Patio Perfection!

I know this post is coming at a strange time because it's late September and not 'patio season' anymore (though we did enjoy a dinner of grilled pizza on the patio this weekend anyway:)), but I really wanted to share what's been going on with our patio as of late, so here goes:

While I realize that we gave our patio a little furniture makeover just last summer (see here and here), I wasn't loving it.  I really wanted a table that could seat at least six people, so we could accommodate more people for outdoor meals at our house.  We even picked up an extra round wrought iron table and four chairs last year (on super clearance) with the thought we could set up two table and chair sets, cafe style.  In the end, I decided that was weird, and we sold off both sets in the early part of this summer for $525 (club chairs excluded).

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Even with the funds from the sale of our old furniture sets, I quickly realized that purchasing a new table and chair set in a style I liked and in a price range that we were willing to pay probably wasn't going to happen this year.  So we waited a bit and kept our eyes open.  And then Target started to clearance their patio furniture.  We purchased two sets of Casetta chairs on sale for 50% off.  I love the texture of the woven chairs, and had been eyeing them since they first went on display.  We had our chairs, now we needed a table... a really nice and really cheap table that could seat at least 6 people.  So I asked Bill if he'd build me one out of cedar.  He said yes, and we came up with a plan.  With a 10% off coupon to Home Depot, the cost came to $100, which was much more reasonable than similar alternatives we had come across online that ranged from the $300-$700 plus shipping.

Bill built the table in early August, and then we had the kids practice getting on and off the chairs at the table, and it proved difficult for them.  I asked Bill if he'd build a matching bench (cost: $50) so the kids could get on and off their seats with ease, and he said yes.  (I sure love that guy!!)  We've had the table, bench and chairs out for a couple months now, and we LOVE having dinner outside!  Four of the chairs are around the table with the bench.  Two of the chairs are in a mulch bed by our play set for sitting in the shade while watching the kids play, and the last two chairs are set club chair style in the patio area as well.  The super exciting news, is that the bench allows for even more people to sit at the table than we originally planned.  In fact, we've squeezed 9 people (including 3 kiddos) around the table with relative ease.

I read that it's best to let cedar weather a bit before staining it, so we just stained the table and bench two weekends ago.  We had to pick a stain color.  I hate picking colors.  I end up finding two nearly identical colors and fluctuate back and forth between them.  This stain decision was no different.  Bill finally decided for me:).  We picked up the stain at Menard's on sale and ending up choosing Black Oak:

This product was a two-fer containing stain and sealer in one!  Yippee for fewer steps/coats.

Here is how our patio looks now:

Totally lovely, in my opinion:)!!  And the good news for Bill is that I already know that this set is a keeper.  There will be no major changes coming in 2013 on the patio front:)!  Yeah!!

And in terms of new costs for our patio this year, we paid $500 for eight chairs, $100 for the table, $25 for the stain, and $50 for the bench for a total of $675.  Considering we made $525 selling our old sets, the patio changes only cost us $150 this year:)!

And here are a few herb garden pictures because it's so close to the patio:

This caterpillar was enjoying our parsley.  He got named 'Parsley' by the kids:).

We started harvesting this weekend!  Homegrown lavender was cut first!!

We also started harvesting from our main garden too!

Is anyone else trying to squeeze in a few outdoor meals before the really cold weather comes?

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick.

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Linking up to Finding Fabulous.

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed.

Lovely Landscaping At Last

In this post, I wrote about our landscape plan for the backyard.  We did not stick to our plan.  We ended up renting a sod cutter on a Friday afternoon, and we were able to keep it through the weekend for the cost of a one day rental.  On Sunday afternoon, we decided to cut up the sod on the other side of our yard.  We made the decision not because the first side was easy, rather because the work was so darn hard.  Honestly, the prospect of renting a sod cutter next year to do it all over again wasn't something any of us wanted to consider.

We figured that it would increase our landscaping cost by about $400 for the additional edging, black dirt and mulch we would need, but that cost dropped to $200 when we had enough mulch on hand from our initial order to cover both sides of the back yard.  Where would we have put all that mulch if we didn't do the second side?  We had a nursery calculate the amount of mulch needed based on our landscaping plan, but our beds were a little bit narrower than the plan suggested to allow room for our play set.  We probably put the mulch down a little bit thinner than our mulch calculations allowed as well.  It all worked out in the end.  We did the bulk of the work over the course of 4 days and then did some additional work in the two weeks that followed.

Here is our backyard landscape plan:

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures while landscaping.  I was in 'get er done' mode and didn't want to hold people up while I snapped photos.  I would have loved to have some images of our 13 cubic yard mulch mountain in our driveway, of Bill operating the sod cutter, of my dad digging mini-trenches for the edging to go into and of my brother planting the plants (sometimes using a drill to break up the rocky soil near the base of our house.)  Also, I would have loved a picture of me hauling the dirt and sod up and down the hill on the side of the house.  And finally, a series of each of us worker bees 'before a shower' and 'after a shower' would have been hilarious.  We got so unbelievably dirty!  I did take pictures of our work, however, so those will have to do:

Right Side Before:

 Right Side After:

Back Area Before:

 Back Area After:

Left Side Before:

Left Side After:

We're still working on getting a few adirondack chairs for this area.  We bought 4 unfinished ones at Home Depot and we're in the process of deciding whether to stain or paint them.

This area needs more plants.  We've added one hydrangea since this picture was taken, and I brought another hydrangea home two days ago to be planted.  

Herb Garden Before:

Herb Garden After:

Herb Garden Aerial Shot:):

Patio Area Before:

Patio Area After:

Landscaping work is grueling work.  And if there is anything I learned, it's the importance of using and wearing the right equipment.  We were smart and paid $120 for a sod cutter.  I wasn't smart about wearing the right shoes for the job.  Running shoes make wheel barrow runs from the front to back yard easier, but work boots would be best for everything else, especially shoveling.  Also, I only used work gloves that fit for the last day of our 4 day landscaping party.  I was so worried that a heavy wheel barrow full of black dirt was going to slide out of my loosely gloved hands earlier in the weekend.  We ended up finding a perfectly pink pair of work gloves at Home Depot for me for the last day of our 4 day project.   

We love our new backyard, and we're excited to take a break from landscaping work...until next year:). 

Here's an overall before:

And after:

We added solar lights to the new beds and they look so amazing at night!

And because there are already approximately 1000 pictures already in this post, here are a few more!!  Enjoy these 'Lucky Charm' pictures from the week:).

And with that, have a fantastic weekend!!  

Here Birdie, Birdie, Birdie!

When Charm is napping and Bill and I are painting in the garage, Lucky paints too:

 Here are a few more art projects from the last several months:

Lately, she's been painting birdhouses like this:

I usually buy them for under a dollar with coupons at Michael's or Joann's.  This picture shows my current stock pile.  Bill and I may have a few paint projects on the docket for the next couple months, which means Lucky is going to be very busy with her bird houses.  (Lucky just informed me that she will be taking birdhouse orders for her Grandparents if anyone is interested:).)

Here are her latest two bird homes drying in the garage after a coat of spray gloss:

 And here they are all ready to be hung in a tree with zip ties:

 Tree Proud:

 They join two bird houses we had hanging in the backyard already:

Lucky loves her bird house tree, and so do we.  They are subtle from a distance and bright and cheery up close.  They keep Lucky busy and happy when we are painting, which keeps everyone happy and productive.  Charm will probably get in on the action when he's a little older and nap times are a thing of the past. 

Did anyone notice the landscape difference from a couple weeks back?  Here's a before picture of the same area:

See more before pictures in this landscaping post.  I think it's pretty safe to say that we're calling our landscape work done for the year.  We still have a bit of work to do next year, including purchasing a tree or two and a few more plants, but the really difficult stuff (sod cutting, sod removal, dirt hauling, edging etc.) is behind us.  Thank goodness!  I'll be posting a final 'Backyard Landscaping Reveal' post later this week.