Tired of the old ikat burgundy cat scratched armchair and looking for something new. A quick search and instant inspiration from this post. Ticking fabric already on hand, bought for some other forgotten project. A trial run, a little bit of practice and experience before I invest and tackle the two footstools in the same ikat fabric that were put away in storage. The goal: update the footstools for my daughters room.
But first some practice. Fabric washed, shrunk and frayed. Draped over object. Pinned in all the
obvious places. Pins are your best friend. Found many places and uses
for pins. Chalk is your second best friend. Basting is helpful too. With
a little patience, one can baste in a straight line (not me though).
So far this has been a two day project. Day one ended with not enough
fabric (way back in the fall of 2012). A few months later with more fabric
and 6 hours to myself, lots of progress. Wow, the things one can
accomplish with a day to themselves. A run, a long dog walk and some
creative time to fiddle with this project and the sewing machine.
I'm going for a frayed edge around the top and back. A refined edge around the arms. And a normal sewn edge tucked in the arms. The slit in front, I have decided to leave open, easier to pull the slip cover on. Will find some velcro and funky buttons to finish the closing.
Now sorry to disappoint, but this is as far as I got yesterday. But with my new skills and experience (haha) I'll go ahead and purchase the velvet fabric for the cushion and get the fabric for the footstools. More thread too (the real reason for not completing stage one!).
Replacing glass in interior vestibule french door... Huge PAIN. Seeing cat try to launch through the now not glassless opening. Worth it! I hope she learns quickly.
Home improvements are abound this first week in 2012.
French door glass was put in yesterday. The cats, and even us humans, have been lazy and just stepping through the door opening rather then opening the door, for the past 5 months. Cat did try to jump through it last night and bonked its head. He should be ok. The glass is so clean and the door so perfect now. Its a non-shattering glass, safe for the kids. Can you tell the before vs after? Still have to finish sanding door and polish it (yeah, maybe I should have got to that before the glass went in. Oh well.
I started painting the wall in Chazes room last weekend. Should be finished this weekend. Will post a list of ways NOT to paint, or the lazy persons painting job.
Had an appointment with a kitchen designer today. That went ok. Those kitchen programs are a pain. Mostly she was able to use the kitchen planner with ease. After two hours, Lucy woke up and I had to leave. She had entered my ideas, but I think she wanted to try other things...which is what I want to see. Other options.
And, while I was searching craigslist for different things, I remembered I have this stump and bad maple trees to deal with. One quick search for stump removal a phone call and the guy is swinging swung by today to assess the situation. Alls good, he will come next week with his stump crusher. The winter, as I know it, hasn't really happened (no snow) so why not remove the stumps, which are actually called clumps...
Stump crusher operator has to remove the fence to get at the trees. This will put an interesting spin on my back yard plans. I want the fence gone although this is sooner then I had planned as I sort out what to replace fence with. Of courses, he is only removing one section, I just told him not to bother replacing it
And a whole lot more to haul - this is what 3 cubic yards looks like:
The pea gravel is dumped in the driveway because of these steps. Yep, no direct entry to the patio area.
While I was waiting for the delivery I came across this pea gravel patio inspiration. I like the use of other rocks making a pattern and sectioning off groups of pea gravel.
And possibly the last. Is this the slowest moving project, or do I just update too much?
Sunday started out miserably, rain and cold. My spirits dampened by the weather and not being able to work in the rain. Decided to drive to the landscaping place to check out their rocks and the SUN came out. ROCK piles and sun lifted my spirits. I compared heaping piles of pink pea gravel vs gray pea gravel. Found out their delivery schedule. The visit, rock talk and SUN inspired me to do the last of the prep work.
Dug out the last concrete slab on that afternoon. Hauled it to the front in my handy 5 gallon buckets.
Disregarded the $3400 dollar estimate for busting up and replacing cracked concrete step.
Last night (Wed) I "rototillered", by shovel, the area that needs leveling. Raked the area for the very last time.
Sorted the raked up good rocks (round rocks for dry stream bed) and bad rocks (small chunks of concrete). Edged the border with my birthday gift shovel (yeah who gets a shovel for their birthday?? :))
Took an official measurement of the area. 17.5 x 13 = 227.5 square feet.
Took another before and after progress photo.
Yeah, ignore the other small areas where weeds have sprouted, again. I still need to figure out how to implement my idea, phase 2.
And I'm so giggly with excitement (over pea gravel...reallly????!!! ... follow through and the anticipation of completing a project)
Some reference numbers:
17.5 x 13 = 227.5 square feet.
3 inches deep
2.49 cubic yards, adding 20%-30% for compaction so 3 cubic yards!
THIS PILE (deja vu ... we had the same looking pile of rubble from weekend #1 that was hauled to the front by the nanny's bfriend); at the end of weekend #2 I was wondering if some kind person would come along and remove the 2nd pile of rubble.)
Now resides in the front of the house, again.
Thanks to my new** red wheelbarrow and MY AWESOME 8 year old, for pushing the wheel barrow back and forth ... all BEFORE breakfast (he has always wanted me to get a wheelbarrow, and I think he had fun, for the first few hauls) . While I loaded and unloaded the pieces into/outof the wheelbarrow AND transported the red bucket filled with little pieces. Hmmm about 8 times. That was some feel good stuff, first thing in the morning. Now we just need to remove the concrete that was underneath our 2nd last pile, somewhere in the vicinity of all those little scattered rocks and the fence line and the bucket in this picture.
And a little recap on the backyard progress
May 2011
oops, a little over growth 7/2011
oops, completely neglected 9/2011
re-dug and a little pile of rubble 9/2011
watch the concrete piles accumulate 9/2011
bigger
And today, 9/26/11. With the exception of the small patch of concrete slab left to remove (by the orange bucket), all the other dirt has been turned over and, I have determined, "rakeable". A lot of rocks and concrete did breakdown into little pieces and I want to level it with the idea that it will provide a firmer ground for the pea gravel. ** The black wheel barrow which was also new, broke weekend #1. Yes, I knew it was merely for weeds and light gardening, and not landscaping and rubble, but we used it for hauling the slabs regardless. Luckily it's still useable for light gardening and holding leftover rocks.
concrete pile gone, again
And now the pea gravel patio is a bit on hold because of subconscious and this BIG ole ugly crack in the concrete steps that lead to the basement door.
Isn't that a beauty! I tried to ignore it, but my subconscious kept bugging me and telling me I ought to at least INVESTIGATE the cost of fixing this.
Ring, ring ... I decide to call a contractor to get an estimate, BEFORE hauling in all the pea gravel and quarry rocks and then getting that feeling that I SHOULD have maybe dealt with this. BUT, I don't want to lose my momentum and desire and have to WAIT for a call back and then an appointment for an estimate and then .... LOVE a contractor who returns your call within ten minutes. I should have an estimate by the end of the week.
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After we did the early morning hauling and re-assessing, it was time to get pretty and visit a couple of museums. Off to a city mildly more exciting then the one I live in. 2 museums, Anthropologie for adults (well, me), and The Science Museum for kids (and me too, I love seeing my kids having fun).
Yep, I consider a stroll through an Anthropologie store as good as a museum. The way the store is styled and and displayed, oh soooo inspiring.
Which probably doesn't look much different compared to the previous weekend, but believe me, there was much digging, stone sorting and tossing going on.
I bought a flat bow rake for leveling and landscape weed fabric for tricking weed growth. A little ahead of the game; we (me) are a week away from that stage. My phone is out of order (switched carriers and this is what I get, a nonworking phone???) so I couldn't call my nanny and her boyfriend for help. Boo.
Another pile of rubble and a deflated football. Where oh where is the air pump. The first HUGE pile was already taken away by the city! They were impressively quick. I put an ad on craigslist for "free clean fill" thinking the rubble would be sitting there for several weeks before the city came. I returned home that evening and the pile was gone. I did get a response to my craigslist posting, but it sounded more like a pick up line.
A collection of finely selected round rocks, salvaged from under the old concrete slabs, for the dry stream bed.
And a collection of bad rocks. Sorting rocks is my kind of task. Now if someone will come along and EMPTY the wheelbarrow for me, I can fill it up again. Where are you?
A huge pile of earth to raise the garden.
Some grass cuttings for compost and mulch for the soon to be raised garden.
And some edging.
-------- Math stuff
I discovered that I will need 80 BAGs of pea gravel. @ 3.67 / bag that would be quite the extravagant pea gravel patio. I asked about torn bags, which are sold for half price, BUT that would take 9 years to collect enough bags for my 20x15 (300sq ft) patio area. Unless the fork lift driver royally screws up. hmmmm.
It will also take me the better half of a year to transport 80 bags. I could order a pallet of pea gravel bags and pay $69 dollars for delivery.
OR I can go the quarry route. I love a quarry... For 15x20 area (300 square feet) and 1.5 inches deep. I will need 1.64 yards of pea gravel (thanks to the calculator on the quarry website)
$37 dollars per yard (for gray stone; pink stone costs $42/yd)
$40-50 for delivery
For an approximate total of $105. And a lot of shoveling & hauling. Much closer to the amount of $$ I was planning to spend.
Guess we are making a trip to The Quarry. They have some big rocks for sale too which I need one or two for the dry stream bed.
Other costs:
Landscape fabric and rake: $0.00 aka free. I had earned 32 dollars @ Sears from Shop Your Rewards (when I bought a king size mattress last year)! Not the funnest stuff to reward yourself with, a grill would have been better. On the other hand it would have been hard to pass over cash for landscape / weed blocker fabric
Big helper Labor: $40.00
Little helper labor: $20.00 (Chaz hauled 7 loads of grass and dug another 7 wheel barrow loads worth of dirt.
If you were the pot, I'd be the glue; If you were the glue, I'd be the pot? I don't know which one I am but I do know HELP IS GOOD.
In my experience, there are the idea people and then the finisher people. People who start a project partnered with people who finish the project. People that get ideas and start the job and people who do the lifting and labour. Or maybe just the project people paired with supporters. My sister has a husband who does a lot of the work around the house. She starts, he finishes. My brother has a girlfriend who does a lot of DIY stuff. He helps with other jobs (lawn cutting, maintenance stuff) and she does the painting and patio building and other stuff. And friends, they have partners who seem to compliment their strengths and weaknesses. It reminds me of the song All I want is you.
I am definitely the idea person and I definitely like to do some kinds of manual labour, but I am not partnered with someone who likes to do the other parts of the job. Sometimes jobs are more fun when there is a group of people working on it.
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I have written about my backyard and attempts at making a patio several times. BUT this time, I am confident the project will happen!
This was plan I rendering. It includes a paver patio and deck.
This is Plan I drawing:
This is what my backyard looked like in the spring, after some digging and idea revolution. The drawings and idea for a paver patio came AFTER I started digging. We had even hauled away the dirt and grass piles, but I still needed to dig out the concrete (that is under the piles).
May 30,2011
Summer things happened and by Sept my back yard became overgrown and the ideas faded:
Sept 10, 2011
The halt in the plan also had to do with design ideas. I LOVE red brick patios with little grass and moss growing through the cracks. But my house is surrounded by limestone walls. I was conflicted about what material to use. And the hot summer. Hot hot summer equals hard hard undiggable earth. And then came the overgrowth.
I became re-motivated when I read this blog post @ Design Sponge and spotted Jess's crushed gravel area.
I did a couple google searches and found some pea gravel patio instructions that I was cool with and came up with Plan II (same idea, but more rocks and pea gravel. This rendering doesn't include the deck I want to eventually build):
Along with new inspiration and motivation, the rain has also made the earth easier to dig again. So back outside to clear away the overgrowth. After an hour work this (saturday) morning (and lifting the screen up for the window shot) the backyard looks more like it did in the spring, albeit the long grass. Yep, it got so long my reel mower will not cut it. Whats a girl to do.
Sept 10,2011
Small pile of concrete.
Buh bye elephant head, I am sure I will see you ALLLLLLL over next year.
My perch, the skateboard.
While I was pulling out the overgrowth and thinking about all the grass I have to dig out again I wondered if I should let the winter do the work for me and start next spring. And then I remembered how our nanny's boyfriend is out of work. And how he is also 20 years younger then me and probably FULL of energy. I also decided that my time could be better used going to this community yard sale in search of a wheel barrow and rake. And buying the pea gravel. I really, really want to get to the next stage of patio building. After all this will be my third time doing the digging part. I decided to call her and see if he was interested.
--------------- The story of limestone supplyand patio idea revolution
While clearing the back yard in the spring I discovered a pile of leftover limestone. I dug up a few and decided that maybe I can find enough rocks to build my patio.
I also have this pile of limestone type rocks from the alcove area that we cleared out
AND We have this lovely "quarry" nearby. I discovered this clay hill area when I was pregnant with my son, back in 2002. Mounds and hills and mountains of clay that appear to be quite moon like to a youngster. We hadn't gone hiking there for a few years, but recently we just took my brother and girlfriend for a walk. Although some of the hills have been flattened and filled in with gravel we did find one portion of the clay hills and bike track. (I do not live in NH, "Live Free or Die"; I live in a state that has many rules and laws and tends to clear away fun and "prevent disaster").
AND we discovered the quarry! We each grabbed a rock to carry home, but my dog was not able to walk and the baby had had enough, so two stones were left behind in order to carry the invalids. (choices, eh)
I was determined to go back and collect a few more limestone rocks. And a bucket of smaller rocks. And that is just what we did this afternoon. A friend and I put the boys bikes into the car and off to the clay hills & quarry we go.
I have many pictures of the boys biking adventure but forgot to take a picture of the quarry.
Lucy also enjoyed the clay and spent most of her time rolling around on it.
My collection of limestone and Lucy's collection of little rocks.
Yep, I need to make about, er, 40 more trips. I'll remember to take a picture of the quarry on one of those trips.
----------- Back to backyard
Ego lost and I called Sunday morning and Nanny and her boyfriend came to help. And let me tell you, working with a group of people on something like this is HUGE. It's fun, its motivating and so much more gets done.
Hulking boyfriend machete away the grass and cracked up and carried concrete to front of house. Chaz hauled away the piles of grass and elephant ears. Nanny played with Lucy.
Sept 11, 2011
And I cleared the grass off of the concrete blocks, pulled out the small pieces of concrete. Collected and tossed the good stones in a bucket. (I am determined to collect and reuse rocks for the majority of this patio; it just seems odd to pay for rocks.) And went in search of sledge hammer.
Our tools.
After 2.5 hours the back yard looked like this.
With just one fatality, a broken pot.
I have grand plans to finish the patio this time! Hopefully next weekend! During the week I can haul away some barrows of dirt (or maybe I will leave that to my associate) and level the area. Get the weed stopper stuff, sand and pea gravel. And lay my pattern of lime stone. Eventually I will cut down that tree. IT's a bad tree, pushing against the foundation.
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"If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug." ~Barry Louis Polisar
