The Walkway Nears its Destination

Shortly after we moved in, our friends Don & Cathy remarked that our entrance was not user-friendly in that it forced visitors who parked in the driveway to wander through the front yard aimlessly to get to the front door.

There was no clear path - no direction. This was not very welcoming.

So, when Dave decided we needed to get to work on a landscaping plan because we were basically the neighbourhood disgrace, the first order of business was to plan the walkway so we would know where the rest of the landscaping should go.
At first, we thought we might just plant some flagstones in the grass.

Surely our guests (being people of superior intelligence for the most part) could follow that but Dave got all HGTV on me insisting that it all had to be level (so no just plunking them down on the grass) and when we researched the price of flagstones, we decided that maybe given that it was going to be just as much work anyway and probably twice the price, we could try to have a more conventional walkway.


When Dave's sister told us that flagstones were slippery when wet, we ditched that plan completely.

We then started looking at Home Despot (as Pam calls it) and discovered that even the generic concrete patio squares weren't exactly cheap. Also, as we gazed around the yard, we noticed that we had at least two large sections of yard that seemed to be randomly covered with the same concrete patio squares they have at the store except all interesting and weathered ... in other words, better.

This gave me an idea so after some gentle prodding by Dave (it would be called nagging if I did it), I drew a design on a piece of paper and dug up a few stones and showed Dave what I wanted. Once he had a plan, he was on his way.

I still was not thinking this was going to be such a big production but it actually involved quite a lot of work consisting of creating forms, digging up dirt and filtering it and then filling in the forms and leveling them.

 Fortunately, I had to go to work so this task was left to Dave - even on the weekends when I had to rest from work.

 I did haul a few stones around and I have full responsibility for breaking the other stones into interesting patterns and laying them artfully about. 

The idea is to have the walkway go straight up to the front door but since the actual entrance to the porch is not straight, it also veers attractively to the right making it functionally more appealing.

This forms a nice triangle with a space in the middle for a small tree or bush. We're thinking a pomegranate tree. It hopefully provices tasty fruits and fulfills the function of blocking the straight path to our front door thereby deterring any evil spirits who might want in. I'm thinking this has been the problem up until now. Evil spirits. We'll have that fixed in no time. However, we can't do it until:

1. I find a suitable pomegranate tree - it has to be a more bushlike variety because apparently if you have a tree too close to the house, it's bad. HGTV again, I think.
2. The cantaloupes that Dave planted there finish growing up. 

I think they look quite nice and as you can see, one has gotten quite big but they aren't big enough to eat yet so no pomegranates can be planted at the moment.

The really exciting news is that Dave has been working very hard on the extension to the walkway that will finally connect the driveway to the front door so that we can invite guests without fear of losing them in the neighbourhood and/or shaming ourselves. It was a lot of work and Dave did a fabulous job. It's so straight!

Nobody could get lost on this walkway.

The best part is that most of it is made from pieces of stone we just had lying around although Dave did run out of the smaller white square and had to surrender some of our hard-earned cash to Home Despot for those. Even so, I think it's turned out pretty nice so far. I like it a lot and we've received many compliments from passersby (although perhaps they're just trying a little positive reinforcement to get us to get on with it as we are still pretty much the neighbourhood disgrace).

My favorite part is the junction that we're using to turn the walkway towards the driveway. The previous owner was fond of making mosaicked concrete picnic tables and benches. There are broken bits of them everywhere and one complete one. I love them but you can have too many. One of the table tops was propped up against the side of the garage. I noticed that it had the colors (coral and turquoise) that we were working into the walkway and it's a compass! It has markings for north, south, etc. How perfect is that?

So, this afternoon, after careful preparation of the ground, Dave and I placed it in the junction spot. We're on the last lap!

After this is done, we will be returning to the topic of what plants we want and where they should go. I think at this point, I better get back to drawing. In the meantime, if you've been worried about coming over and finding our front door, you can rest easy and just come on over. We have it pretty much mapped out now.

Cabinet for Sale

Mother Nature Decides to do a Little Landscaping

So, yesterday, a rather large gust of wind came by and toppled over the sea grape tree.

I'm definitely getting a hedge.

Google's Collateral Damage

Infographic by SEO Book

Competence

A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity. - Robert A. Heinlein


I was inspired by: http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/109/competence-is-cool/

Who do You Love?

“Love yourself first and everything falls into line.”
Lucille Ball

Finally - The Backsplash - the beginning of the end

Not yet Perfect but Almost

I'm still waiting to do the tile for the backsplash and I can't decide what to put on the bar countertop (suggestions?) but otherwise, it's pretty nice:

Running Water - It's a Kitchen!

We still have a few inspections to pass but it functions. Dave swore he wouldn't shave his beard until it was a kitchen. See for yourself.

And then, there was light!

The electrician came today. There are lights! And the refrigerator is in the right place instead of in the middle of the living room.

The plumber comes on Wednesday. Soon - the refrigerator will make ice.

I'm so happy.

So - this is disturbing - No News at all about the Miami Dolphins?

The Countertops are Here

The Countertops Will be here on Thursday!

I'm so excited. Within two weeks (assuming plumbers and electricians can show up and no hurricanes mess things up), we should have a kitchen that works!!

Waiting for Countertops

Well, we've picked out the countertops: Absolute Green and they've been measured and ordered so now, we wait. Here's where the sink will go.

We'll be putting in a blue/green/white tile backsplash after we get in the countertops.

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Rainflowers

One of the nicest things about the rain is that after, these wonderful little flowers pop up all over our lawn. So far, they come in three colors - white, pink and yellow. I like them very much.

The Contractor is in the Building

Due to some aspersions being cast on the industriousness of my contractor, I feel the need to publish updated photos of developments in the kitchen.

The back wall will have a wall oven - the cooktop goes on the island at the right.

Here is where the sink will be - it's a farmer kind - like this one:

 
But we couldn't get started on putting it all together until we finished the ceiling:

Kitchen Cabinets

The cabinets start to be included

well, we made some progress this weekend. We've got the top cabinets in and as soon as Dave's finished with the ceiling, we should be able to finish installing the bottom ones.

It's starting to look like a kitchen!

It's a Floor!

Tiling is Fun (I Think)

We haven't actually got to the tiling part yet - just spending the day laying down a cement underlayment. Let's see a rodent try to chew through that!

Ceramic Tile is Heavy but DIYers are Nice

I went to Lowes today and picked up my ceramic tile. Next weekend, I should be on my knees installing it. I met a very nice German lady at the store while I was waiting for the clerk to help me lift the tile out from under the counter (see title) and she gave me some insights into some of the problems I'm likely to have. She suggested that I keep a few of these at the ready to give a slight boost to tiles that just won't level exactly right.

Then, I went over to Home Depot to check out countertops and I met this great guy named Keith who told me a whole lot about the pros and cons of all the different kinds. I have to do some more thinking but he was sure helpful. I'm definitely going to go back to Home Depot when the time comes to order them - the guy at Lowes wasn't nearly so helpful. All he did was complain that someone had pulled his samples off the wall. I pointed out that it was tough to see the colors of them on the wall like that but he didn't seem to care about my convenience. No - I believe I'll be shopping with Keith.

And the adventure continues and speaking of heavy, tomorrow we're lugging cement board in from the garage and attaching it to the floor.