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Archive for the ‘Outdoors’ Category

Inspiration: Horizontal Fences

Posted in Inspiration, Outdoors, tagged , , , , , on April 30, 2013 | 2 Comments »

We have chain link fencing around our backyard. Our backyard is big folks, so we don’t want to replace the entire thing. I’m not made of money. Additionally, four of our neighbors back up to our fence and I don’t want to let the dogs out. (Get that song out of your head.) Replacing the front of the fence or the section that faces the road would be a huge improvement. So, that’s what we plan to do.

We considered strapping bamboo fencing to the existing chain link. However, the look doesn’t fit our house.

here

We’ve looked at the sections of wood fencing at Home Depot and Lowes.

lowes fence

Original photo here

Then, The Mister decided it was cheaper for him and his dad to make a fence. His dad has done such a thing (they have a farm) so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. Of course, this caused me to step back and ponder if we could do something interesting.

A home within our neighborhood had a horizontal fence for well over seven years (since I remember first seeing it while dating The Mister). However, they took it down last year and replaced it with the basic wood fence you’re used to seeing. See the Lowes example above. I miss the horizontal fence. This is when I started looking for inspirational photos of horizontal fences. Here is my horizontal fence moodboard.

horizontal fence moodboard

All photos can be found here

I have a few other ideas for the fence that we’re talking out. I’ll share those moodboards later. Moodboards 4ever!

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What I did this weekend

Posted in Flea Market Friday, Gardening, Outdoors on March 25, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

You should get the new look on Pinterest. It has some great improvements. I still want to be able to search for pins within my own boards, but we’re getting there.

We went to the flea market – mostly on a fern buying frenzy.

fern

Image by me

I only bought four ferns but two are “Big Daddies.” We’re keeping them in the sideroom until it’s a little warmer. They’re currently behind the curtain.

We filled in some holes from a painting that was on the wall and around the hole for the medicine cabinet. Afterwards, we used our original can of paint and it looks awful.

paint in bathroom

So, we’re going to have to fix that. I’m trying to use this a “We should repaint the bathroom anyways” moment. I’ve felt the paint needed to be lighter in there for awhile. So, I’ve bought a couple testers and I’m currently waiting for Tester #3 to dry. It’s a “half tone” of the original paint color. I asked the gentleman at Home Depot for a half tone and he asked for an explanation of the term. He obviously has never watched Sarah Richardson.

Additionally, we realized how bad the air vent looks. So, we bought a replacement and it’ll go up as soon as we decided what to do about the paint.

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Over your head

Posted in Outdoors on April 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

As you may remember, we’ve considered a pergola to replace our front porch. However, it wouldn’t provide any protection for someone if they were standing at our front door for some reason. (I don’t know who this person is but I feel for them if it’s raining.) I still love pergolas and I will gladly put one somewhere, but one wasn’t right for the front porch. It didn’t fit our style of house or the traditional look we’re aiming for. So, I’ve decided an awning is the answer. I will now present to you my inspirational photos:

Sadly, The Metal Shoppe is nowhere near here and I stumbled across these on their site during a late Google dig. Here is another angle with my notes.

I’m very technical with my notes.

We currently have metal awnings on the side and across the back of our house. However, I’m not trying to match that style. I’ll keep the ones on the back of the house and hopefully, if budget allows, replace the ones on the side with the style matching the front porch. Currently, I’m waiting on two quotes from metal roofing companies on getting this big (8 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep) awning made and installed. So far I’ve received one quote for it to be in copper and I was pleasantly surprised.

Have a wonderful weekend! I’m in a 5K tomorrow. Notice I didn’t say “running” a 5K. It’ll be a walk and run for this gal. I’m practicing for one in October that I have every intention of running. Then, after the 5K, I’m rushing home to clean up as I have the Wing Fling. You should come. I’ll take photos.

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Black out

Posted in Home Improvement, Inspiration, Outdoors, tagged , , , on March 28, 2012 | 5 Comments »

Since the kitchen renovation is not going as planned, we decided last weekend to conquer smaller projects to make us feel better. We’re way behind on letting you know what’s going on in the kitchen due to a mixture of me being on the road more than usual, this being The Mister’s busy season at work and depression/upset/disappointment.

Here is our quick kitchen summary: We made our custom cabinet guy fix some of his issues. For example, he thought it was acceptable to rip off our window molding without asking and wanted to cut it around the kitchen cabinet he didn’t properly measure. This is just the tip of the crazy train that we’ve been riding for six weeks. Plus, we had to kick one of his “workers” out of our house and I had to tell him to stop cutting me off and not be rude. It’s gotten out of control. It’s a million little things. It makes me feel especially stabby. We’re now working with someone else to fix the kitchen - correct the stain, get us some doors, molding, etc.

So, lets change the subject. I’d like to paint our front door black. Here are inspiration photos as my Pinterest is full of photos of homes with black doors:

here

 

here

here

here

 

here

Would you leave the back of the front door white, as usual? Or would you paint the front and back black?

here

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Our spoky front porch

Posted in Holidays, Our House, Outdoors on December 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

**UPDATE** I’m aware that the photos did not upload. I’m working on the issue this evening. I hope to have everything resolved on this post by Friday, December 23. (RA on 12/20)

Halloween was the perfect excuse to decorate our front porch as it is spooky -seriously the front porch is scary. We’re working on ideas to replace it, but we haven’t made any true headway on that. So, I decided to get some stuff out of the attic that I had hoarded purchased on clearance last year and I grabbed a few things this year.

 

Though it may seem odd to talk about Halloween the week of December 19, I’m taking the next two weeks to celebrate some holidays in full-force.

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Front porch pergola inspiration

Posted in DIY, Inspiration, Outdoors, tagged , , , , on September 23, 2011 | 5 Comments »

We are considering our options for replacing our front porch. Originally, we considered replacing it with a pergola. However, we wanted something more traditional. So, we’ve received some estimates for putting up a gabled roof. The cost is surprising. So, we’re back at pergola considerations. Here are some of our inspiration photos:

Have any of you ever put up a pergola? We’ve looked at some plans and we’ve been told it can be a DIY project. However, because we’d like to be attached to the house, I think we may need a professional.

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Creepy or Cute? Plant stands

Posted in Creepy or Cute, Outdoors, Shopping, tagged , , , , , , , on June 23, 2011 | 7 Comments »

My original Creepy or Cute had an overwhelming vote of creepy. While browsing Anthropologie’s site I stumbled across these plant/pot stands.

stork feet plant stand

alligator feet plant stand

I like them both but I realize they are little creepy. What do you think?

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Hippity Hoppity Cheryl’s on the way

Posted in Holidays, Outdoors, The Mister, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The Mister was off on Good Friday, but I was at work. Therefore, I was quite alarmed when I received a call from a breathless Mister saying, “I was in the backyard working. We have some weeds by the house that I noticed while I was mowing. Do you remember the rabbit?” Before I answered anything about rabbit recognition I quickly asked him if he was okay. I received a confused, “Yeah why? Do you remember the rabbit?” I did remember the rabbit. She (we named her Cheryl) had been hanging out at our place for weeks and we admired her a couple times.

The Mister was in a productive mood (my favorite) and decided to rid some of our yard of weeds. There was a pesky lump of them close to the house and he doused it with weed killer. Then, he began to pull the weeds to find this.

Insert frantic call to me at work.

The Mister stumbled upon a rabbit den and was panicked. He inspected the bunny to find that it was alive but breathing “funny” and there were more inside. I googled rabbit rescues and found out that our vet was on the short list of rabbit vets. So, he called them and they referred him to Walden’s Puddle. There he listened to well-organized voice mail stating that if they were the size of a tennis ball they were old enough to live on their own. If they are smaller than a tennis ball he was to cover them back up as the mother would be back between dusk and dawn. Additionally, it was untrue that if he touched them the mother would not come back. He left a message that he had covered them in weed killer. Then, he tried to cover them back up. However, the bunny on top (pictured above) kept hoping away causing The Mister to follow the bunny, scoop him up and place him back in the den. I would have liked to have seen this.

He counted four bunnies inside the den and called me back to tell me of the message he left for Walden’s Puddle. Then, he called me to tell me they asked him to bring the bunnies to them. So, he was going to bundle them up and take them to Joelton (approximately 30 minutes away) because they were worried about the weed killer. I was vocal about getting the bunnies back and sending me pictures. I received the photos below and an accurate count of seven bunnies.

Seven sweet little bunnies in a box

I got the photos but we did not get the bunnies back. They were going to clean them and release them on their property in a week or so.  I felt awful for poor Cheryl and was openly upset that I didn’t get to see/touch/love them. I quickly accused him of telling them about the hawk, he says he did not, and called Walden’s Creek “bunnynappers.” Then, I came to my senses. They were professionals and had the best care for the bunnies. If we wanted them to live, which we did and do, then the bunnies did not need to come home with us. However, I was still sad for myself and Cheryl. What would she think when she got to the den and they were all gone? Would she leave too?

Happily, Cheryl is still around. We see her just about everyday. The day after “the bunny rescue” we saw Cheryl beside the den and The Mister shouted to her, “Hey Cheryl, they’re okay. I saved your babies.” She kinda looked in our direction but I couldn’t make eye contact.

Take care of yourself and your bunnies.

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Before and After: Making the grade

Posted in Before and After, Family/Friends, Outdoors, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

There is a lot of appeal to a good “Before and After.” They are usually of the interior of a house or someone’s new-found curb appeal. However, there is a lot work that goes into a house that is not sexy, beautiful or striking.

My parents have been working on their new home a lot. They moved a few months ago and they’ve had one project after the other, if not multiple projects at one time. I didn’t know anything was being done to the house a few weekends ago till Momma texted me the photo below.

I called to ask why they had a need for heavy equipment. They were having someone clean all the debris from their backyard. The neighbors called and thought they were filling in their pool. (However, I’m sure my father would be okay with it.) Additionally, they had to re-grade their yard as it was draining towards the house.

Before:

After:

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Trend spotting: geese videos

Posted in Other Blogs, Outdoors, YouTube, tagged , , , , , , on March 11, 2011 | 2 Comments »

First, Jamie shared this bit of awesome goose goodness.

Man + Goose = Love (Watch this video. I can’t get the video to embed. So, you’ll need to follow the links. It’s worth it.)

Then, The Mister shared this funny but slightly worrisome piece. Where are they going?

Once upon a time, my mother knocked a goose out. My mother, my brother and I went to Dunbar Cave (hello any/all Clarksville peeps) to feed the ducks. After feeding them, a few geese started to follow us back to the car. My brother was freaked out by being followed and started to pick up speed. He was fairly young, I’d say three, so it wasn’t a run but he was trying to. Therefore, a goose reached and took hold of his shoelace. Down went my brother as the goose ate as his shoelace. The goose was no fool and figured out that my brother’s shoelace was a tease and not food as the goose had hoped. Therefore, the goose started to angrily peck/eat/bite at my brother’s shoe and his geese friends started to get riled up and interested in what was going on. My mother had walked ahead a few yards to put something in the car. I am seven years older than my brother but wasn’t sure what to do. My reaction to the angry goose, growing crowd of geese and screaming brother was to flap my arms around and yell at them. I’m sure I threw in a few kicks not actually touching the bird but hoping to fake it out. The Reba, also know as my mother, came running/sprinting towards us, reached back and punched the angry goose. The goose made a weird squawk and fell over. It’s friends all became silent and stared at me. I say “me” as my mother had scooped up my brother and told me to follow but I was too busy starring. Suddenly, the goose came to and started to get up. Then, I ran back to the car sure that vengence was upon me. As we drove away all the geese, including the previously knocked out one, were left to stand on the sidewalk while I would tell anyone that was willing to listen about my mother knocking a goose out. If we could have caught the experience on video, it would have gone viral. Gaurantee it.

Have a lovely weekend.

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