Progress!!! Patios, pergolas, and planting...

It's been awhile since we last chatted, and many developments have unfolded over the course of the summer. Let me start by saying we are so flippin' sick of yardwork.

First, allow me to unveil our new patio! We laid multi-color flagstone, which caused me to throw my back out and Derek to spend hours on his hands and knees with a rubber mallet trying to level the gosh-darn things so they didn't turn into teeter totters when stepped upon. (I'm trying hard not to use expletives to describe the experience). It was totally worth it. :) Bonding sand might be the coolest landscape material ever.



Derek also built me a lovely pergola, of our own design, that will hopefully be covered in climbing roses by next summer. (Use a little imagination here.) We already tucked Derek's new grill underneath to get us excited.


Next, we revamped all 4 of our very uncoordinated fences. We stained the new wood fence, painted the old wood fence, covered the tall chain link with reeds, and covered (well, eventually) the short chain link with ivy. They are still uncoordinated, but at least they are transformed into something less hideous. And each transformation cost less than $100. Which makes it all that much more beautiful! I heart the before and after pictures. Even Lowrider approves of our handiwork. :)




Then Derek decided we needed to install sprinklers. I will bite my tongue, but let's just say the sprinkler folks did not accept credit cards and in exchange we forfeited eating for the first 2 weeks of September. (Slight overexaggeration here, but ONLY slight.)

To keep ourselves from crying about our sad finances (we're wedding planning too, you know), we went shopping for some landscape plants. At least that way, having functioning sprinklers would be warranted. Except the sprinklers don't reach the planting beds... To prevent absolute depression, we tilled amendments into the soil that will nurture our future lawn, for which the sprinklers were truly installed, with the yet unfulfilled dream of one day having grass in our yard at the forefront of our thoughts.

I am proud to say I single handedly transplanted (instead of just chopping down) the out-of-place evergreen shrub originally in front of our house and replaced it with a little tiny white rose bush. Considering I hacked off half the shrub's roots while trying to dig it up and it is not the season to be planting roses, I'll be lucky if either one survives until spring. Oh well. It felt good. The little rose has some catching up to do...



We have a fairly short to-do list left (at least relatively speaking) pertaining to landscaping. We are planning to install sod next weekend, which is when the real transformation occurs. I have a couple trees I'd like to plant, and Derek is building a second pergola to balance the first. That's pretty much it besides adding some annuals next spring! Now, we need to paint the exterior of the house, replace the windows, and install a furnace. That, my friends, we am saving for a different rainy day (i.e. when our credit cards are paid off and our saving accounts are repopulated). Don't hold your breath. :) Cheers!!!