If only I had a patio big enough. This would be the first thing that goes there:
Isn’t this lovely Swinging Bed awesome?!? Unfortunately she will only deliver within 350 miles of NYC. But, Good news: Ana at Knock-Off wood made some plans so we can build our own!
I’m here with an update on phase 1 of our landscaping redesign. We’ve been very busy at the house, and though we aren’t quite finished, we’ve made some great progress. To refresh your memory, here is a picture of our house before we started.
Our curb appeal was in dire need of a change and change was made indeed. Here is a picture of the “During” picture. This is what is looks like now.
We still need to plant some plants on the north (left side standing here) of the house, and split and transplant the hostas near the sidewalk. We also need to paint the white portion of the door with the little window. It is looking better already, and this is only giving us more motivation to keep going.
Now for a breakdown on how we built the retaining wall.
We first spray painted lines where we wanted the wall to go. This helped us visualize what it would look like before we committed to digging the small trench. Then we followed these steps:
You may need partial blocks when building your wall. To split a block, use a mallet (or hammer) and a chisel. First score the block on all sides. Pound the chisel on the score line on each side until it breaks. Do this on a hard surface, like your side walk.
Building a retaining wall is not difficult, but it does take time. I think we put in a full day (8am-10pm) with four of us working side by side. We love the results so far and can’t wait to show you the finale.
Tags: curb appeal, exterior, landscaping, outdoors, redesign, retaining wall
Usually I subscribe to 4-5 design magazines per year. When it’s time to renew I gauge how much I like them by how many pages are earmarked, or just plain ripped out. If there’s only one or two per edition I usually don’t renew. This year I decided not to renew 3 of them and went with one that was a little more expensive and in French! Was it worth it? You tell me:
This is the first edition of Elle Decor Idees that I got. More than half the pages are earmarked!
Here’s a few of the images from the current one that I loved!
Need an outdoor table but don’t want to spend a lot of money? Here they took 3 different used tables and painted them all the same: white with an aqua stripe across the top. I bet you couldn’t even tell at first glance that they are all different styles!
I’m not a huge “work in the garden” kind of lady. I’ve tried! I really have! Every year for the last 3 years something else seems to eat/kill my plants. But, I think I might try a little harder if my garden shed were painted like this!
You can order your own subscription through Amazon.
P.S. Don’t forget that the design challenge ends tomorrow! Enter here.
