backyard - fix me now

After about three years of dreaming, pinning ideas, bouncing ideas back and forth, not able to make a decision we are finally under way with our biggest project as of yet, the backyard. When we bought the house we were already certain that the concrete mess that is, nay was, our backyard needed to go eventually. Last year after submitting our yard for a makeover contest we got the final push to start with the project. Unfortunately we did not win the contest, we did not even manage to get to the last round.

 Last Saturday our yard was taken over by a crew of men and machines that removed all the concrete. I have to say even the dirt looks much better than the concrete. The whole process has been smooth so far but I will be so happy when it is all done, the whole anxiety of everything turning out the way I imagined it is giving me a constant headache. I'm probably the worst client because I want to be in control and involved in everything. Argh...Guess I need to compensate with more DIY project of my own in the next months.

Are you a little bit of a control freak like me? Do you have any plans for a big renovation or are you in the middle of one?

PS. Do you see our door leading into nothing? There used to be a deck and I have been tempted to open it so many times but so far none of us accidentally tried to step out.

have you heard about the bird - diy birdfeeder

Back in September I showed you my list of unfinished business, four projects that are lying around unfinished. One of my photos showed an old glass globe lampshade and pink rope and some of you were wondering what I would do with it. Now I finally finished the project and the old lamp shade became *drumroll* a birdfeeder.

The lampshade was left over after I switched it out with a smaller one because it was too big for the space, it made it almost impossible to open our backdoor without hitting the light fixture. Because I cannot throw anything away that is not broken I hung on to it and when I came across a DIY tutorial on The Art of Doing Stuff on how to make a birdfeeder with a glass shade I knew I wanted to make one for myself. Instead of a white rope I bought bright pink rope and the third item needed for this little project was clear waterproof silicone, which I had on hand from a previous project. Because I had the lamp shade and the silicone on hand I spent only $4 on the rope. Not bad, right?

Items needed:

-globe lampshade

-rope

-clear waterproof silicone

-I needed an extra set of hands and made P hold down the globe for me while I ran a bead of silicone around the rope

Since it was not my DIY idea please click over to The Art of Doing Stuff for the full tutorial. She deserves all the glory for coming up with the idea. It is such a simple project, it took only about 10 – 15 minutes to create my birdfeeder and I let it dry for a day to make sure it will hang safely in the tree in our front yard. Now I am waiting for the birds to show up for their fancy feast. 

Do you have any plans of doing a DIY project this weekend? Whatever your plans are I hope you will enjoy your weekend!

 

another yard post - fire pits

This month I think I caught backyard fever and I just can't stop looking for inspiration for our future yard. Another think I love in yards are fire pits, who doesn't like to spend cooler evenings around a fire and roast marshmallows and make s'mores. I only discovered s'mores in my twenties so I still have a lot of catching up to do. How could I have lived without them for so long?

I love the simple fire pit that Morgan of The Brick House created. I guess I need to take a welding class soon. The possibilities are endless, I could also weld steel planter boxes etc...Ok, I don't really have time for that but it would be fun. Either one of my selection would be welcome in my yard, No 7 can even be used as a grill.

So who's coming over for a nice chat around the fire with a bottle of wine and roasted marshmallows? Have a great weekend everyone!

1. the brick house - fire pit redux 2. urbanfire by mod fire 3. qrater by extremis 

4. vesta fia fire pit  - woodland direct 5. lighthouse oil lamp by menu - lumens 

6. terra fireplace by cocoon fires - unicahome 7. square brazier via amazon 

8. eclipse fire pit - woodland direct 9. lava rock fire bowl - restoration hardware

string lights

Another outdoor post this week. Some of you might already know by following me on Instagram or my recent my week posts that I might have a minor obsession with string light. Ok, I have only shown two photos but have taken so many more. In my opinion string lights are a perfect staple to light up outdoor spaces. Here are some of my favorite pictures on how people use string or other lights to create a nice atmosphere in their yards. Of course it works with balconies, fire escapes or even in a window too depending on what kind of space you have.

1. david tsay via desire to inspire 2. jeff lewis via apartmentherapy 3. the style files 

4. apartmenttherapy 5. jonas ingerstedt via sköna hem 6.via louvlouvsucre*

To get a similar look for your outdoor space or mine (a girl can dream right?) I did a little round up of my favorite string lights. We actually own No.3 in the clear version and used to hang it from our big umbrella to cast some light on our table for late night dining or just talking. I guess once the backyard is done, hopefully next year, I should host a big bbq party and invite all of you.  Have a great weekend whatever your plans are! Mine are definitely finishing up what I started last weekend...

1. restoration hardware 2. pigeon toe 3. target 4. ballard design 

5. pottery barn 6. pottery barn

*If anybody knows the source of the photo please let me know. Tried to find it to no avail. I like to give credit where credit is due.

dreaming about a backyard

I think I have mentioned it before that our backyard is more like a concrete jungle than a place you want to spent your time. The name says it all, 99.9% of the backyard is covered in concrete. And if that is not already bad enough it is not one consistent slab but instead various slabs, with different heights, that have been poured over the course of decades. Big tripping hazard! The oldest parts have cracks through which the only green in our yard started to sprout. Even nature agrees with us that this yard needs to be greener! 

There is also a small deck, right when you step out of the kitchen. The location would make it a great spot for al fresco dining but the size is way too small for that, even with just the two of us. Overall we never hang out in our concrete jungle and we would love to transform it into a lush green back yard with a nice sized deck so we can chill out after work or have friends over for bbq’s etc.

The plan is to get rid of all the concrete in the driveway and yard and replace it with simple pavers that lead from the driveway to a new larger wood deck, that is much closer to the ground or a paved patio and have the yard fenced in with a new wooden fence to give us more privacy. Around the perimeter of the yard we would like to plant flowers and maybe even a small vegetable garden.

I have been pinning away inspirational photos on Pinterest, here is my garden inspiration board, for a while now. There are almost 150 pictures on that board so I made a collage with some of my favorites. 

What would be your perfect backyard oasis?  

 

 

1. foras studio via remodelista 2. flutterbymama 3. dwell 4. rosenlof/lucas 

    5. via pinterest* 6. house & home 7. jenna lyons backyard via styleite  

8. rees roberts & partners 9. via pinterest*

*If anybody knows the source of the photo please let me know. Tried to find it to no avail. I like to give credit where credit is due.

cherry tree

It's Friday! Yay! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend? I want to weed our front yard and hopefully finish sanding this dresser, which has been sitting around in our since last July. I'm almost done sanding and just want to finish it before the dresser has been in our basement for a year. We are planning to use the dresser in our living room and put the TV on it. Actually we would need a new TV as well, we have an old humungous model and would upgrade to a flat screen TV because the old one would not fit on top of the dresser. I dream of a white TV, that would blend into the background more because TV's are not that pretty to look at...

Last weekend I took hundreds of photos of the tree just to try out my new camera, it's so much fun discovering what it can do and the tree looks so pretty right now, but the weeds underneath it take away from its beauty. Also the neighbors might think we're the one house ruining everybody's curb appeal. Last year we got standing ovations from the neighbor across the street after our weeding session. So weeding time is here! 

Happy Friday!

driveway flower

Remember our fugly concrete backyard and driveway. There are weeds sprouting in all the cracks in the driveway now and this cute little flower as well, which caught my eyes when I got back from work today.

yard

Now that brainstorming about the backyard is in full swing I am ready to show the not so nice part of our house. Our entire backyard is covered in concrete and most of it is in bad shape. Maybe I should rent out some parking spots for our neighbors ;) Seriously who puts down concrete in their entire yard?

There is also a newer slab of concrete in the far back of our property which is about 1-2 inches higher than the old slab. Not great for using the space at all and it also diverts water towards the house. The little sliver of grass does not belong to our property which basically ends where the concrete slab ends. So the makeshift fence is not ours either.

We have never used the wooden deck, besides for storing our trash cans. It is too small to hold our old table and the 4 chairs.

I took the photos a while back, notice all the bare trees, it makes the yard look even sadder...Looking forward to changing the yard, getting a privacy fence in the back and being able to enjoy it :)

front yard

Today was probably a great day for our neighbors - we managed to work a little bit (4 hours!!!) on the front yard, including weeding, trimming and ripping out some plants/bushes. Our yard was the worst within a couple of blocks around us, now it moved up a rank or two. It is not the way we want it yet but we are still looking for inspiration for what to do with the front yard. Don't want to start planting until we have a plan.