The Homestead
Landscaping has never been a huge priority of mine. I’m mostly the- less is more, try to keep the weeds under control-kind of homeowner. We’ve tried pavers, they move away from each other and up and down as seasons pass, and of course they grow weeds that are even more hard to remove in between the cracks. Not loving it. We thought, “Hey, we’ll put medium size rocks around the patio, that should keep the weeds to a minimum and be easy to maintain.” It makes me laugh out loud thinking of that now when I look at this mess of a pile of rocks. The leaves that get in there are essentially trapped, then there are the weeds that most definitely DO grow up through the rocks, and let’s not forget how they are not at all stationary. Those rocks get kicked, rolled, and thrown around all the time, and add in two little kids and one exceptionally wild and crazy dog, and well, you can guess where most of the rocks end up. So no, the rocks around the patio are not working out. This is just the little bit of an attempt at landscaping we've done on the back side of the house, where we seem to spend the most time throughout the year.
Let’s move around to the east side of the house shall we?? When we bought our house back in 2010, the original owners at least had some of that black plastic garden separation going around the front and side of the house. It was overgrown and a little wild, but they tried. I don’t even want to tell you how bad it is now. So, I’ll just say, there are not one but two 3 year old hay bales over there, and huge piles of old driveway stone from when my husband went a little wild with a bobcat. Not pretty… Maybe someday when I’ve got enough money to pay someone to do it for me, I will have it all leveled out and prettied up. I would plant some very strong and hearty plants, that don’t need a lot of attention, and can handle when dogs go trampling through. Because why go crazy with fragile yet I’m sure beautiful flowers, when I would just be yelling at the dogs and kids to STAY OUT OF MY FLOWERS all the time? I wouldn’t.
Around the front I suppose could get a little bit more attention. Of course with sticking to the plan of strong and sturdy, because again the crazy dog...no for real it's that bad. So we have this really huge Japanese Maple tree (or so I’m told) right outside of the bedroom windows. It’s probably a little too big, but according to most people, I would not be aloud to get rid of it, because of how expensive and great it is. I'm not really a fan. And I don't know if I was supposed to be keeping it trimmed down, or if it is supposed to get this big, or even if it is going to get bigger, because right now it's really starting to look ridiculous. Other than that it's just some large rocks along the front of the porch, a couple of random bushes towards the corner, and big open space of nothing but a little bit of mulch in front of the porch. Pret-ty lame. The large concrete driveway and sidewalks help out big time to at least make the front look finished, but needless to say, the rest could really use some help.
Then there's the west side of the house. Luckily, its pretty hidden behind the garage, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a complete disaster! Again with the previously mentioned Bobcat..... Anyways, it's all dug out to slope down the hill and the idea would be to make it another easily accessible route to the backyard. But instead it is currently a sloppy muddy hole, filled with lumber from leftover projects and old railroad ties, that were attempted and failed with a seperate landscape project.
So maybe I needed a landscape blog to make myself more aware of the problems at my own home, or maybe it was just to start thinking about what I want to do someday in the future, either way it feels good to get it out of my head and onto the computer! Maybe next time it'll be more about what I like, and places I can get some inspiration! But that's all for now.
Kay, Bye!
Let’s move around to the east side of the house shall we?? When we bought our house back in 2010, the original owners at least had some of that black plastic garden separation going around the front and side of the house. It was overgrown and a little wild, but they tried. I don’t even want to tell you how bad it is now. So, I’ll just say, there are not one but two 3 year old hay bales over there, and huge piles of old driveway stone from when my husband went a little wild with a bobcat. Not pretty… Maybe someday when I’ve got enough money to pay someone to do it for me, I will have it all leveled out and prettied up. I would plant some very strong and hearty plants, that don’t need a lot of attention, and can handle when dogs go trampling through. Because why go crazy with fragile yet I’m sure beautiful flowers, when I would just be yelling at the dogs and kids to STAY OUT OF MY FLOWERS all the time? I wouldn’t.
Around the front I suppose could get a little bit more attention. Of course with sticking to the plan of strong and sturdy, because again the crazy dog...no for real it's that bad. So we have this really huge Japanese Maple tree (or so I’m told) right outside of the bedroom windows. It’s probably a little too big, but according to most people, I would not be aloud to get rid of it, because of how expensive and great it is. I'm not really a fan. And I don't know if I was supposed to be keeping it trimmed down, or if it is supposed to get this big, or even if it is going to get bigger, because right now it's really starting to look ridiculous. Other than that it's just some large rocks along the front of the porch, a couple of random bushes towards the corner, and big open space of nothing but a little bit of mulch in front of the porch. Pret-ty lame. The large concrete driveway and sidewalks help out big time to at least make the front look finished, but needless to say, the rest could really use some help.
Then there's the west side of the house. Luckily, its pretty hidden behind the garage, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a complete disaster! Again with the previously mentioned Bobcat..... Anyways, it's all dug out to slope down the hill and the idea would be to make it another easily accessible route to the backyard. But instead it is currently a sloppy muddy hole, filled with lumber from leftover projects and old railroad ties, that were attempted and failed with a seperate landscape project.
So maybe I needed a landscape blog to make myself more aware of the problems at my own home, or maybe it was just to start thinking about what I want to do someday in the future, either way it feels good to get it out of my head and onto the computer! Maybe next time it'll be more about what I like, and places I can get some inspiration! But that's all for now.
Kay, Bye!
Down by the Lake Inspiration
Of course Pinterest is my go-to place when I want to get inspired for just about anything. I've got some pretty amazing landscape and beach ideas for down at the lake that we live on. As you can imagine from my first post, there isn't anything special or lovely happening on that part of yard, just as the rest. However, we have tried to beach-ify a little bit. We cornered off a good section with old railroad ties, and filled it in with a whole lot of sand. It's really nice when we are done there often enough throughout the season, and can keep up with the clean up of leaves, and weeds growing up, and anything that some animals can manage to do over the course of a week or so. But it still doesn't feel like enough.
First of all we really need to take out some dead trees, as to help with the constant pick up of dead branches and the mess of sticks and twigs that are always falling. That would really help open up the sky and get many more hours of sunshine down there too. That would make it easier to keep clean, so that when we add more sand it won't be such a task every time we want to hang out on the beach.
The next and slightly more costly project I would love to complete someday would be a concrete patio next to the lake with a built-in fire pit. There is currently an old rickety picnic table and a couple of plastic Adirondacks, around a burnt section of grass where we have our backyard bonfires. Don't get me wrong, it works, but it is not really up to par with all the fun ideas I have in my head. I can clearly picture a big, round, stamped concrete pad, with a big fire pit right in the middle. Big, cozy, cushioned chairs, or even couches, surrounding it. Relaxing in the late evening with a soft blanket and cold glass of wine. The girls roasting marshmallows over a much safer and more convenient fire. Layla and Lexi snuggled up at my feet, getting dry after a full day of swimming and playing. The image in my head is magic.
Another great Pin I have on my Beach board, is the idea of having a little Tiki bar down by the lake that can even double as a storage shed, since as it is now, we are using a Little Tykes log cabin, that the girls are surely going to outgrow before I know it. It's already mostly a shed, that houses crappy sand toys, and lots and lots of bugs and spiders. So yeah, we've got some work to do. Or maybe we'll just hit the road again and not worry about it!! Insert squinty-eyed, laughing face here!
First of all we really need to take out some dead trees, as to help with the constant pick up of dead branches and the mess of sticks and twigs that are always falling. That would really help open up the sky and get many more hours of sunshine down there too. That would make it easier to keep clean, so that when we add more sand it won't be such a task every time we want to hang out on the beach.
The next and slightly more costly project I would love to complete someday would be a concrete patio next to the lake with a built-in fire pit. There is currently an old rickety picnic table and a couple of plastic Adirondacks, around a burnt section of grass where we have our backyard bonfires. Don't get me wrong, it works, but it is not really up to par with all the fun ideas I have in my head. I can clearly picture a big, round, stamped concrete pad, with a big fire pit right in the middle. Big, cozy, cushioned chairs, or even couches, surrounding it. Relaxing in the late evening with a soft blanket and cold glass of wine. The girls roasting marshmallows over a much safer and more convenient fire. Layla and Lexi snuggled up at my feet, getting dry after a full day of swimming and playing. The image in my head is magic.
Another great Pin I have on my Beach board, is the idea of having a little Tiki bar down by the lake that can even double as a storage shed, since as it is now, we are using a Little Tykes log cabin, that the girls are surely going to outgrow before I know it. It's already mostly a shed, that houses crappy sand toys, and lots and lots of bugs and spiders. So yeah, we've got some work to do. Or maybe we'll just hit the road again and not worry about it!! Insert squinty-eyed, laughing face here!
Indoor Concrete
Usually you don't think of inside flooring when you think about concrete. But, there are so many ways you can bring concrete inside. Not just at restaurants, and warehouses either. But right inside your own home. you can make some really cool changes that would be completely original and actually pretty cool.
Let's start downstairs. We have a concrete floor in our basement, kinda like most people with a basement. But it seems like it comes off as kind of a bad thing to leave your basement floor as plain old concrete. And if you left it bare and cold then yes, it would not be very desirable. So when we started with a bare, crappy looking, and paint splattered concrete floor, we knew that we had to do something. And not having a huge budget for anything too fancy, we started with painting it. We just went and bought some concrete paint, had it tinted a dark brown color and rolled it across the whole basement floor. Okay so it's not the most beautiful floor I've ever seen, but the best part is that I don't have to worry about it getting ruined. It's lasted for about 7 years now, and still is holding up pretty great. But with kids, dogs, and quite a few basement parties, it's doing the job. So yeah, I'd say keeping the basement floor concrete and just putting down some paint and having some carpet installed with the thickest padding you can get, is great, cost-effective alternative.
For some people, myself not included, their garage is considered to be an extension of their home, and would be classified as indoors. So for the sake of writing about indoor concrete, we can easily see how people can take such good care of their garage and garage floor, that we could consider it to be indoor concrete. In fact I just read an article recently that said it is no longer a requirement for garage floors to be any certain amount lower than the house, and that you can make it the same exact level. Also garages always have a roof over them, so might as well say that it's indoors right? RIGHT! So, lets talk about it. If I had a super fancy car, I think it would need to be sitting on a pretty looking floor. The sad part is, when you live in a state like Michigan, the winters make a total mess inside of any garage, and I really don't think there is any way around it. So even if you do a nice shiny epoxy on your garage floor concrete, you will still be constantly sweeping it up and cleaning, to keep it looking good. But that is my favorite option. It just looks so neat! My garage floor is much more an extension of the outside than the inside, so having a more slip-resistant durable concrete floor in the garage would be so much more preferred.
Let's start downstairs. We have a concrete floor in our basement, kinda like most people with a basement. But it seems like it comes off as kind of a bad thing to leave your basement floor as plain old concrete. And if you left it bare and cold then yes, it would not be very desirable. So when we started with a bare, crappy looking, and paint splattered concrete floor, we knew that we had to do something. And not having a huge budget for anything too fancy, we started with painting it. We just went and bought some concrete paint, had it tinted a dark brown color and rolled it across the whole basement floor. Okay so it's not the most beautiful floor I've ever seen, but the best part is that I don't have to worry about it getting ruined. It's lasted for about 7 years now, and still is holding up pretty great. But with kids, dogs, and quite a few basement parties, it's doing the job. So yeah, I'd say keeping the basement floor concrete and just putting down some paint and having some carpet installed with the thickest padding you can get, is great, cost-effective alternative.
For some people, myself not included, their garage is considered to be an extension of their home, and would be classified as indoors. So for the sake of writing about indoor concrete, we can easily see how people can take such good care of their garage and garage floor, that we could consider it to be indoor concrete. In fact I just read an article recently that said it is no longer a requirement for garage floors to be any certain amount lower than the house, and that you can make it the same exact level. Also garages always have a roof over them, so might as well say that it's indoors right? RIGHT! So, lets talk about it. If I had a super fancy car, I think it would need to be sitting on a pretty looking floor. The sad part is, when you live in a state like Michigan, the winters make a total mess inside of any garage, and I really don't think there is any way around it. So even if you do a nice shiny epoxy on your garage floor concrete, you will still be constantly sweeping it up and cleaning, to keep it looking good. But that is my favorite option. It just looks so neat! My garage floor is much more an extension of the outside than the inside, so having a more slip-resistant durable concrete floor in the garage would be so much more preferred.
The Deck is Part of the Landscaping....right?
This year is finally the year that we are planning on replacing our old deck. And I say finally because not only have we been talking about doing it for years, but also because there are SEVERAL boards that are rotting out and falling through. It's pretty dangerous and not fun to be on with how ugly, old and rotty it is. The birds are taking over with nests, the wasps are eating away at the railing, and the carpenter bees, are having a great time with the old soft wood. So yeah, I'd say it's time to replace. So now that we know we are going to do it...here comes the hard part, deciding what materials to use and how to design it. At first we were thinking of doing the whole thing in the new plastic decking, but then realized that would be too slippery and get too hot. Then we were considering the Tyvek brand boards, but that can get pricey and get pretty dirty, without an easy way of cleaning. So were trying to go for not so expensive, easy to maintain, safe, pretty, and long-lasting. The dream! Anyways, I think we've come to the conclusion that we will keep it the same size, not add any stairs, or railing.