Isabel’s Room

Isabel has been wanting a purple room ever since the day she could talk! OK not since then but since she’s been out of her crib. So we decided with graduation from Preschool we’d remodel her room!

We began with choosing a wall color that was close in color to her existing curtains, bedspread and one that she actually liked. She chose “Orchid House”. The day before we started painting Isabel and I cleared out her room by placing everything in the guest room. Her bed, we placed on the floor of our bedroom and the dresser stayed in the room covered in plastic and was used as a catch-all for tools and such.

Looking south easterly; finishing a few things after all the prep work was complete.
(Note: the purple line on the wall is not the final color of the room)

We removed everything except the carpet (it came out later) and the door to her room (which remained in place and remained white). The room was a blank canvas so to speak…

Looking south westerly.
(Note: the purple line on the wall is not the final color of the room – it was some other paint but decided against it because it was to dark.)

She’s excited!!! She begins painting on the north wall by the closet. Her room will be purple before the day is finished.

Looking south easterly. It’s PURPLE alright!

Looking north into the closet.

After working around the room (with Gino and I following her to spread out the paint) she begins the closet bottom half.

Working together in the closet to get it done.

Away

It’s been about a month or two since I’ve updated the family blog. At the beginning of August my Grandmother passed away and Isabel and I traveled back for the funeral. The plan, originally, was for us to stay a week or two and then that all changed after we realized the cost of flights to return home. So we decided to stay and drive back with my parents to Utah and then take a flight out of Vegas. Well, that didn’t work out either, so we ended up staying until the end of the month when my parents went on vacation… to our house. We rode along with them back home and got to save ourselves a few hundred dollars on flights for us. So now that I’m home and things are again starting to fall into a normal routine, I can hopefully get the blog back up to the latest news, information, and happenings of our life’s. So keep coming back, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! See ya…

ReStain

We spent two days outside this weekend among some warmer temperature’s with Saturday, being the first time this year over 70 degree’s, getting up to 75 degree’s and Sunday was cloudy but was around 71 degree’s. We decided to re-stain the fence since it’s been 2 years and it was starting to look a little drab. Enjoy!

Looking north east, just off the patio.

Looking southeast (and no we did not get a pool, that’s the grill cover), we started to re-stain the area just off the patio in order to plant all the new plants, that we purchased yesterday, in the ground. Since we are brushing the stain on instead of spraying it this time, we have a long way to go, hopefully the rains will let up and we can get it finished and get all the new plants into the ground soon.  We did a great job today considering we got started later in the day. We got about 35 feet stained today until next time…

Getting Potted

Today we spent the whole afternoon in the garden shop at Lowe’s getting some plants for our backyard. Enjoy!

This is called a “Red Prince Weigela” and has rich red flowers (they look pink in the photo but they are red). This shrub grows 6 ft. X 8 ft. and will go nicely along the fence, between the patio and the shed, just outside my kitchen window!

Closeup of the “Red Prince Weigela“.

This is an ornamental grass and is called, “Blue Fescue

This is called “Crimson Pygmy Barberry” and has purplish-red leaves. This low hedge will grow 2-3 ft. X 2-3 ft. and will be planted along the back of the patio along the fence.
Gino likes it for it’s color…I haven’t decided but I do know I don’t like the thorns! OUCH!

Closeup “Crimson Pygmy Barberry” and it’s thorns.

This is ground cover and is called “Country Park Pratia“.

Closeup of  “Country Park Pratia”. This foliage has blue/purple blooms and will be planted between the ornamental grass and the barberry bush just off the back patio.

This is a “Ruutel Clematis“. I’m going to plant it in a large container and “train” it to climb up an arbor on the patio.

This shrub is called “Little Princess Spirea” and it has delicate crimson-rose blooms. This shrub will get 2 ft. X 4 ft. and will planted at the southern corner of the patio.

Close up of “Little Princess Spirea”

This evergreen is called a “Mugho Pine” and will be planted somewhere…not sure of exact spots since we bought 2 of them.

This large hedge is called a “Schipka Cherry Laurel” and has fragrant white flowers. This hedge will get 4-6 ft. X 6-8 ft. and will go great along our neighboring fence along the south, as an additional noise barrier/view blocker.

This evergreen is called a “Dwarf Alberta Spruce” and will be planted along the south neighboring fence.

Poured Concrete

Well, we finally got the concrete poured yesterday, after a few days of rain delay and backed up work orders. Enjoy!

Looking eastward for the shed.
The concrete piled up in the foreground was hauled away the following day.

Looking westward into the garbage can area.

This area holds all 3 cans, with 2 cans along the back and 1 can in front, very nice.

Looking east from the front of the house.
The area along the house, where the gas meter is located, we worked on the next day…

…a weed blocker was laid down and a thick layer of river rock was placed there, which matches the property line between our house and the neighbors.
Any left over rock we placed in that area as well.

Frame Built

This week we had the same man who poured our patio last spring begin the frame work for a tool shed in the backyard, a smaller pad for the garbage cans along the house and a walkway from that pad to the front of the house. Enjoy!

Shed frame looking north.

Shed frame looking east.

Walkway leading to driveway from garbage can area.

Garbage can area looking westward to walkway leading to driveway.

Project: Cherry Maple Cutting Board

When Gino started working on Isabel’s table, we decided in secret that he would also make a cutting board for Gabbi for Christmas. Enjoy!

Cherry and maple blocks being glued together.

After the first drying, Gino cut them, flipped them with the end grain facing up,
and then…

…glued them together again.

Then he rounded the corners, planed, sanded, and then sealed it with a salad bowl finish (which means it’s safe and non toxic!).

The finished cutting board top.

The finished cutting board bottom; it has rubber feet to keep it from slipping.

Christmas Day
Gabbi with her new cutting board.

Project: table part IV

Well, this weekend Gino only got to work on the table Saturday evening because we had friends over on Sunday. He’s going to try and take some time off later this week to get it closer to being finished. I hope so since there are only 10 days left until Christmas! Enjoy!

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Corner close up with pre-drilled holes.

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Hinges for the storage compartment.

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He also got all the legs tapered and ready to sand, router, and stain.