A Bit of Yard Work Mixed In

The yard has needed a bit of sprucing up, yet it's not really what you would call a full project right now.

The yard work has been quite exhausting even though we haven't done a ton of it. This summer we aren't putting a lot of effort into the yard, though we have a lot of plans for it. Plans for next summer. When we aren't doing a whole lot of home renovations on the inside. But there have been a lot of little things that have needed care, such as over grown tree limbs and removing unwanted items.

The first item on our list were the backyard trees. The limbs were beginning to hang so low we had to stoop under them to mow the lawn. Plus they cut out a lot of the yard. The left one got the biggest haircut. Here's a picture of it nearly finished.

We also trimmed the front yard trees, but I forgot to get pictures of that.

And below is a picture of the aftermath. The branches were dragged over to the side of the house awaiting further cutting down to more manageable sizes. Sad to say these limbs are still waiting for that stage on the side of the house.... Don't judge. We were tired. :P

However, Paul did get started on a few of them with our new handy dandy electric chainsaw. He calls it the Almost Manly Chainsaw. It's a chainsaw but it's electric. The chainsaw makes it manly, but the electric makes it almost so. Almost Manly. But hey! It works great and is ecological! It's all in an effort to help save all of the moose in the world. Seriously. The moose have thanked us. Honest! Fine, don't believe me. :P

We also chopped down an ugly bush that was on the right side of our yard but I forgot to get pictures of that, too. I apparently was a bad journalistic blogger/photographer that day. Anyway that bush was like half a bush because it was planted right next to the neighbor's fence and could only grow out against the fence. And it was all by itself. It just looked out of place and... well.... kind of stupid. We never liked it. So out it went. We still have the stump to try and take out. Anyone want to volunteer for that job?? Don't stumble over yourselves getting over here. I know everyone is just dying to take that on, aren't you?

All of the above was done one day about a week and a half ago. Yesterday we tackled the conifer growing along the front side of our garage.

This conifer was getting tall and out of place. It made the yard look unbalanced and it was growing at an odd angle, leaning a bit to the left and forward toward the road a bit. The unbalanced look of it drove Paul crazy. (Not a far trip.... Don't tell him I said that! LOL!) I looked into how to trim conifers but apparently they only grow up so if you cut it down it just ceases to grow. So we decided to take it out.

Now I'm going to be real and honest here. Cutting this conifer was hard because this tree was most likely planted when the house was built, making it 14 years old. It just felt wrong cutting down a tree that started life with the house. We love nature and it went against our core, but we also knew that the conifer wasn't working next to the house. We also calmed ourselves with the fact that we were going to plant a new shrub in it's place. :)

The garbage we found hiding under this conifer! Toys and drink pouches obviously from neighbor kids.

However, even though it was hard to do, we have planted a new shrub in it's place - one that will actually fit the space and will balance out the landscaping around the house. We put in a baby Burning Bush, which will match the Burning Bush on the right hand corner of the house. We absolutely love that bush! It is beautiful green in the summer that turns flaming red in the fall. Hence it's name. Here's a picture. Aren't they gorgeous?

Check out this previous post to see the Burning Bush on the right side of the house 5 years ago. It was quite a lot smaller then. Now it is as big as the bush pictured above, so they grow quickly. In fact, that bush is growing so well that it has sent out 2 new bushes next to it that I discovered yesterday. Little baby Burning Bushes! I was thrilled to find them and plan on transplanting them to the backyard so we can enjoy their color back there too.

Next post I'll get everyone caught up on the hallway flooring project. I know, I know... I promised it for this post but I thought the yard work progress would be a better post this time around. Don't hate me. It's coming and the outcome of it is awesome! :D

Repurposing a Dining Room Chandelier - Colonial Style!

I know that I've not been posting much on this blog, but we've been taking things a little bit slower since the repainting of the kitchen/dining room walls. Apparently I'm a "gosh darn rabbit" running all over the place and it was driving my poor husband crazy. He says: "Can't I just get used to being a homeowner before I dive into a bottomless pit of home improvement???"

Me: "But I've been waiting 19 years to do this stuff! NINETEEN YEARS!"

Paul: "You're driving me insane."

Humph! Under my breath, "Turtle."

So I agreed to try to slow down a bit.

From what I understand, one thing that seems to accompany home improvement is stress for the non artsy types. I can see the finished product in my mind and I can deal with the unfinished parts because I can already see it finished in my mind's eye. This is not so with the non artsy people. All they see is a mess. So since I value my marriage and I value my husband's sanity, I took a step back.

But I'm still an artist. And a Running Rabbit Artist at that. I'm the type that can go go go go and have a bunch of projects going on at the same time. Which means the kitchen is not finished. At all. In fact, I've not continued work on it. I jumped headlong into another project, and then another, and yet another!

And that's when my husband had his moment of frustration with me and we had the above conversation.

So, I now have a bunch of unfinished projects but the good news is that we talked it out and came to an understanding and agreement. No more new projects started until we finish the ones we started. (Read: I started...)

One of those finished projects is the dining room chandelier. And my husband is right - it's good to finish something before jumping into the next project.

Here's a picture of the dining room chandelier that was here. Paul hated it with a passion. He was always hitting his head on the sharp point on the bottom. I was indifferent to it, being "fun-sized" as my darling daughter likes to say (read short), but I knew it wasn't in line with the style I was going for so it was easy to take that thing down.

We looked around at new chandeliers at home improvement stores.

Holy Mackerel! Those things are expensive! Not going to happen, even if we had the money. No way was I parting with that much cash for a stinking light fixture.

Luckily for me, my husband is great at finding good deals from online auctions and yard sales.

Luckily for him, I'm great at changing those good deals to make them look amazing.

We're a good team. :)

Paul found this ugly chandelier on an online auction. The gold was so 1980's and 90's. It was hideous. Plus it had this ugly bulbous round ball hanging on the bottom.

But the shape and overall style was perfect! He showed it to me and asked me what I thought and I could see this ugly duckling as the swan it truly was. I said "Yes! Buy it!"

We got it for $8.00 Score!! And then we bought a can of black satin finish spray paint for $3.00.

Total for this project $11! Can't beat that!

The first step was to sand the chandelier down so the spray paint would adhere to it.

Then I spray painted the whole thing except for the "candle sticks." I had to let it sit and dry for a couple hours and then I put a second coat of paint on it.

It's finally taking shape and my husband could see what was in my mind's eye with this one!

Sorry about the cluttered garage, but we had it hanging in there for me to paint it. See the ugly ball on the table? I started to paint it without thinking. Oops! I never intended to use it.

And here's the finished chandelier in the dining room! Doesn't it look beautiful? Now that it is black and doesn't have that ugly ball hanging from the bottom it is perfect for the Colonial look I was going for!

The next step with the dining room is ripping out that carpet and laying down new flooring. I'll actually be doing that this coming week. We want to power through the dining and living room floor to get it done so my husband can relax a bit without a bunch of unfinished areas in the house. After the floor I'll focus on the kitchen and actually finish that. Yes, I will. This time I promise because otherwise my husband will ring my neck. Lovingly, of course. :D

Tomorrow I hope to blog about the hallway carpet I ripped out. Yeah, that was another project.... Hee hee!
It's no wonder my husband was about to lose his sanity with me! LOL!