Outdoor Projects

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL the past couple of weekends!  We have managed to knock off a few items from our "To-Do" list, but I'm having a bit of ADD with all the projects we want to complete.

Last weekend--we repainted the front porch, started painting the back porch, concealed the downspouts that ran along the front of the house and Justin sprayed 2-4-D all over the visible weeds...

This weekend--Justin and I picked out a stain for our fence and we started in on it.

We didn't get too far.  6 hours later and the northeast section of the fence was done--but just one side of it :-)  Staining is one of the most boring and tedious things I have ever done.  Boo.  Realistically, we'll be lucky if the fence is done by the time school lets out for Summer Break.

Thanks to a former classmate's suggestion, we went with a wood tone.  After all, when you look around our neighborhood, all you see is a sea of white/beige/khaki...the last thing I wanted was for our fence to blend in with everything else!

Looking North...

Looking East...

Looking South...

Looking West...

The fence isn't much to look at yet, but at least this picture will give you an idea of the contrast the stain provides...

Once we got the east-facing part of the section painted, we outlined the space for a new flowerbed and Justin sprayed the grass with Round-Up.  Now I just have to patiently wait until April 30th when I go pick up all the plants for the landscaping!

In the meantime, I've been trying to track down some Toffee Chip Ajuga groundcover to line our two sets of front steps.  Turns out, our little Eastside Market was willing to order it for me!  It won't be here for a couple more weeks, but it will be pretty once it goes in--and it will really help brighten the shaded front yard.  And hopefully help with some of our erosion issues.

"Toffee Chip" Ajuga

In the meantime, we need to continue staining the fence...finish painting the back porch...paint our old metal patio set before it starts to rust out...repaint our metal porch chairs...fix a few boards on the porch swing...plant a few rose bushes on the south end of the porch...plant some astilbe plants in the hosta beds...oh, and get our salsa garden planted as well.  Is your head spinning yet?  Because mine is.  The worker bee in me wants to get it all done right away but common sense tells me it's going to be a while ;-)