Garage organizing

In May Mike put up some shelves in the garage to put all his things.  I painted one of the walls white and then the project stopped to work on the yard.  Mike is now back at it, finishing up shelves, insulation, and sheeting on the walls.  He did some electrical work yesterday, hung up lights on the outside of the garage, and now today is putting up the sheeting on the walls.  When it is complete and maybe cools down a bit outside we will paint the walls white.  He's so happy to be working on his garage again!!  It's a total mess now until he can find a home for all of his things.  That was the one bad thing about moving to a smaller house.  I will post pics when it is complete!

Grass along side driveway (7/9/11)

There was river rock, mulch, and a couple lilac bushes along side the driveway when we bought the house.  We took out everything and now it is ready for grass!

 Before grass

After grass!

Staining Patio (7/8/11)

Since the yard is seeded we won't be walking in it and tracking dirt all over.  I washed up the patio to get it ready to stain.

 Washed

 Stained

Here are some more pics of the backyard:

We plan on putting wood over the back steps to make them a little larger for getting in the back door and then putting a thin layer of concrete over the old broken up concrete by the steps to clean it up a little.

Hydroseed! (7/6/11)

The backyard is finally ready for seed!  It took a lot of work to get it ready, but we're finally here!!  

 Backyard

A little in the front where it was still patchy

Granite Desk (6/29/11)

I've been trying to think of an area that I could work on my scrapbook stuff upstairs for a little while now.  I have a room downstairs for it, but it is just so far away from where we always hang out and I don't really like to scrap down there.  Mike said we could put in a counter top upstairs in the living room area where I have my desk.  Then we could put cabinets underneath to store my things. I suggested we put a slab of granite on top as that would look really pretty.  Mike was able to find a piece on Craigslist within a couple days for a great deal and he hauled it home!

It's a little more red than I envisioned, but for the price I think it will grow on me!  We picked out cabinets at Ikea and once the weather cools down and we finish up our outdoor and garage projects Mike will put the desk up!

Smoothing out the backyard (6/28/11)

Now that the patios and landscaping are complete in the backyard it's time to get it ready for seed.  It just needed to be smoothed out and a dirt moved around here and there.  Mike hooked a fence on the back of his dad's garden tractor and pulled it around the yard until it was smooth.

It took 2 nights and a modified fence section to get it how we wanted it.

More patio's (6/16/11)

We finally decided on what to do with the backyard when you come out the back door.  We needed a spot to put our canopy and chairs.  We decided to do a wooden deck-type 10x10 area just for the canopy and then an area of pavers for another little table and chairs.

Mike working on the canopy patio

This was a few weeks later.  We put in a little garden mulch area; and also around the canopy patio

Driveway Patch (6/13/11)

There was a spot in the driveway full of river rock.  We took out the rock and were left with a hole.  We had it patched with asphalt.

Circle Patio (6/11/11)

We were able to put in the circle patio the weekend of June 11th.  It took both Saturday and Sunday, not non-stop but it was time consuming!  Progress pics of the patio installation:

 Putting the pipes down to level out the sand base

 Finished :)  YAY!

 Edging to keep it tight together

Sand to fill in all the gaps

Tractors and Bobcats (6/8/11)

Mike is lucky enough to have some really nice friends to help us out with the backyard!  Mike Femling brought his tractor over that had a tiller on the back; and Chad Parkos brought over his Bobcat to move dirt around and smooth it out.

It didn't take long for Mike to til up the whole yard!

We took out the circle paver patio that we had at our old house over Memorial weekend and Chad was able to make a spot for it with the Bobcat.

 The boys figuring out the perfect spot to put it

 Digging out dirt to add in class 5 for the base of the patio

Compacting the class 5

It took 2 evenings of Bobcat work and some extra black dirt to get it smoothed out.  We also had class 5 put down next to the garage so Mike can park the truck there while we're not using it; and up along side the driveway.

Getting ready to dig up backyard (6/8/11)

The backyard was full of break-your-ankle-sink-holes and hills.  There used to be a huge tree that came down a few years back which left probably a 5 foot hole that was very sunken in.  Then up by the house there was a pool so it was all weeds, no grass.  It was just a mess.  Mike decided the best option would be to til it all up and start over.....so that's what we are doing!  Here are before pictures:

Garden and Shed (5/30/11)

Along the back of the garage was a planter box made out of timbers.  The area didn't get much sun and was pretty large so we decided to take it out and put in a smaller garden next to the shed.

 Before

I also painted the shed a different color.

Before

After - Shed is painted and re-roofed; and garden planter box is moved and stained

Pine Trees (5/29/11)

We decided to remove all the pine trees lining the backyard.  Mike and I both don't really like pine trees and I've always wanted the trees that flower in the spring so we decided this would be the perfect time to take down the pine trees and put in my flowering trees.

Before

After

Grass Seed Planted in front yard (5/15/11)

The front 8 feet of the yard was sodded by the city a few years back when the street was re-done.  It was not taken care of so the grass was dead and full of weeds.  Mike spent some time taking out extra dirt and smoothing it out.  We removed some fake plastic "brick" edging along the front of the house.  There were 2 other spots in the yard that needed grass too.  We finally got the put down seed mid-May.  Mike chose Kentucky blue grass and neglected to tell me how quickly it would come up.....quick is the wrong word I think!  It took about 3 weeks before the grass started to come up.  It filled in great in a small circle section close the sidewalk up front, but the rest turned out really patchy.  Mike put seed down a second time and it came in a little more, but it still patchy.  Apparently it will be much more filled in next year.....I just hate waiting! :)

Front yard trees (5/11)

There was a planter around the 2 trees in the front yard that was very dated and we decided to take out.

 Before

After

Mike removed the timbers and a lot of dirt.  The dirt around the trees was still a little high so we put in edging and wood chips.  We made a trip up to Gertens and picked out a rock.  This was a really fun experience.  There was a huge pile of rocks and we picked out the *perfect* one, then a backhoe plucked it out of the pile for us!  Of course it was in the middle of the pile too!  The rock ended up weighing 280 pounds!  We plan on having our address engraved on the front and possible "Stanton - Established 2010" on the back.

Done shoveling river rock! (5/25/11)

We are finally done shoveling river rock!  Mike and I cannot be happier!  We got rid of all of it by posting an ad on Craigslist and people would come and shovel it out!  Most from a growing pile we made in the driveway.

Replaced with wood chips along the back of the house