House projects part 1

The end of June we celebrated our one-year anniversary of moving into our house. In the process of making it a home, the realization that the house projects are never done has truly hit home. (I am eating a big piece of humble pie right now, Mom!) However, instead of begrudging the time, money, effort, and stress that these projects bring, I wanted to remember them so that in the future we can look back and enjoy the fruits of our labors and hopefully learn from our mistakes and experiences.

Project #1: The garden.

 So this is what it looked like in May after initial plantings. I had wanted to do an arbor trellis on the side between the two beds for the cucumbers or other vine plants.


However, I was too lazy and indecisive and figured I'd just plant them in the beds. After continually stepping on the vines, I've decided that (1) I only need one or two cucumber plants (the above is three seeds. Just three!) and (2) I must have a trellis for them to grow up.

I also learned you really need to check the type of plant on the tag before you purchase. I had forgotten how similar cilantro and flat-leaf parsley look . . . bye bye, cilantro plant (I like it but I am the only one in the house).

The cucumbers got mildew with all the rain (or as some like to say, moisture :-)) we had in July. Also, I wasn't anticipating how enormously tall these tomatoes would get. They kept falling over in their cages, and I kept wasting money on piddly stakes and ties trying to keep them in the soil. Finally, Michael just got some chain link fence posts and hammered them down deep deep into the soil. No more falling tomatoes, but I still couldn't keep all the vines up so they kept flopping over. Any suggestions for next year?


Fortunately, despite some eager bugs/caterpillars, we enjoyed lots of veggies and had many to share.

Project #2: Clara's nightstand. (This project was actually done in the spring but I am finally getting around to posting it.)

I had been hunting and hunting for a nightstand for Clara and finally purchased this little green shelf used for $35 I believe.

 Before.

After. I am really happy with it (it's actually a bit more turquoise in real life) despite my poor spray paint skills.

And here is Clara in front of the Washington D.C. temple. I actually purchased a white frame and had it hanging for a while but just didn't like it and found this pink one which was perfect.

Project #3: The driveway.

Despite considerable discussion about the design of the driveway before it was laid last year, it still cracked, and people (myself included) kept driving off the driveway and into the grass because of an awkward design.

 My camera pics are corrupted for some reason, so I can't show you the before, but basically they chopped off the top part of the driveway (where that bump on the left is sticking out and covered with "hay" to protect the grass seed) and then added a new triangular piece. Much better.

Other random house projects:

 I adore Creeping Jenny (the green plant in front) almost as much as I love Cutie Clara. Okay, not even half as much, but boy, I didn't realize how happy a plant could make me.

I had taken all the furniture off the porch and was scrubbing the floor, when Clara unexpectedly decided to help. She did a good job, too! Robbie, of course, couldn't be left out of the action.