due to rot and powder post beetles.  Not having a fence there hasn't really been a problem because it leads into the fenced part of the front yard.  For some reason, this summer the dogs (especially Sienna) have become expert escape artists.  At one time Sienna wouldn't cross a string that was strung across.  Now, we have to outsmart her to keep her in.  So, we decided it was time to put up the fence again.  Plus, not only would it help keep the dogs in, but it would help in keeping the deer out.  While Erik was at it, he also built a sturdy bench to cover the anti-siphon valves for our sprinklers.

Project #8: Replace bedroom slider.

When we moved in we knew that we were going to have to do some work on the floor under the slider in our room.  The door was also not working properly and needed to be replaced.  So, Erik took the door out and with the help of Alvin made the appropriate fixes to floor and a part of the wall under it and put in a new, more energy efficient slider.

In progress...

With the trim