Backyard Transformation

It all started with a new fence. That inspired me to transform the backyard and give it some love for a change. It has been a neglected mess for years on end and I haven't cared. Every day for the past two weeks minus the weekends, I got out there at about 6:30 am and did stuff and things for six to eight hours without a break which caused me to collapse onto the couch with four Tylenol with codeine and a screaming back.

I put in brick trim around the above garden, dug out the tired soil and added fresh black earth mixed with peat moss and then I trimmed the periwinkle with scissors stem by stem and planted portulaca. 

 I ripped apart the circular rock garden from the front yard, hauled a metric ton of rocks to the back yard, reassembled the garden, filled it with fresh earth and planted a bleeding heart, flocks and some stuff I don't know the name of which is a perennial.




 

 

I edged this garden with brick and hauled a butt load of rocks to cover the ground under the cedar to the right of the shed which I trimmed and tied up because the winter had flattened it. I planted a bunch of pots with lobelia, begonia, marigold and some basil in the larger pot. I planted nasturtium in the window box

I'll be repainting the deck and I replaced some of these flipping heavy flagstones on the walkway which had started to crumble.

  I edged this garden with brick, threw down fresh black soil and sowed wild flower seed, trimmed back the lilac a lot, and planted more nasturtium in the cement urn thingum. I got down on my hands and knees and dug out a butt load of weeds on the lawn. Butt. Load. Then I reseeded the lawn.

Not shown is an area where the hose is wound up and I put down and leveled some flagstones that had to have weighed thirty pounds each at the very least. Mud be gone under that damn hose, praise the Lord.

 

I planted cherry tomatoes in the pot behind the rock garden and scrubbed the bird bath and transplanted a hosta beside it.

On Friday I went to my ex's house and dug a new garden and transplanted my son Justin's raspberry bushes and confiscated an antique phone for payment.

Stay tuned for the front yard transformation!

Summer Potting Wreath

This is what I started with. I ended up changing the flowers and adding a birdhouse.

I made this backyard garden wreath using all dollar store items at a cost of $8.00.

I started off with a pool noodle and duct taped it together then wrapped it in taupe fabric.  Since this was going to be large, I knew it would take a lot of work and materials to fill in, so I decided to wander around the dollar store and find larger items and came up with a potting theme.

The pots were three for a dollar and were attached with jute, and the garden tools were three for a dollar twenty-five and were attached in the same way.  The bird was two dollars and hot glued and then wrapped with raffia to resemble a nest.

I put the Gerbera daisies on stems and hot glued them in the pots and stuffed them with raffia.

There are five or six types of greenery which I had on hand.

I ended up adding the birdhouse which I had purchased last summer for $2 at the dollar store and had stained and changed the roof.  I drilled two holes at the back and attached it with wire.

I am in complete love with this one!

Spray Painted Headboard

 I spray painted my headboard today as the finish was rubbing off, exposing the chrome which was not a good look.  I wanted to change the headboard because I'm really tired of it but I'm not in a position to do that just yet, however, I am loving it a lot more now that it's white.

I was at my ex-husband's house transplanting raspberry bushes yesterday and I confiscated the phone that sits on the bedside table.  I said to him, 'You got rid of your landline, right?' and he said yes.  I said, 'I am taking this phone then.'  and he said 'What do you mean? That was a gift from our son!'  So I said, 'Well, you just regifted it to me then, and our son has great taste.  Consider this my payment for the back breaking labour I just did for you.' 

Anyway, I used Krylon spray paint with primer added, and this paint covers more area than the same paint that doesn't have the primer in it.  I needed three cans for this queen sized bed.

Here is the before, taken soon after I had painted all my bedroom furniture black:

 

Garden Wreath

I made a garden wreath using dollar store greenery and some silk hydrangea, a lutin, and an unidentified purple thingum I had in my stash.  

I recycled the straw wreath form, ripping off the horrid arrangement I put together a decade ago when I wasn't very good at doing this sort of thing.

Lilacs On Display

It's such a travesty that lilacs last such a short time; but I'm exceedingly happy that I'm able to enjoy them while they bloom.  

I have enormous amounts of them in every room and the house smells like Heaven must.

Catfish Pencil Case With Zipped Lip

I was asked to make a catfish case for a little boy, so I adapted the pattern which you can find in this tutorial.  After doing some research, I changed the fins to resemble those of a catfish and added some whiskers using double fishing wire that I wrapped in heavy duty nylon thread.

 For this fish, I cut some thin foam to insert into the fins to give them bit of stiffness.

 

Ruffled Lamp Shade Makeover With Tutorial

I wanted to change these lamp shades to the more up to date drum shape, but I can't find any that are cheap enough. 

I decided to revamp them to tide me over until I find a sale, so I spent a few hours making them look ruffled.

Here's the before:

You can see how I did it after the cut.