The Deck & Flowerbed Mess
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Stepping Stones
My mom made these with the boys for me for Mother's Day. 2012
2018
BEFORE
This is an old bench we got at an auction probably 15 years ago. It had stuff growing on it, it just looked yucky.
I sanded the wood planks and painted them with acrylic paint, added some pillows and wah-lah!
2018
I also added this path between the garage and house. I don't have a before pic, just imagine a bunch of mud.
2018
The path goes all the way around to the back deck.
2014-
I redid this flower bed again this year. I added landscaping fabric and mulch. We also added another down spout and made a little drainage area. The rain would come down off the roof so hard it would just flow right over the gutters. So we put this in place to stop that from happening. So far so good.
And if you notice from the previous picture of the area, there's something missing. The fence! We took it down this year.
2014
Here's the drainage area I made. I dug a trench that angles away from the house, put landscaping cloth down, added some river stone and some ground cover plants. I think it looks cute and it's functional!
I wish I had taken a before picture here, but was just too excited to get started. So, picture this, LOTS of mud and hostas all over the place. This whole area was less than 20 bucks to do.
All of the large rocks the boys found in the woods. The path is made out of old bricks and pieces of concrete the boys also found in the woods. One by one, I dug a little area in the dirt and placed each one in, level with the ground. There are a couple 2 inch thick pieces of wood at the end of the path that are from my dad. I think they were for smoking food, but oh well. And I added a bag of pea gravel, $2.50, to the path to fill in the gaps and a couple bags of mulch on each side of the path. I moved the hostas into one area too.
Oh and the giant planter to roll the hose up in was on sale for 5 bucks. And the 16 inch cement block it's on was 3 bucks. This looks so much better.
Some of the bricks have moss growing on them. I love how it looks. Total cost for the path, $2.50
I hate lattice!!
I really do. We first had the real wood stuff, but my lovely children lost a toy under the deck one day. Who hasn't been there? Did they come ask for help? No, they kicked and kicked until they broke a giant hole in it. Then we replaced it with this ugly brown plastic crap that screamed White Trash! The only thing missing was a fat guy in a wife beater and a case of PBR. I was tired of it looking like this, so off to the hardware store we went. We picked up some 1x4s and 1x2s. We took off the piece of wood that the lattice was attached to and moved it back towards the house so we would have room to attach the boards. Next year I'm planning on staining the whole thing.
2013
The Railing
The next thing was this railing. Our children aren't toddlers anymore, so we really didn't need it. With a smaller deck like this I think it looks more like a cage. So I took it off and sanded down the front, added a rug and some pillows. We love the way it looks, makes the whole thing look bigger too.
Poison Ivy Flowerbed
This flowerbed used to be so beautiful. Full of irises, lilies of all kinds, decorative rocks, crocus, daffodils and of course my gazing globes I made out my grandparent's old bowling balls. But after having the boys I was way to busy to get any yard work done. And it was this way for years!! This summer I finally decided to jump in and get it done. But, it was full of poison ivy. With poison ivy present I covered my skin with clothing as much as possible. That meant jeans, boots, gloves and sweatshirt. The perfect clothing for 100 degree weather! Sometimes I'm an idiot. It took a few hours out there in the heat, but I got er done! I planted a new butterfly bush and in the spring and summer we should be able to see the rest come up! Can't wait!
Butterfly Bush
A voice whispers.......If you plant it, they will come.
House Flowerbed
Now with this flowerbed, it was taken care of but there were these two giant bushes that took up a ton of room. It took a couple hours to dig them out. I replaced them with some smaller lilies and coneflowers.
I need to do something under the chase.
The bees LOVE these flowers. I was stung twice while working back here, but not by this guy.
