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It looks like I'll be taking on the deck extension project myself, since local companies are either crazy expensive, don't have availability until August at the earliest, or they fall off the face of the earth before even giving me a quote. This means a few of my other projects were kicked into high gear so I can get them out of the way before tackling the deck. First up was fixing the mailbox post.
The post was a standard pressure treated 4x4 that was painted white, but there is a sprinkler head in the corner of the grass that essentially pressure washed the paint right off of it. Add our crazy temperature swings, and it just looked like crap.
My original plan was to strip the post down and slip a white vinyl post cover over it. That is, until the crappy 1x4s holding the mailbox split into a million pieces during disassembly This required another trip to the hardware store for wood, paint, and new numbers, since a few broke when the 1x4s split. I was racing against a storm that was rolling in, so I didn't take any photos of the rebuild process. But here it is finished (minus the house numbers, and the white paint that made its way onto the mailbox has been removed):
Grand total: an unexpected $63, since I wasn't planning on a total rebuild
After that easy one, I turned my attention to a larger project - landscaping. Before, when it looked nice - not an accurate representation of what it looked like two weeks ago
I didn't like the way the builder laid out the mulched beds or had the downspouts situated, so I picked up some galvanized steel edging to reshape the beds:
Then put down some landscape fabric:
Followed by 1200lbs of marble chips:
And then pine bark mulch:
The plants in the area on the side of the house will stay as is - they're low maintenance and do the job.
The front has been separated into two beds and will be a work in progress over the next few months as we decide which plants we want to remove and what to replace them with. I'd like to add some height and color towards the right corner of the house.
For the bed in front of the stairs - I reclaimed some of the space for grass, since the original shape looked weird to me. Toward the end of the year, we plan on digging everything out and planting a bunch of flower bulbs that will bloom throughout the next year. For now, we're leaving two of the bushes and one of the (we think) surviving mums in that area for some color.
I haven't touched the section to the left of the driveway since I plan on rotating the garbage enclosure (so the door faces the street) and pouring a concrete path to the driveway. Before I do that though, I need to bury the downspout, so I'll get to that within the month.
Cost: $253 in edging, $42 for a 4'x100' roll of landscape fabric, $84 for 24 bags of marble chips, $56 for 28 bags of mulch
Grand total: $435
Next on the list is cleaning the gutters and power washing the house.
Last edited by civicdrivr; Apr 27, 2019 at 01:46 PM.
I heard Hector is gonna to be planting 3 cherry blossoms with virginia bluebells. And on top of that, he just went into Harry's, and he ordered 3 skip laurels, with dogwoods. And a boxwood hedge.
I heard Hector is gonna to be planting 3 cherry blossoms with virginia bluebells. And on top of that, he just went into Harry's, and he ordered 3 skip laurels, with dogwoods. And a boxwood hedge.
Couple of hydrangeas would pull a premium one week before spring starts.
There hasn't been much done to the over the past few months. It's too hot out to do stuff I really want to do, and some of the indoor projects require garage space to build, which I don't have at the moment. I can't wait til Sept/Oct when things start to cool down.
There hasn't been much done to the over the past few months. It's too hot out to do stuff I really want to do, and some of the indoor projects require garage space to build, which I don't have at the moment. I can't wait til Sept/Oct when things start to cool down.
Good call on the galvanized edging for the mulch beds. That's solid future planning for when you have kids and they need to split their knees open while playing tag in the yard. Get it done now so you don't need to do it then. A+ Good Planner.
Good call on the galvanized edging for the mulch beds. That's solid future planning for when you have kids and they need to split their knees open while playing tag in the yard. Get it done now so you don't need to do it then. A+ Good Planner.
Nice looking place! When you were building, did you have an option to go 2.5 for the garage? I wish my place was 2.5 instead of 2, or at least deeper for that matter. Your attention to detail is incredible! Thanks for giving me some ideas.
This required another trip to the hardware store for wood, paint, and new numbers, since a few broke when the 1x4s split. I was racing against a storm that was rolling in, so I didn't take any photos of the rebuild process. But here it is finished (minus the house numbers, and the white paint that made its way onto the mailbox has been removed):
