The White Bungalow

Goodbye Driveway (Continued)

2011-10-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

A little update for ya. Back in June we wrote about tearing up our old partial driveway that had become quite an eyesore for the front yard. As a reminder here's what it looked like before.

Then we had a ton of dirt delivered and it looked like this.

Then we laid some seed and it looked like this.

Then it started to look like this!

And now about 3 months later, a little extra seeding here and there & countless watering sessions we've made it to here!

So it's a bit splotchy and definitely a totally different shade of green?!? But it certainly beats a random 6' x 12' slab of concrete. We're hoping that with a little more time, and come spring time, similar grass treatments to both the new and existing areas things will begin to blend. Only time will tell...

Belly Up To The Bar

2011-07-08T04:02:00.000-07:00

9 months. That was how long we lived with this.

That was the work of our dear child Rufus...

Yup this gentleman got out of his crate (countless times) and left us with a ripped up barstool. The other one survived, but still the pair looked ridiculous. Yet, that didn't keep us from using them and simply throwing a coat over the eyesore when company was around.

And yes the chalkboard still says "Happy Father's Day"...

But the time had come to replace these barstools with something a little more durable and a little more us. We wanted to veer a little more to the industrial side with this furniture piece and came across this steal at Overstock.

Yup. $99.99 for 2 of them. Plus free shipping? Plus a promo code for 10% off? It was on. So $90 and four days later we had these.

A few hours in and we're diggin them.

They're very simple and sleek. Plus they have this powdercoated finish to them that gives them a more modern feel. We also like the fact that they not nearly as heavy and bulky as the old barstools. This allows more room between the bar and our dining table.

You can sorta see in the last pic that our table is not centered under our hanging light fixture because of the big bulky stools. Now we can slide the table back and center it under the light....in another 9 months!

Obsessed: 8tracks

2011-06-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

So first off, I ~~saw~~ stole this from Anna at Door Sixteen. However, for those who are not aware let me introduce to you, 8tracks. In short, you make a profile, upload a mix of songs & share with friends and strangers. Plus you get to discover some great music and mixes through the 268,824 (and counting) mixes. In length, it's addicting! I kicked things off with a festival heavy summer mix called "A Midwestern Summer." I hope you enjoy and when I get around to making another mixtape, I'l be sure to let ya know.

Basil Infused Vodka

2011-06-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

Oh snap, it's the weekend! We thought we'd try our hand at infusing some spirits this summer. First up, Basil Infused Vodka...Pretty easy stuff here.

Start by picking your ingredient which may be the toughest part. You can infuse most fruits, herbs and spices so there's plenty of room for creativity. We went with basil from our new little herb garden.

Chives, Parsley & 2 Basil plants for those keeping score at home.

We followed these guidelines. Just find a sealed container for your liquor. We went with an aqua blue mason jar. The directions suggest throwing the entire leaf and stem in. Pour in your liquor of choice, shake, and toss in the fridge. The directions also suggest shaking the container 3-5 times a day.

After four days it was time to try this concoction and what better way to enjoy summer than with a basil vodka tonic. Taking a small sip of just the basil vodka I could taste the subtle basil flavor.

There she is. We found the monogram "L" glass at a thrift store for 50 cents.

I decided to leave the basil in there through the weekend. So in all, we left the basil in the vodka for 7 days and think that'll be just enough to get some good infusion.

Goodbye Driveway

2011-06-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

So a couple ~~weeks~~ months ago we started working on tearing out the random patch of old driveway located in our front yard.

First we rented a demo hammer from Lowe's and ripped up as much of the concrete as I could before having to return the thing (only rented it for 4 hours). There was still some large pieces of concrete remaining but I was able to dig out about 3-4 inches throughout. Then we had the topsoil delivered...

And then it sat there. For like weeks. Yup we're probably big hits with the neighbors right about now. We would chip away a wheelbarrow here a wheelbarrow there taking it to other areas of the yard, but with the amount of rain we had in April and May it dragged on waaaay too long. But finally we reached the point where everything was leveled with the existing soil. We took the extra time to slope the patch just slightly to allow for drainage and broke up any large chunks using a shovel and rake.

We originally thought we would have sod delivered and take an easy approach to this ordeal. However we were a little skeptical if sod would survive being laid on only a few inches of topsoil with bits of concrete still remaining underneath the topsoil. With a little googling here and here we found out that seeding (especially with fescue type seeds) might be our best bet. We came across Scott's Patchmaster Sun and Shade which was a combination of grass seed (mostly fescues), fertilizer and mulch.

We bought the 15 lbs. bag from Lowe's for around $19 on sale. After applying the entire bag to our topsoiled patch it looked like this:

We watered once a day for about 30-45 minutes on the days that it didn't rain and 8 days later we're lookin' like this!

Although we're definitely not out of the woods yet, we're very relived to see some progress and some green! Lucky for us and our water bill, we're supposed to see rain everyday this week so we'll be keeping a close eye on it...and of course keep you posted.

So have you had any luck growing grass in or on some interesting areas? Or have any horror stories about grass seeding or sod? We'd love to hear it!

We grew grass!

2011-06-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ok not the psychoactive drug, but just the regular backyard grass. So how thrilling huh? An entire post dedicated to growing grass! But we were actually pretty pumped. Being that this is our first spring as homeowners, we've never had to grow grass before and our green thumb track record is not too hot so we were a little worried.

For those who are still reading this, let me explain. We had this area under our big maple that looked pretty awful:

These pics were taken prior to the paver walkway we made and documented about here. As you can see it was lookin a little rough. Plus with the surplus of rain this spring the whole area quickly became a mudfest. And why those really big pavers were there we have no idea? So after completing the paver walkway we knew this was the next target.

We ran to Lowe's and spent some time comparing grass seeds. Talk about options! For such a basic concept there are a million different types! Again something we never knew about until becoming homeowners. Anyways we found this Scott's EZ Seed to be the right stuff for the area.

The EZ Seed was great because when you water it the seeds turn dark brown. When the seeds turn light brown they're ready for more H20. This is extremely nice for newbies like us because you'll never over or under water as long as you can follow these simple instructions (hence the name "EZ").

We blocked the area (to avoid any dog traffic) with some metal stakes and rabbit fencing. The stakes were given to us from a neighbor & the fencing was purchased at Lowe's for something like $20 for 50'. It was roughly about 10 days when we finally saw tiny grass seedlings begin to poke through the soil & man were we elated!

Unfortunately we didn't capture any early photos so we'll just cut to the before & after...So rewind 10 days and we were looking something like this before....

And now the after:

Now for good measure, a picture before the DIY paver walkway and new grass. Before:

And after:

It's a start right? Now we gotta get back to the front yard and DIY raised garden beds...

Saturday, In The Yard

2011-06-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

We got a little more work done today. This time we attacked the flower bed that runs along the outside of the fence and faces a fairly busy street. This is bad because when we moved in, it looked like this:

After a little work last fall we had it looking like this:

After today's work it looks like this!

Today we started by weeding the little buggers that had taken over this spring. After that we laid down some Miracle-Gro Weed Preventer & Plant Feed. Next we planted four Zebra Grass plants.

We wanted something low maintenance that does well in the sun and won't catch a ton of debris/leaves. Because this side of the house faces a street with decent traffic we get a lot of wind and with that a lot leaves and even sometimes a little litter. Since we don't find empty Fritos bags or McDonald's cups too appealing we went with more grass like plants in hopes that less trash will get caught in our yard. In theory this makes sense to us but hopefully we haven't lost ya yet. We're gonna have to find a way to get the three existing droopy grasses to perk up a little, but we'll worry about that later.

We also dug up the rose bush that was on the corner of the fence and replaced it with a less thornier light green shrub which of course we can't remember the name of. Anyways we really like the bush and think that once we get around to staining the fence a little darker, all these green plants will "pop" even more. Speaking of "pop" we finished the day by laying down some black mulch to give the bed some pizzaz.

So let's go back to last fall when we moved in for the before...

And now for the after...

Now it's onto the other 128,974 areas of the yard that need help! Anyone out there conquering some landscaping challenges this spring/summer?

Paver Walkway

2011-05-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Enough already. With April bringing a record amount of rainfall in Ohio, certain non grassy areas of our backyard have turned into some serious mud pits. The nastiness of it all is compounded when we let our four legged stud out three times a day. that equals twelve muddy paws everyday. We simply could not take it anymore and something had to be done. So we went after the main culprit, a 17' x 4' walkway (in most areas) that runs between the house and detached garage and leads from the deck out to the open backyard.

We noticed that this area hardly ever sees much daylight being up against the garage and covered by our huge maple tree so growing and maintaining grass would be a tough task. Thats when we turned to the idea of a paver walkway.

We did some research online and found plenty of helpful sources. We'll break our process down step by step.

1st - We measured the square footage in which the walkway would be. To get your square footage, measure your width by your length. Multiply the the two & boom there's your square footage. To get the sq. ft. for more confusing shapes go here for a great tutorial. Our sq. ft. Ended up being 84 sq. ft.

2nd - Mark the area as precisely as possible. We snapped a couple paint stirrers in thirds and used some extra string we had laying around to mark out our area. We used some scotch tape to secure the string to each marker and stuck the markers in the ground every couple of feet around the perimeter.

4th - Dig dig dig. Of course call 811 or your local buried utilities hotline and ask them to mark any hazardous buried lines before digging (More on that in another post). Your gonna need to dig at least 5-7 inches down anywhere your patio/walkway will be. If your area will see a lot of foot traffic consider going down 10-12 inches. We went about 6 inches since our walkway won't see too much foot traffic. VERY IMPORTANT: Every source we read urged not to skimp on this step as a walkway with a shallow base will shift over time from weather, roots and weeds. Also when measuring remember to factor in the height of the paver you want your walkway or patio to sit just about the soil that is around it.

I can't forget to mention that my parents helped from beginning to end. This made things soo much easier!

5th - Once your area has been dug down to your desired depth (ours was 6 inches deep), measure throughout to ensure all areas meet this depth.

6th - Next you need to begin making your base. Begin with a 1st step crushed gravel. Found in the garden/patio area of any big home imprvement store we used Quikrete's crushed gravel. In my best yet very unprofessional opinion, you'll want to fill your base two thirds deep with this. Or enough to leave no more than an inch and a half of sand (the next layer). We started with a layer of crushed gravel about 2 inches deep throughout the entire area.

7th - Spray & Tamp! At this point we had read on a few blogs to slightly dampen the crushed gravel. This makes it easier to "tamp". We used a garden hose and nozzle on "mist" to dampen the curshed gravel. Next you'll need to tamp or compact your layer of gravel. The goal is to push the gravel down as much as possible creating a very dense layer. You can rent a tamper, but we did ours by laying a large piece of plywood down over the gravel and then slamming a sledgehammer into the plywood repeatedly. We did this a few times up and down the walkway & it really seemed to do the trick.

8th - Next we repeated the previous step with another layer of crushed gravel only this time it was about 1 inch deep for a total of 3 inches of crushed gravel. We dampened the gravel once again. Finish by conducting a serious tamping session to make sure your crushed gravel is as compact as possible. For our area and depth it took us about 30 bags of crushed gravel.

9th - Time to lay on the sand! We used a Quikrete Paver Sand which is exactly what you want to use. We do not recommend using playsand or some other sand that is not specifically meant to be used with pavers, patios or walkways. We laid an inch of sand down throughout the entire area, which took about 16 bags of sand.

10th - Tamp again! We tamped the entire area throughougly one more time. This time around we did not wet the sand like we did the gravel since the sand already seemed a little wet, probably from sitting outside at Lowe's.

11th - Level the entire area! This is extremely important as this is the last layer before the pavers. We used a 2'x4' and gently scrapped the top of the sand throughout the walkway to level everything out. Here's a couple resource on how to do this. We finished by using a long level and checkig all areas to get things as close to level as possible.

12th - Pavers! Finally we were onto laying our pavers. It seemed like this step would never come! There are a million different styles of pavers and cobblestones out there both at the big home improvement stores but also throughout the various landscaping shop. We knew we wanted to keep this project on the cheap so we decided to go with a very basic 12" square cement paver. As a bonus when we went to Lowe's to start the project the pavers were on sale from $1.09 to $.91, a savings of $15.48 for the project. We slowly placed each paver into it's spot leaving as little room between each as possible. Once the paver was laid we would give it a few good smacks with a rubber mallet to try and get the paver to really sit in the sand. Since most of our walkway was 4 pavers wide we ran a string down the middle to ensure that we wouldn't get off centered or start going at an angle.

13th - After all the pavers were in place it was onto the polymeric sand.

This sand is used to fill the cracks between the pavers and helps with keeping pavers in place. The directions were very adamant on not letting this sand sit on the pavers so we used a small shovel and went crack by crack. Using a small broom we attempted to sweep as much sand into the cracks as possible.

After the cracks have been filled (that's what she said) we gave the entire walkway a light misting from the hose. So far it looks like the pavers are sitting pretty well but we plan on hitting the walkway with a couple more sessions of the polymeric sand just to makes sure we don't have any loose pavers anytime soon.

So now our favorite part, the BEFORE & AFTER!

BEFORE:

And AFTER!

So there she is. You may have noticed we also planted a few extra hostas (these were planted in a less seen area of the backyard before we moved them) on both sides of the walkway which also has also helped enhance the area. We threw in some fresh dirt and topsoil to boot and now all that's missing is mulch and a few walkway lights. All and all it took us about 8 hours and cost roughly $220 and most importantly...less dirty paws! Whacha think?

We're back & got some news!

2011-05-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

For anyone still out there we're back and apologize for the delay. However we think we have a halfway decent excuse...We got married! That's right on Saturday, May 14 2011 the White Bungalow went from a home with two youngsters living in it to a happily married household. We're very excited and at the same time relieved that it's all over. Don't worry we'll be sure to share the details and photos here in the weeks to come, especially because we DIY'd a large amount of it (including these)!

However just because we've been wedding planning doesn't mean we haven't been up to much around the bungalow. The exterior has kept us extremely busy and we'll be sure to share what've been up to shortly (just waiting for the right lighting to capture those "After" pics).

Free Tree on Lowe's

2011-04-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day! In celebration of this green holiday, Lowe's will be giving out one million free trees tomorrow Saturday, April 23, 2011.

Trees will be given out on a first come first serve basis. Each tree will also have a barcode that when scanned with a smartphone will give you a link to a video on how to plant and care for your new free tree. I would suggest calling your local Lowe's before heading out. Anyone planning on getting a free tree?

Apartment Therapy Small/Cool Contest

2011-04-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Apartment Therapy's 7th annual Small/Cool Contest is accepting entries up until midnight tonight. For those unfamiliar with AT's Small/Cool Contest, "Apartment Therapy invites readers from around the world to wow us with their beautiful small spaces and tips for living well in under 1000 square feet." Readers will then vote for their favorite spaces. The grand prize this year is a $4,000 Best Buy gift card, a professional color consultation from Benjamin Moore and an Apple iPad 2. Not to mention the respect and admiration of Apartment Therapy readers across the world!

Below I thought I would list a few of my favorites with a picture and link to their contest page. Do you have a personal fave or better yet did you submit your own space?

Steve's Sydney Sun

Liz's Light Off Lake Michigan

Ellie's Carriage House

James' Ultra Compact Abode

Julia's A-Frame

Kim & Scott's Yellow Brick Home

Casey's 32% Growth

***All photos via Apartment Therapy***

How I Spent My Last Couple of Weekends...

2011-04-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'll give ya a hint. It started with this old nasty partial driveway that is located in our front yard. Nice curb appeal huh?

Then it was an afternoon spent with this yellow beast that I rented from Lowe's.

Then it was onto the 4 cubic yards of dirt that was dumped in my front yard yesterday.

And most nights it has ended with this little tube.

Plenty more to come...

We'll See How This Grows

2011-04-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

If you remember, I had mentioned a few weeks ago about how I was building a few raised garden beds in an attempt to grow more produce at home. Now that the garden beds are underway (see how I built them here) I just need to figure out what to put in them. Our apartment dwelling friend picked up one of these Jiffy Greenhouses for $9 at one of the big home improvement stores and asked if we could start some seeds and throw them in one of the garden beds for him. We were more than happy to accept on one condition; he could not expect any vegetable miracles from us as this is our first garden and we're not exactly or not even close to having one green thumb between the two of us. Nevertheless heres where we are as of now:

Pic: www.SeedAndGarden.com

This is the type of greenhouse our friend gave to us. First decide what seeds you're going to plant in the "pellets". We went with tomatoes and sweet green peppers. Add 5.25 cups of warm water, pouring it lightly over the pellets (the pellets will expand in size once water hits them). Then pull the netting back and make a small hole in the center of the soil.

Then throw in 2-3 seeds per pellet and cover very lightly with soil.

Place your dome on top of the tray, store in a dark warm area and let sit for a couple of days. We checked ours on the third day and to our surprise this is what we uncovered:

We've got a long way to go considering that only 5 of the 23 pellets have germinated but it somehow already feels like an accomplishment that we've managed to see any life at all giving our track record. Hopefully more germination will be happening soon!

Decorating With Mason Jars

2011-04-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

As we sorta explained before, we've been collecting antique blue mason jars for a really big project coming up. But until that project comes to fruition, we figure we might as well use em for decorating. Last Friday night we had the family over for the weekly Friday Night Pizza Gathering and the lady went to town on decorating with mason jars.

The dip in the table is from adding a card table to the end of the dining table

Flowers: On sale at Kroger
Rocks: Were being used in another vase we bought from Kohl's on clearance
Candles & Holders: IKEA
Plates: Crate & Barrel
Silverware: Bed, Bath & Beyond
Tablecloth: Target

Kitchen Catch All

2011-04-13T04:32:00.000-07:00

A little while back we bought this kitchen corkboard & hanger piece from Home Goods. This was a perfect example of where function trumped form. However once we hung it on our back wall next to the backdoor (the door we use when coming and going) and adorning it with both important stuff (bank statements, tax info, dog leash, etc.) and a little extra flair (greeting cards, fedoras and vintage athletic pins) we were pretty pleased with the aesthetic touch it now offers.

Our Target fedoras that we never wear. Might as well decorate with them instead.

O-H- ...anyone?

We think it'll look a little better once we paint the kitchen. And maybe we'll rough up the paint and edges to give it a little character. Whatever we decide, we'll keep ya posted.

Chalk it up

2011-04-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

For some reason the two of us have always been fascinated with chalkboard paint. We had always talked about turning a small section of the kitchen into a chalkboard. Having seen it done so well here:

Photo: Apartment Therapy

Photo: MSTETSON

Photo: Apartment Therapy

Photo: New York Times

So with the abundant inspiration we found online we chose a good spot in the kitchen just next to our pantry cabinet and bought two quarts of Valspar's Chalkboard Paint ($14.28) and went to town.

Photo: Lowe's

First we'll give you the before:

This stuff seemed to go on a little thicker than your average paint but wasn't difficult to work with at all. We did two full coats 24 hours apart. Oh, and it only took one quart to cover the 1.5' x 8.5' strip twice. Once you're finished painting the directions tell you to wipe chalk over the entire surface, then clean with a damp rag. The chalkboard is then ready for regular use.

Now the after:

Had to add the cheesy "Welcome" collage

You may notice above that another difference from the before to the after is that we were able to get rid of the liquor/wine bottles in the cove next to the chalkboard thanks to our new antique cabinet.

Our friend Angel & her recreation of the three of us!

Kelly+Olive: Ideas You Should Steal

2011-04-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Lets be honest sometimes stealing can be good. In the DIY and home decor world this is very true. Enter Kelly+Olive, a two woman design firm from Chicago that offer several services for your domestic design dilemmas. They also have a very inspiring blog and have just recently added a charitable ebook; I deas You Should Steal benefiting Dwell with Dignity.

Ideas You Should Steal is a collection of 17 different DIY projects from some of the intranet's hottest home bloggers. Each project is creative yet feasible and even includes submissions for some of our own personal heros (Young House Love, Yellow Brick Home and House*Tweaking). You choose the price to pay from the ebook ($1 gets you the download) and all proceeds go to Dwell with Dignity. DWD is an organization dedicated to giving hardworking individuals and families in need a beautiful and functional home.

Living Room Paint Reveal

2011-04-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

One room down, only eight more areas to go! But at least it's a start. A few weekends ago we spent our Sunday painting our living room. We tried out a few bargain samples from Valspar (read about that here)...

Left: Pelican Center: Autumn Fog Right: Winter Flannel

The final verdict was Valspar's Autumn Fog. We felt it was a calm not too dark yet not too light choice. We're picturing a lot of white, grey and some punches of a brighter warm color in here and think our Autumn Fog will do a great drop setting the backdrop.

Don't look at that ugly light fixture. Just don't.

We love how the white trim & molding really pop now

Please disregard the sloppy coffee table

Mason jars are temporary as we've been collecting them for a future project...

on the fence

2011-03-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

One of the those items on our "must" list when house shopping was a house with a decent sized yard. This can be hard to come by in the area we were looking because of the close proximity of each house. However one of the most attractive aspects of the bungalow was not only the decently sized backyard, but the existing partial fence.

This meant we could add onto where the fence ended and completely enclose the backyard. This was an even bigger bonus because it then meant we would no longer have to walk Rufus out to the yard, chain him up, and then return ten minutes later to unchain him and walk him back into the house. Doing this three times a day especially in Ohio in the sub zero January winter was going to get old reaaaal quick. Did we sell you yet?

We decided to have Lowe's do the entire fence for us. It would have been a great project to tackle ourselves but being brand spankin' new home owners and having to build this fence between our property and our neighbors' was a rather daunting task that we felt much more comfortable leaving it to the professionals.

Fence posts running alongside our neighbor's driveway & house

Fence posts running across the sideyard to seperate the backyard from the side/front

That said, Lowe's spent the past few days setting, framing and completing our new fence. The challenge with this project was that we asked for them to match an older existing fence. Turns out the existing fence was cedar. We hear "older" cedar and "newer" cedar aren't the easiest things to match but the result wasn't too bad. The plan is to wait till later in the spring to re-stain the entire fence all the same color. But to our surprise the new and old fences actually blend pretty well.

Old Fence & New Fence

See? Not so bad actually. We had them keep the same height (about 6') between the houses and then drop it down to 4' across the side yard (see picture below). The reasoning for this was it still allows people walking/driving by to see into the backyard, while allowing us to look out or talk to our neighbors without making it feel way too closed off.

Pic taken standing on our deck looking at the gate/sideyard fence

We also had them add two doors; one in the middle of the 4' side yard fence (above) and one next to the garage. All and all we were pretty pleased with the work Lowe's did. It took an extra day than the original quote mainly because it took the installers awhile to match the exact same structure and pattern of the existing fence. However they cleaned the yard and driveway up every night and left on the final day without a trace.

We're ecstatic to be able to simply open the backdoor and let Rufus roam without having to usher him to and from his chain. It makes the morning and evening routine sooo much easier. Plus Rufus loves having the entire yard to explore rather being restrained to the same 20' circle.

Raised Garden Beds

2011-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Remember how I spent the first day of spring cleaning out the old over grown garden area behind the garage? Now that it's cleared, we're ready to begin planting our own vegetables. However we had done some research and decided that raised garden beds may be the best bet for our location and our lack of garden expertise. Wanna know how we made them? Follow along:

1. Measure your desired area for the garden. If you have a larger area it may be easier to build and plant multiple beds. This way you can seperate your vegetables. We're going to plant green (basil and spinach) in one bed and vegetables (tomatoes and cucumbers) in a seperate one. Our beds were 4' x 4' which made measuring, buying and cutting a breeze.

2. Once you know the dimensions of your bed you'll need to purchase your supplies and gather your tools. For one 4' x 4' box we used the following:

Supplies:
-Four 1" x 6" x 8' Cedar Tongue & Groove Boards or 1" x 6" x 8' Regular Cedar Boards
-One 6' long 4 x 4 treated post
-Thirty-two 2" or 3" wood screws

Tools:
-Saw (or have your hardware store cut the wood for you like we did)
-Power screwdriver
-Level

3. Cut the 6' long 4'x4' post into four 16" sections. These will be your corner posts.

4. Cut each 8' cedar board into 4' sections, leaving you with a total of eight 4' pieces.

5. If using tongue & goove boards, lock two 4' cedar boards together using the tongue and groove edges. If you're using regular cedar boards you can skip this step.

6. Using a flat surface, align the 4' cedar wall on its thin edge (tongue side up) against the pavement. Place two 16" posts at each end of the cedar wall.

7. Attach the cedar wall with two 2" screws per each board.

8. For the next wall, align the corners like this:

9. Continue until all walls have been attached.

10. Carry the bed to the desired spot and lay bed with legs facing down out.

11. Mark each corner and dig a 4"-6" hole for each post.

12. Place the bed and legs into the four holes.

13. Lay level on all walls to ensure bed is level. Fill holes with dirt and soil.

14. Fill beds with a potting soil-compost mix and water enough to leave the soil damp.

15. Finally stand back and admire your work and then begin thinking about what you want to grow this season.

Garden Bed

2011-03-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our new house it was evident that the previous homeowners took relatively decent care of the interior of the home. Even though some recent discoveries have left us with a few head scratching "Why did they do this?" or "What were they thinking when.." questions, the overall general care of the house was clear.

Ohh how I wish I could say the same about the exterior. The house sat on the market for over a year and unfortunately the weeding and basic upkeep of the yard and flower beds seemed be neglected throughout that entire time. I was able to clean up a few smaller areas last fall as seen here and here, but knew I had a big project lurking behind our garage in the very back of our yard. See what I mean?

Nice garden bed eh?

So with a free Sunday, my parents old school weed wacker (which is a golf club sized metal stick with a blade at the end, and 13 yard waste bags), I was down to this.

I built those good lookin' raised garden beds in the midst of the project (more on those in a future post). Pretty rewarding results if I do say so myself. And those 3 black compost bins in the corner? Yeah those were there the whole time but we had no idea until we started wacking! We're pretty pumped since we've always wanted to try composting and have even started a small collection that's being stored in a coffee container under the kitchen sink.

Choosing a paint color for the living room

2011-03-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

The time had come to cover our "contractor beige" living room! We had decided awhile back that a lighter blue/grey "modern cottage" color was where we were headed. On a trip to Lowe's we picked up three Valspar paint samples and returned home to make our sample squares. We put the samples on three of the four walls and lived with them for a couple weeks.

Left: Pelican - Center: Autumn Fog - Right: Winter Flannel

We showed our friends and family and by the end of it we had a clear favorite; Autumn Fog!

Before picking up two gallons I looked online in hopes to find a discount. Well low and behold I found a free sample & $5 off coupon package at the Valspar website (see my post about that here).

A good Sunday afternoon spent and our walls we're Autumn Foggy. Along the way we found a ton of dents in the walls (gotta love old plaster walls). No worries though, we used DryDex to patch over and sand before painting. I don't think I've said it before but DryDex is some pretty awesome stuff. So easy to work with and so quick to dry. It's practically dummy proof because it goes on pink & turns white when its ready to sand/paint. Doesn't get much easier than that...

The Real Deal.

With my love for DryDex out of the way, stay tuned for the results later this week!

Valspar $5 Off Coupon & Free Sample

2011-03-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

We've been busy deciding on a paint brand and paint color for our living room. A few weeks ago we picked out three Valspar samples at the nearby Lowe's and went home to test them out. The samples costs about $2.50 each (I can't remember exactly) and they give you enough (7.9 oz) to save for touch-up areas if you do decide to go with the same color.

After throwing our samples on the wall and living with them for a few days we had made our final decision (stay tuned for more on that in the days to come). However before returning to Lowe's to buy two gallons, I looked online to see if any Valspar discounts were on the market and surprise, Valspar is offering a Free Sample & $5 off coupon Package. I signed up and picked a sample from their Color Selector. Three days later I received a package at home with this!

The package included my free sample with matching paint square, a $5 off coupon, a packet of complimentary paint squares to go with my sample, small rollers (which will be great for painting furniture and finally plenty of marketing brochures. This was a very impressive freebie and strongly led me to going with Valspar.

As of right now it looks like the giveaway is still going on. Check it out here!

Pottery Barn-esque

2011-03-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

We started this past weekend with a few goals in mind. But none were as important as find a "pottery barn-esque" hutch or cabinet. We knew it had to be white, a little rustic and with some character. We headed to one of the bigger antique shops in Columbus (Grandview Merchantile). Within a few short minutes we were face to face with our future Pottery Barn-esque find. It was selling for $250, but we offered $215 (about 15% off) and the seller said yes!

After loading it up in the truck and a short drive home with our rear hatch half open, our new addition was resting in the bungalow. This guy will be hangin out in our dining room for now and will store our booze & wine along with some glassware and other barware.

The door and shelves are in pretty good working shape so no repurposing had to be done. We're pretty darn pleased to find an affordable and unique cabinet that was right in line with the "Pottery Barn-esque" vibe we were after.

it's all about the wordplay

2011-03-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

Weren't those the lyrics from Jason Mraz's "Wordplay"? As a matter of fact they were, and did you know he is actually an avid Scrabble player? Those interesting facts bring us to our next tabletop decoration, the scrabble letter greeting that sits on top of our entryway/front porch table.

There she is! The best part about this idea is that it's totally free (that is if you already own a scrabble set) and is sure to bring in the comments! And to be honest we stole the idea from Chris' Industrial Loft (one of our all-time favorites) that we came across on Apartment Therapy.

That's our DIY soy candle to the left! The "bird on a stick" is from a clearance sale at Kohls (we think it was like $3). The lamp and shade is from Target and was less than $20 and those lovely blinds are the ones we installed a couple months ago. We've got some other big plans for the entryway and porch but will save them for another day!