When will it be in stock?

I think this is the year we get patio furniture!

Except, when will it be in stock? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39898474/

Good news/Bad news

I went outside this morning and got some good news and bad news:

The good news is that the french drain is definitely working. This is the sump pit which is a garbage can buried in the ground with the french drain perforated pipe flowing into it. 

I did have some concerns that perhaps the french drain wasn't draining into the sump pit and that the reason the french has worked thus far, is just because there is now a gravel trough that runs the length of the yard and that trough was holding the rain runoff. Now, it's fairly obvious that the drain is working well. 

The bad news is that because the sump pit is fully filled, water isn't draining in the trouble areas of the yard so that this is happening: 

Rachel's Grandpa had given us a sump pump and it worked, but not great when I first tried it. It seemed that perhaps the 1/3 horsepower wasn't enough to push water through the 4 foot hose I had connected to it. This morning, I hooked the pump up to a 50 foot hose with no expectations. I need to pump the water out to the front yard so that it can drain into the gutter. 

Luckily, the sump pump worked! Perhaps it was the hose I was using before? No idea. Hopefully, now that I am pumping the water out of the sump pit, the standing water in the yard will drain into it and we'll have a dry yard again. 

Plants and mulch

So here's what we started with:

Then, we tore some rose bushes out and got to this: 

Most recently, we tilled up the dead and live grass and tore out some more random plants as well as the tree stump: 

This weekend it was supposed to rain like crazy, so didn't think any progress would be made. But after seeing that perhaps it wasn't going to rain, Rachel and I bundled up Adeline and made a trip to Home Depot and bought this: 

http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=420 

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2506/golden-variegated-sweet-flag.php 

http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/new-zealand-flax-coastal-flax/index.html 

We wanted drought tolerant/low water plants. Unfortunately, somehow we missed that the Variegated Acorus "likes damp to wet soil". So I guess we'll see how long it lasts before dying and then being replaced with something less thirsty. 

We ended up with this: 

We still need to put some sort of rock/brick border between our lot and the neighbors as well as add a path that goes to the backyard. But it's getting there!

Total investment so far: $215

it rained

Those photos are from a year ago, prior to the french drain, that now runs along the side of the backyard and empties into a buried garbage can.

After last week's rain, we had no standing water in the backyard! Good to know that my back breaking sweat equity actually worked.

More sideyard progress...

Now that the weather is starting to get nicer, we decided to tackle the sideyard, especially after seeing the quote "the best gift you can give your neighbors is a well kept yard."

I posted back in September about where we left off, here.

This weekend, I tore out the stump, the other living plant on the side (other than the tree). Then, rented a tiller from Home Depot and spent 3+ hours tearing the dirt/grass apart. The tiller made quick work of the area, but it wasn't easy at all; going to feel it tomorrow.

Then we put down some landscape cloth which will help prevent random plants and weeds from popping up in the future. The next step will be buying some drought resistant plants, and some mulch or rock.

 

Thinking of using something like this for the walkway $2.48 per stone at Home Depot:

 

we've been busy

So as you might have guessed, having a baby can take up time otherwise spent working on a home.

Rain control

We have a downspout in our backyard that pours right onto the brick patio. I've tried hooking up extender tubes to escort the water off the brick and into the yard. This has worked but only marginally, it either gets kicked or blown by the wind and detaches from the downspout.

Last weekend, in preparation for the rain, I executed a plan I had thought up a few months ago ---- buy a narrow garbage can and have the downspout pour into it instead. So I bought this "slim jim" 23 gallon can from Home Depot:

The problem is, with the heavy rain, it was filling up in about 3 hours. Dragging the can 10 feet to dump it out into the garden/lawn was difficult and a pain. This was finally realized when I went to empty it before work, dressed in work clothes and the darn thing fell over creating a small 23 gallon typhoon of water getting me wet.

So, to solve this, I drilled a hole in the lower side of the can, installed a ball valve hose bib. A standard hose bib fits a 1" hole pretty well. With some silicone, washers and a nut on the back side, the drain valve seems pretty sturdy.

Next, I took some old hose, and made a new hose out of with a replacement hose attachment:

Now, the slim jim can collect 23 gallons of water, and I can then turn the valve and pump the water anywhere within 15 feet. 

In the future, I'll build a more decorative box around the garbage can. And, when it's not rainy season, I'll disconnect the hose and store in the shed.

More house history

Exchanged some emails with a Sacramento Mid Century blogger who runs Eichlerific. And she pointed me to this website that has vintage aerial photography.

We know that some major renovations have been done to the house, and I wrote about the garage addition earlier

There, I showed the current aerial photo with the estimated additions (the fuchsia squares below):

HistorialAerials.com  has aerial shots of our house from 1957 and 1964:

1957,  Notice the sparse trees and where the driveway is located




1964, Trees have grown in the last seven years:

Garage progress

So, first post on the garage in a while...mainly due to focusing my energies on other parts of the house. I wanted to add another workbench to increase storage and general workspace.

Did this a few months ago using mostly left over scrap wood I had laying around:

Then, I added four pull out drawers (no pictures). This weekend, I got it nearly finished: 

Still needs a second coat of paint on the front doors. I'll be building more workbenches like this around two other walls of the garage. The sliding doors were really cheap and help keep things looking organized. 

Status: The Baby's room

The dresser is now complete (the photos I posted earlier were with just white primer).

Rachel embroidered this:

The bar cart

I've been wanting one of these bar carts for a long time, maybe since Mad Men season 1:

I think Rachel thought they were tacky. I persisted and almost convinced her. Then, a baby is on the way and the deal was when the little one moved out and went to college I could get one. I reluctantly agreed. 

After a Nate Berkus episode last week, I may have gotten Rachel to agree to the bar cart via an awesome loophole, the bar armoire (it even rhymes):

This is currently on Craigslist for $95, wouldn't it be perfect?

Baby's nursery just got a little more awesome

After we found these three prints on etsy. As mentioned previous, we've tried to have a woodsy theme to this nursery, foxes do that well:

Cheap art, again

If you subscribe to Veranda, Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful, and Martha Stewart Living as well as read the popular home design blogs such as Young House Love, Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge (as we do) you're going to see a few chevron patterns here and there.

Not wanting to be left out of the trend, we found some chevron fabric online for the decent price of around $10 a yard. But then there's another $10 for shipping and handling. Eh. So when we were in Target the other day and saw these chevron napkins, it was like game on.

Rachel wrapped the napkin over a piece of cardstock paper and mounted it in an Ikea frame we had bought a few years ago to decorate her office in Boston. Now, one corner of our massive (both in size and lack of decoration) living room is a little more trendy.

Rachel wanted me to post a better photo:

One last laundry post....

Added the second laundry shelf over the weekend. The contact paper is possibly temporary, not sure if it works for me. But for now, it works.

The laundry "room"

So, after getting the dryer vent issues fixed, I figured we might as well keep making the laundry area more functional. So, I repaired the leaky hot water valve, replaced the washer hoses with these super-duper reinforced hoses that as supposedly better than stainless steel:

I also put a plastic tray under the washing machine -- just in case.

Next, I repainted the alcove in the same color as the living room, Cornerstone. We had two gallons of it left over.

Before:

Progress:

Two shelves will be going up (one is actually already in place, but don't have a photo at the moment).

Here is a pic of the dryer vent routing now -- much better: