Inspiring Creations: New House

Showing posts with label New House. Show all posts

Sunday, May 18, 2014

House Update!

We have been super busy in the yard lately! Having our own house has really motivated us to want to make our yard as beautiful as possible! It's going to take a few years to accomplish this, but we are getting a great start! I hope you enjoy all the pictures!

This was my Mother's Day present! Plants, shrubs, and flowers!

Over the weekend my mom and I went yard-selling to find some fun finds to plant things in for the yard! We found this old (and super heavy) milk jug. I planted some Geraniums in it and can't wait to see the pretty flowers bloom!

This is part two of my mother's day presents--I have a new found obsession with succulents. These are so fun to plant-I just hope I can keep them alive.

More succulents....

Hannah and I planting the garden! Specifically some pickling cucumbers! Can't wait to jar some pickles later this summer!

Another yard sale find--a really old wood tool box that I planted some chicks and hens in! Can't wait for them to spread and fill this entire box!

This little lovely was already planted in the flower bed when we bought the house--this is one of the few things we left in the flower beds. I love these flowers! They are so pretty and dainty! I found out they are called Columbines and they are perennials.

Trying to spruce up the entry way with some plants!

Found this fun decorative plant shelf at a yard sale this weekend! I fixed it up a little with some spray paint and put some fun plants inside!

The tall birdhouse was made by my grandpa years and years ago. My mom had this in her yard and gave this to me this weekend! My grandpa was a handy man and I have a lot of fond memories with him--so I love the fact that I have something from him in my yard! :)

I am going to add one more post with a planter sitting on top, to finish out this little cluster of fun! :)

Our garden finally planted! We planted tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, squash, and cucumbers! Can't wait to watch it grow!

Now, in case you thought I gave up my hobby of quilting--I can prove you wrong! :) I finished up this boy quilt for Fort Worth Fabric Studio over the weekend and I can't wait to show it to you! :)

Monday, April 21, 2014

House Update

I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, I promise! Life has just gotten super busy, and I am still trying to figure out how to juggle it all!

We have diligently been working on our yard! It's going to be a slow process, but we are getting there.

First up, we wanted to finish the fencing around the yard. So, we went in (on cost) with our neighbors, and we decided to put up the rest of the fence first. We wanted it to match, the backyard wall, so we decided to continue with the cinderblock wall on the side of the yard.

Here are a few pictures of the process:

We still need to do the part of the wall that actually blocks off the backyard, and has a gate. After that, the backyard will be completely enclosed! Which will make me very happy! With three little one's running around, a closed in backyard is very nice!

Next up are just some before pictures of the backyard. As you can see we have a giant shed in the backyard. It is really nice, and a great place for storage. There is also a giant concrete patio to the right of the shed. We are going to build a pergola over this area, and do a built in bbq and outdoor dining area.

The top left picture, there are three fruit trees planted. We found out the middle one is an apricot tree, and the other two are apple trees. We are also doing our garden in this area of the yard. We will be tilling the garden soon, and planting (by mother's day) I will update what we plant in our garden, when we decide! :) I can't wait to have another garden, we did one last year in our old house and I really enjoyed doing it! :)

This side of the house has some wood fencing, we eventually want to rip it out and make it match the rest of the fencing around the yard.

So the previous home owners, had this weird brick patio in the front yard. My husband and I were not really a fan of the whole thing, so we ripped out all the brick so we could plant some grass. As you can see Charlie was a big helper and enjoyed moving the brick to the backyard!

We had to bring in a lot of dirt so we could plant some grass. We just took dirt from the backyard (which we needed to anyways) and my husband leveled it out, so we could seed. We also ripped out all the previous plants and took out a boat load of rocks (the previous owner collected interesting rocks and they were everywhere) that were in the flower beds because the dirt was super low in that area and needed to be filled in so it was level.

We are now ready to plant all sorts of flowers and different plants in the flower beds. My mother in law gave me some starts over Easter weekend, that we've already planted. She gave me some chicks (which I love) and also a ground covering plant--it's a purple flowered plant and I love the look of it. I decided to plant it on the right flower bed towards the front, so it would kind of act like a border.

My parents are not the gardening type, and so I didn't really grow up learning about gardening or things like that. I don't know a whole lot about flower gardening, and I am slowly learning about vegetable gardens. My in-laws have an immaculate yard and garden, and are kind of helping us find our way in regards to planting at the right times and what to plant where.

It's going to be a slow process of getting things exactly the way I want, but I am really enjoying the process!

Do you have a garden, do you have any tips or tricks?!

Talk to you soon,

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Quilt Ladder

Hi there! Well, we are finally getting settled in our new home! I can't tell you how great it feels to have a place that we can call our own.

I am ready to start decorating. EEK! My favorite part! I am taking things slow, and doing one thing at a time. This is unlike me. I usually spend the first two weeks after we move and decorate the entire house.

Not this time.

I don't want to rush into anything. I want to take my sweet time, and get each room exactly how I envisioned. This is going to take time! And I need to learn patience, because this is so not my normal. When I want something done, I get it done quickly! This is different, I want to slowly and carefully make my house a home!

So onto my first project for the new house:

My dad, who is pretty much one handy guy--built me this ladder. I am one lucky gal. I have wanted something to be able to showcase my quilts, and this is the perfect solution!

This ladder, was made the old fashioned way. There is not one screw or nail in this ladder. It is made with wood pins, and wood. That's it. It is a real treasure, and I will treat it as such!

I love the fact that I can showcase my quilts and rotate them out so I can enjoy them more! Plus it sure makes a fun prop to photograph quilts.

My dad gave me the ladder like this-comletely unfinished. I wanted it this way because I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it. When he gave it to me, we hadn't bought the house yet. So I wanted to wait to paint/stain it until we were moved into our new home.

I stained the entire ladder with a walnut colored stain first. I only did one coat, because I was just using the stain as a base for when I painted it. I wanted the ladder to look old and used. I am going for a shabby chic look and this was the first step to achieve that look.

After it was stained, I let it dry. I then painted it with a DRY brush with an egg shell colored paint. This gave it that old look, that I adore.

This ladder is something I will treasure for a lifetime. It means so much that my dad made this ladder for me, and that I have something to pass along to my kids from their grandfather!