Exhaustion Equals Photo Post
I've been completely exhausted after spending almost the entire weekend and all last week working on the patio. Fortunately, we had some good help from my in-laws and also from some awesome neighbors who showed up with gloves on to work in the rain with us on Friday. I hadn't even promised them beer or anything, although I have told them they can be our first guests on the new patio. Let me just tell you that it was a lot more fun to play the role of director than having to lift rocks that weighed way more than I do.
Today I spent the entire day working on the planter that is in the interior of the patio. I'm too tired to be funny or to write much of anything. Plus, I have to catch up on The Next Food Network finale and the new Design Star episodes (if I can stay awake), so consider this a photo essay.
Enjoy.
The rock garden walkway. . .
The patio entrance. . .
The patio. . . (ignore the graffiti-like Bilco door. The painters still owe us some work.)
The planter I worked on all day long is in this picture, to the right. . .
I can't even tell you how happy I am that it is finished. From concept to creation, we did much of it ourselves (with help from some awesome hardscapers to dig out the foundation, grade, level and build us our step).
Now I just need some very on sale tiki torches.
As requested below. . .
The Ultimate Patio Work-Out
Last night, Mr. BBM and I started laying the stone for our flagstone patio. My parents came to help for a while and we also had the assistance of my neighbor's dad who's like a visual tetris master. The most challenging part of laying the patio is that the big rocks are ridiculously heavy.
Today I am paying for it big time. Legs, arms, fingers, shoulders and my back are all hurting. Something tells me it will all be worth it when it's over. When I called Mr. BBM at work this morning to ask him how he's feeling, he said he's "fine." He also said, "I've been working out" to explain why he's not sore like I am. Yeah, because his work-outs obviously involve lifting rocks that are hundreds of pounds. He's lucky he was at work when I asked him or else I think I would have given him something to be sore about.
The Classic Landscape guys dug out the foundation and put gravel and sand down. They also did a great job building the step. Now the rest is up to us.
We think we're about 40% finished. Some of the larger joints will get smaller pieces as we find or break ones to fit. Then the joints get filled in with polymeric sand which hardens up after it's wet and then dries. We hope to finish over the weekend (by the weekend would be even more fantastic).
I also spent part of the day yesterday creating a mosaic tile pattern on our old patio table. It's turning out really cool. Today is grout day so we'll see how that goes. I'm thinking much of my back soreness has to do with bending over that table all afternoon.
By the end of the weekend, I hope I can show you my new and improved table on my newly completed patio.
Landscaping: Before and After (Or, I’ve Been Legitimately Skipping the Gym)
Although I've been telling everyone how doing our own landscaping has been killing me, I haven't put up much in the way of proof.
Keep in mind that much of this stuff is not yet blooming, so I'll be sure to add pictures as it does.
Before. . .
After:
Here's a close up of our one bed. This features a weeping blue atlas cedar and two varieties of blue-leaved hosta.
Here's another view of the weeping blue atlas cedar. It's such a cool plant but it's starting to lose some needles and I'm panicking a bit. It better make it.
Before:
After:
That's a weeping snow fountain cherry tree and in the far corner is an Eastern Red Bud and three halcyon blue hosta. There is more to come in the back yard, including (potentially) a blue stone patio as well.
Before:
After:
We created two beds here. One is in the raised rock wall area and includes a back row of blue mist caryopteris, heuchera, and liriope.
The front bed is anchored by a clump birch tree which is just starting to get some leaves, three more blue hosta, three lavender, two blue star juniper, a dwarf white shag pine, three siberian iris, and a blue boy holly around the corner.
Blue oat grass will be going in on either side of the sidewalk, beside the white shag pines (above bottom left, where the stepping stone is currently placed). Below, you can see the holly on the corner.
Before:
After:
This bed contains three more lavender, two blue star juniper, a dwarf white shag pine, two blue princess holly, a blue ice cypress (better seen below), heuchera and siberian iris (also seen below).
Before:
After:
We're only missing the stepping stones that will wind all the way to the back yard, which we should have within the next week or two. Included in the rock garden are purple coneflowers, Nikko Blue Hydrangea, elijah blue fescue grasses, blue mist caryopteris, siberian iris, sedum autumn delight, liriope, heuchera bronze wave, and some evergreen blue trailing flowers. . .
. . . that will eventually spill over the rocks. These below, are the little blue grasses sticking out from the rock wall.
From the back of the house:
Seen here are three butterfly bushes (two blue, one pink), a Dragon Lady holly, a viburnum carlesi, some upright blue/purple phlox, elijah blue grass, and a blue star clematis that will climb up that trellis there against the house.
We have been busy indeed. In addition to the plants, we used almost 10 yards of mulch. Believe it or not, we're still not finished. Part two of the self landscaping job starts soon!
Do It Yourself Landscaping (With Injuries to Prove It)
When we got the landscaping estimate two weeks ago from the landscape design lady, we knew there was no way it was going to happen unless a landscaping god dropped plants and trees from the sky, and we did it ourselves.
Then we found where the landscaping gods live. Everyone in our neighborhood has been singing the praises of a nursery located about 25 minutes from our neighborhood. Owned by a mennonite family, they have the best stuff, at a fraction of the price, and they're all super helpful. As a comparison, the plants for the front and one side of our house were going to cost us over $3000, not including labor from the first lady.
From the landscaping gods? We were able to buy all 78 of the plants for around $1000. No, you aren't imagining things; it really does say 78 plants. That could explain why my body feels like it's been through a meat grinder today. The weekend started off with a bang, no, literally a bang.
On Saturday morning, I tried to maneuver around my disorganized laundry room and banged the inside of my ankle on the metal thing sticking out of the inside of the dryer door. It was one of those hitting your funny bone type of moments, but there was nothing funny feeling about it. I scraped some skin off my ankle and it just throbbed for a good five minutes; but there was work to be done, so that's the only time I allowed myself to feel it.
Mr. BBM and I worked for 8.5 hours with barely a break while Lil C ransacked the garage and sometimes sat contentedly on the front porch with her sunglasses on upside down, observing us grumpily. When all was said and done, we had finished the front, and planted two big trees (a birch clump and a weeping blue atlas cedar).
We were exhausted but went to our friends' house for dinner. It was only after washing off the layers of dirt, and arriving at their house, that I realized my ankle was still throbbing. I took a peek at it and noticed it was quite large, as in three times the size of my other one. I spent the rest of the night elevating it and medicating with appletini's.
Sunday I woke up even more sore, despite the fact that I had iced it before going to sleep. I was moving at a snail's pace, but still working because we had no choice. By the close of yesterday, we had planted all but three hosta plants.
My ankle is still swollen and sore. My right knee has a big bruise on it from smacking the shovel against it every time I tried to get some digging leverage. My fingers feel horrible from grasping and shoving dirt around, and my back, we just won't even discuss.
Despite the injuries and the exhaustion, I have to say, that landscaping your entire yard by yourself (me and Mr. BBM) feels pretty good, especially when you can do it for a fraction of the price it would have cost you otherwise.
When it stops raining and we get the mulch down, I'll share some pictures so you can all tell me how fabulous it turned out.
Open House Part 1
I've been working non-stop to get this house in order, and I am finally ready to show you part of the house. Here goes:
The foyer. . . (That mirror is centered on an angled wall. It's hard to tell that it's angled from this picture.)
The dining room. . .
The living room. . .
The view from the back of the family room to the entrance. . .
The family room (we're still working on hanging pictures and curtains) from upstairs. . .
Can you tell that this is my favorite room?
The back of the family room "hallway" and back staircase. . .
The kitchen. . .
Part of the back yard which is starting to get grass but would still be a great place for mud wrestling. . .
Stay tuned for the bedrooms, master bathroom (my other favorite room), etc.
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