Monthly Archives: May 2010

May29

Simply Floored

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It has been a very busy week and boy am I glad to be back home!  Although I thoroughly crashed into the comfort of my own bed shortly after arriving home, I did manage to delve into some house projects the following evening. 

To my surprise, Aaron had done some house projects of his own while I was away.  We had bought oak flooring almost two months ago from Costco.  It was the snap flooring style that was a steal for $40 for five or six square feet.  We originally had gotten it to replace the vinyl flooring in our master bathroom, but realized that wasn’t going to work.  The reason is because we plan to expand that tiny little bathroom by taking over a closet in the room behind it, enlarging it by several feet.  The only downside is that it will be a while before we tackle such a monstrous undertaking and I refuse to stare at a pack of snap flooring that long. 

Aaron decided to go ahead and use it, replacing the carpet behind the downstairs bar.

We both agreed that carpet behind a bar wasn’t such a hot idea. When you have people over for a party, like say the super bowl, this is where we store the coolers, where everyone makes drinks, and where the appetizers are served.  It is a magnet for spills and stains, hence replacing it with wood flooring that can be easily wiped clean seemed quite sensible.

It took Aaron maybe 40 minutes to finish the job since there were so few cuts.  Very simple indeed!

All that’s left to do is to lay down a threshold.  Unfortunately, with our record, that could be a while!

Anyhoo, thanks to everyone for visiting throughout the week.  Sorry for the lack of posts!  Next week will be a full week of house project recaps and whatever else we manage to get done during all the thunderstorms predicted for the weekend.   Have an awesome long weekend/Memorial Day!

May25

Pining Away

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There are a lot of ways to get rid of weeds.  There are plenty of chemical sprays with who knows what’s in them.  There is always the option of hand pulling and digging out all of the noxious plants.  And then, there’s smothering and covering.  I opted for option three.

I recognize that spraying the weeds taking over our backyard would be the easiest way to get rid of them.  The only problem is that both the front and back halves of the backyard slope into a ditch that then drains into the sewer system and then finally into the groundwater and watershed.  Ultimately, all the chemicals I employed to make our yard picture perfect would end up eventually in North Carolina’s lakes, rivers, and drinking water.  After seeing what those chemicals can do to plants, I certainly don’t want to see what it can do to fishies or me!

I’ve actually already weeded the same areas of the backyard multiple times.  The weeds are getting thinner, but they keep returning!  Ugh.

I wasn’t too keen on weeding the same spot for the third time so on our next trip to Costco we picked up the solution.

We bought a 4′ x 220′ (!) roll of landscape mesh.  I’m a super big fan of using this stuff since once you lay it down, weeds simply cannot grow through.  The best part is that you can always landscape an area even with the mesh in place by cutting a big X with scissors, pulling back the mesh, planting your specimen, and then pulling the mesh back into place.  So easy and it makes the yard look sharp.  The best part about this mesh is that it will cover a lot of area and was only $32 for the entire roll.  Compare this to what’s available at Lowe’s and Home Depot (typically 3′ x 30′ for $10) and you realize what a deal this is.  The best part?  It’s made of recycled materials.  Score one for the environment!

The only thing I had to do to prepare the area I was going to cover was to rake back the pine straw currently there.  Easy enough.

Next step was rolling the mesh into place.  Since I was working on pretty steep incline, I pinned the fabric in place as I went along using the metal pins provided.

The final step was covering the mesh with the pine straw and, wah-lah!, a weed free area that will remain looking as clean and fresh for years as it did this day.  At least it’s one area I won’t ever have to weed again.  A big yay for that!

May24

Going Post(al)

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Hi-ya everyone!  I’m currently in Orlando, Florida for a conference and am busy giving lots of presentations (whoo-hoo!). 

 I have new posts lined up for tonight and tomorrow night, but I’ll have to convince Aaron to post the rest of the week.  He’s such a good husband, I’m sure he’ll be glad to do it.  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

~ Erin

May21

Planter ReTooling

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Hubs Here……I know everyone has been eagerly awaiting my Friday post….right?  I have a recycle/re-use success story AND HERE IT GOES!

It all started when our neighbors, (Abby and Greg, if you’re reading thank you!), were throwing out some trash and both Erin and I thought the simple, wrought iron piece would work for something down the road.  286 miles later we found a use for it. Here’s the piece in our garage awaiting a purpose

We figured that this stand was previously a planter with some type of rectangle box inset.  The box is long gone so we had to come up with something else to use for the actual planter portion.  Erin looked over at my workspace and saw an old toolbox that she thought would work. It just so happens that it did fit length wise, but was a bit small on the width.  To fix this issue, I cut an old tobacco stick the length of the box and screwed it in.

I screwed through the toolbox into plastic anchors in order to cover the screw’s sharp points and prevent possible injury.

Between the wood piece on the back and the clips on the front, the toolbox was just the right size to fit into the planter perfectly.

I previously sold garden soxx for a company in Charlotte and I can vouch that is an amazing product.  This product was introduced as an erosion control product, and you may see these on highway projects.  Their purpose is to let water flow through while holding back the sediment. The soxx can be ordered stuffed with compost and used to make an unbelievable urban garden that eliminates weeds and can be re-used for up to three years. 

 It was my job to introduce this product to strawberry farmers in North Carolina and I was super jazzed about the fresh idea to promote a ground breaking product….unfortunately the company was not so super jazzed about their payroll ( or lack there of!). But everything happens for a reason and I still believe in this product and all of its uses from erosion, to playgrounds, to living walls.

With all that history laid out, I had a few soxx left over from my sales stint.  I decided to use one for the tool box planter. 

The soxx is actually a mesh tube that you cinch to size using zip ties if you are going to use it for a planter box.

Once the soxx was cinched, I filled it with potting soil I picked up at Lowe’s.  So, directions aside, are you ready to see it?  It’s pretty awesome if I say so myself.

Thanks for reading and please check out next Fridays post on simple home maintenance!

~Aaron

May20

Colonial Living

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We’ve been working like crazy to revamp the front of our house through a series of cheap projects.  We started off with an unpainted brick exterior and pine straw everywhere.  Here’s a very old picture for reference (notice Christmas lights).

Doesn’t look very inviting, now does it?  Two weeks ago we revealed the newly painted front.

Big difference, right?  The only downside with painting the house was that the area around the garage doors suddenly looked very plain.  We’d love to add flower boxes, a trellis, shutters, and other goodies, but all those projects take time and money that we don’t have a lot of.  Of course, there are plenty of other things that we can do on the cheap to jazz up the front.  Like accessorize the garage doors. 

You’ve probably noticed lots of garage doors being dressed up to look like barn doors with colonial style hardware.  This adds a bit more appeal to otherwise functional yet not necessarily good-looking doors.  Hubs managed to break away from work for a bit today to stop by the Overhead Door Company in Greensboro.   He picked up 8 hinge appliques and four wrought iron looking handles for only $72 smackaroos.

It took a matter of 40 minutes total to apply the pieces to the garage door.  The additions gave a bit more charm to the doors and couldn’t have been easier to install. 

Here’s a side by side of a finished and unfinished garage doors. Are you impressed yet?

Let’s move in for a close-up of the thin metal appliques, shall we?

And one last photo showing both doors pimping their hardware.

So, what do you think?  Do you love it as much as us?

May19

Flamethrower

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We’re big on DIY Christmas presents and while some turn out not so great, others turn out awesome.  One Christmas gifting project in particular definitely fell in the latter category and I’ve been anxious to make more forour  own use.   I originally came across directions to make wine torches on Design Sponge back in Fall 2009.  I loved them the second I saw them and realized how easy they were to make. 

Due to our Pelligrino obsession (I swear it is absolutely addictive), we enough bottles on hand to churn out 30 or so wine torches a month.  You would think that five months after Christmas would have provided plenty of time to make the torches, especially with all the supplies already on hand.   Of course, getting the simplest projects done tends to take the longest time ( at least to get motivated about doing). 

Tuesday evening, we must have finally mustered up the energy to get it done.  I was personally motivated because the mosquitos had clearly arrived in town and the burning oil keeps them at bay while Aaron was likely inspired to address the source of my nagging. 

 I’m so giddy they are finally up!

When they are lit, they add a lot of drama and intrigue to the front porch.  We’ll have to throw a summer cookout one evening  just to show these bad boys off.  Perhaps we’ll even give one away to each guest as party favors!

May18

Pining Away

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One of the most strenuous house improvement projects we undertook this weekend was spreading hardwood mulch around the beds in the front yard.   This project initially began with removing all the pine straw that previously occupied these beds.

The morning started off easily enough, with runs to Goodwill to drop off some goods, to Costco to pick up some weekend supplies, and finally to the local nursery for the mulch. I selected the dark mulch because I felt like it would most compliment the new color of our home’s exteriors.  The cheaper price also influenced my decision, since it was a full $10 cheaper than the red-hued pine mulch. 

$40 and a very weighted trailer later, we were back home.  The mulch was so heavy the trailer was actually buckling under the weight.  Once Hubs saw his beloved trailer under duress, the pressure was on to get the weight off in an efforto salvage the poor girl.  Shoveling mulch and wheelbarrowing it up and down a steeply sloped yard is not fun.  Just in case you were wondering.

Nevertheless, the job was eventually completed.  It’s hard to discern the difference between before and afters because the dirt in the beds was so dark to begin with.  You’ll just have to trust me that it looks much better now!

Along with laying the new mulch, I planted some baby pampas and zebra grasses along with hot pepper plants.

I’m really quite pleased with how nice the dark mulch looks against the new exterior color.  It also makes the front entrance look so much more finished.

I woke up with quite the neck ache from all the shovel action, but I still think it was worth it.  The only downside is that we could actually use one more scoop of mulch to finish mulching around the large pin oaks.  We went back to get another load, but their heavy equipment had broken since that morning and they were unable to fulfill the request.  While this does delay task completion, I looked at it as a blessing in disguise!

May17

Let's Talk About Fun, Baby!

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S o, I was (maybe still am?) a bit of a Salt n Pepa fan back in the day and hence my post title today is a throw back to the education they provided me on so many a subject.  Have no fears, today’s discussion is not about attraction to the opposite sex but merely the need to stop doing house projects in order to relax and, most importantly, do nothing more than have fun!  Of course Aaron and I accomplished some strenuous house projects this weekend, but we also dedicated the whole of Sunday to nothingness.

The day started with us sleeping in until 8:30 am.  This is a major accomplishment in and of itself!  With Little Man’s penchant for being up and at ‘em by 6 am on weekend mornings and our dog Huston’s bladder needs, we rarely sleep in on our day’s off.  So let me repeat, we slept in until almost 9! With the day on the right track we enjoyed our coffee and biscuits and casually gathered our supplies for the day’s mission: a boating excursion on our little Boston Whaler.

We hadn’t had the pleasure of enjoying our Whaler since we relocated from Charleston.  This boat is surely tiny, but it was perfect for exploring all the shallow inlets and waterways canvassing the South Carolina coasts.  We were hoping that we would be able to enjoy our boat on High Rock Lake as much as we did in the salty waters.  I threw some snacks and drinks together along with plenty of sunscreen for our pale, freckle prone skins.  Last on the list of must brings were rain jackets for everyone.  Why is it that the day we decided to launch our pleasure craft it was a 60% chance of thunderstorms?  (I think God has a weird sense of humor.) 

Anyhoo, we backed the S.S. Minnow down the ramp and loaded ourselves in for a few hours of fun.

After the first hour of cruising, we threw anchor by the dam and just enjoyed the sunshine and each other’s company for a while

The snacks were quickly brought out and enjoyed.  Apparently, everyone in our family is a big fan of rice cakes.

After a half hour of taking in the lush landscape, we headed out again to explore.  We couldn’t resist going under the train trestle; a feat that boats larger than our own would not be able to accomplish.

Four hours after our adventure began, the thunder storm was clearly on its way and we were all sufficiently tired to call it a day.  Not thirty minutes after we pulled in and tarped the Minnow, the first rain drops began to fall.  Once home, we all enjoyed a nice, long nap. 

The rest of the week will feature posts about our house projects.  I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

(Daily Drop Cap by Jesssica Hische)

May14

Kids

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I want to introduce myself to those of you have been following Cultivating Home for the last couple of months.  You are reading an entry from “Hubs ” aka Aaron.  I decided to begin writing a  post at least once a week as new, fun release from the everyday mundane groove that happens every now and again.

I wanted to write about our Little Man.  He is only 3′ tall weighing in at about a cool 30 lbs, but he’s taking every second of the day to grow and learn.  I wanted to post on how he is our life and joy. 

Would you believe that he is a painter, carpenter, road tripper, landscaper, biker, yard-saler, thrift store prodigy, but most of all he is so real and into his surroundings it makes us check everyday who we are as parents.  He goes with us everywhere….long road trips, no problem…even at the drop of the hat he is ready to roll.  He is our biggest fan…only wanting to be with the two of us, enjoying whoever, or whatever comes next.

I love my son and, yes, he is getting to sleep with the most annoying toy we have in the house.  (you should have seen his face when I brought it in for him to sleep with….priceless). 

So with that said, I am the proud husband and father of the two most creative people in the world.  Welcome and I look forward to doing a post a week.  Have a wonderful Friday!

May13

Fenced In

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Even though I was just getting home from work yesterday, Aaron was already hard at work finishing up the details of our fencing project from last week.  He and his dad already completed the main part of this project, replacing all the old fence planks with some good-looking new ones.  All that was left to do was devise a distraction from the chain link fence that remained.

I understand the affordability and utility of chain link fence.  I do.  But am I alone in thinking it unattractive?  I think not.  I believe that if wood fences were the same price as chain link, the latter would cease to be used on residential property.  Other than keep things in or out, what purpose exactly does a see-through fence serve?  As a recession on curb appeal?  (My apologies if my rant has offended anyone, but I had to lay my cards on the table.)

As I was saying, Hubs was toiling away on creating a facade for our chain link gate between our now much better looking fence and our screened in porch.  Since he already started before I got home, I don’t have a great before shot (but it still gives you an idea!).

Lovely right?  Well, Aaron was doing a great job of turning the before into something a little bit more appealing.  Here is the gate in the beginning stages of its facelift.

Obviously there isn’t a whole lot to screw the boards into.  As a remedy, Aaron screwed the boards into 2 x 4′s mounted on the back.  So simple, yet so clever! Here is what it looks like from the front.

Hubby-poo then repeated air nailing the boards on the opposite side. 

Here’s a shot from the front/street side.

You can spy Aaron’s finale piece is this last shot.  He made the cutest sign out of some slate we had laying around.  And his word of choice?  “Welcome”.  I beamed with pride.  While the end result may not be better looking than an actual real wood fence, it sure looks a lot better than it did before.  Very good job, if I may so myself!

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische