Finally, a rainy day so I can return to blogging! My new job has swept me away from writing temporarily. We’ve been working on the exterior of our house in every possible way; Brad put a new deck on the front of our house, I’ve planted planters and put in some new perennial beds, we got our vegetables planted and we have done lots of general upkeep and maintenance. Last summer was our first summer in the house and instead of doing any major changes we decided to see what would come up and then make the changes necessary once we knew. Many of the flower beds were overrun with flowers and weeds so it's taken quite a bit of work to get things looking nice.
We bought this house because of the backyard. That's what I say, anyway. I fell in love with it when I stepped outside on the first night we viewed the house. As you all know, the interior of the house was to be desired. The backyard on the other hand spoke for itself. It's a country oasis and the space, trees, gardens spoke to me. The nice thing about our house is that we're surrounded by fields on three sides so we have a view of wide open space all around us! I love country living because it means that I get to see and experience so much nature every single day. Eventually we'll have our own farm, but for now it's so nice just to be surrounded by one.
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| The Veggie Garden |
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| Potatoes are coming up! |
Our find of the week was definitely the claw foot tub! We’re going to use it as a cooler at the wedding. We’ve had our eye out for one for a while and B’s mom is great and finding things online. We lost out on one a few months ago so we were happy to get a great price on this one! The inside of the tub is in near perfect condition and i'm thinking about painting the outside.
Do you think I should paint it or leave it looking rustic? We stuck the tub in our lower shed for the interim. Next year I might use it as a planter in the garden!
The chicken coop changes that I wrote about in early spring are all underway. I found a hardy climbing tropical flower for the lattice on the exterior of the coop, transplanted a few Hostas from the front of the house and transplanted some chives from B's parents house. I also planted Nasturtiums in this bed. Also on my list, I stuck some solar lights in and they have been a life saver when I'm running down to the coop after dark!
As you know, I like a good find. i also love using containers and items in my home in creative ways. Has anyone else noticed how expensive planters and pots are? I've found some really neat and unique containers for my planters this year.
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| A recycled tire pot houses my Kale |
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A cool enamel bowl I bought at a garage sale for $2
looks cute on our table in the backyard! |
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| The herbs and pick-a-pepper plants are flourishing. |
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Do you see Harley peeking in the background? :-)
PS - those railings are on the back deck! |
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The only planters I bought this year
were these tall wicker planters. |
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| Miss Harley on the new deck. |
