Front yard fun

Well...more work than fun right now but that will change soon. We haven't done anything to the front yard since we bought the house. But now that we're in destruction mode, we've made up our minds to make it a usable space.

Our front lawn wraps around the north side of our house to make a nice side yard and a good buffer between the neighbors. It had a nice looking line of hedges that we ignored for a long time. Because our backyard gets a lot of shade, we decided to take out the hedges and put in raised garden beds, seen here under construction.








The neighbors were so happy that we removed the bushes (which apparently are thorny and were overrunning their driveway) that they let us have the garden soil delivered and stored on their driveway while we finish up.

This is my bad: I forgot to take a before picture. So please enjoy this multi-colored rendition of hedgelines past.

Hudson now enjoys the hedge graveyard as his own personal fort. They are awaiting bulk pick-up/mulching day in the backyard.

Life, etc.

I recently had a request for a personal update on general happenings. In no particular order:

I won a homebrew contest on April 10. It was the 2nd annual Real Salt Lake Section 26 home opener brewing competition. I won with a California Common (that's the style of Anchor Steam, in case you aren't familiar with it) and must say it was delicious!! In my acceptance speech, I vowed to put it on my new mantel...and there it sits.




Yes. That's a 5 gallon keg with a handle on top. And even more hilarious...Mark and his buddies are the competition organizers so I spent that morning cleaning this bad boy. Doesn't it sparkle?We had a full house for the game. Both of my siblings and their love buddies joined us for post game fun.


On a more professional note, I am presenting at the AERA conference in Denver May 3 & 4. This falls right in the middle of finals week = rather stressful.

I come home just in time for summer break! Oh wait. That's right...I don't get a break. I have a 1 week stats class starting Saturday May 8. And that unfortunately is the day my dear sister is graduating! Congrats Hai Mo! Other summer plans involve working at Pearson and continuing grant work at the U. I am also headed to the Intelligent Tutoring Systems conference in June and hopefully an intelligent tutoring camp in July, both in Pittsburgh.

Otherwise, Mark is loving his work at the brewery. He now works in the cellar mostly cleaning tanks (he was formerly in the warehouse and distribution). Hudson is now 4.5 but still acts like a puppy.

In general, we stay incredibly busy. Enjoy the influx of greenery in my house. Cannot wait to these babies in the ground outside...I am out of window sills.

Growth and Decay

I can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since I've updated this thing. Well here's a little something for anyone still reading.

It has been croquet weather the past few weekends down here. So naturally, we got distracted and started to play outside, leaving the interior of the house for those inevitable rainy April days.

We've been wanting to compost for a long time but we never really got serious about it until now. We needed something dog proof and cheap and Mark has found us just the solution. At the brewery, they get apricot puree delivered in giant, blue barrels for that delicious Apricot Hefeweizen. As they emptied the last barrel, Mark cleaned it and brought it home. Then he went Dr. Frankenstein on its ass.




He cut a hatch into the top of it, added some sweet hardware (it locks shut!) and stuck a ventilated piece of PVC pipe from top to bottom so the compost could breathe.





We can tip it on its side and roll it across the yard to mix it and Hudson can't get into it. We've had it 3 weeks and so far no racoons have gotten in either. Unfortunately, it still smells like apricot so opening the hatch is an unpleasant experience.

I started vegetable seeds a few weeks ago as well. Our library never quite recovered from the kitchen experience so it was only natural to turn into a greenhouse this spring. I transplated the sprouts last night into bigger pots to encourage larger root growth, but they all started out in the little pods in the big tray.

Mark has been busy this week doing renovation to the front yard...Pictures of that next time.

Window Treatment

Apologies for skipping last Sunday's weekly update. We were busy frolicking through fields with elk at Hardware Ranch and visiting the family. But I'm posting 3 pictures to make up for it.

Our front room is wall-to-wall windows with a vaulted ceiling. Envious, I know. And so were the ruffly, evergreen window dusters we inherited from the previous owners.

Country bumpkin. And layered in dust.

They had to go.

Mark, once again, saved the day. We ripped down the hardware and the fabric (which I still have if any of you want it) and bought four lovely alder planks, one for each window. Each plank received a few cuts and we assembled [ shaped wood boxes to attach to the existing window moulding. Mark mounted them Sunday night and they look lovely.

We will stain them eventually, we're just debating if we should stain ALL of the window moulding to match our floor & entry way (red tones) or keep the pine look around the windows to match the exposed beam in the ceiling (you can see it in the window reflection). Decisions, decisions. Any input from you designers out there?

We also revisited the mantel design. We revamped the proportions and got the mantel beveled. Now we need to cut the fancy trim and finish it. And we probably need different decor than DeWalt drills.




Til next time!

Good day for a table saw

Busy day! We put quarter round trim under the bar/island counter top and the window sill. The counter is a flat slab so you could see the drywall under the counter in those spots. Wasn't so pretty.



We started on the mantel today! We have the legs up. First we put up the support then we fit moulding around the 4x4s to finish.






The next step is to find a router to detail the edge on the mantel itself. We also have some fancy trim to finish it all of.

Little details

Toe kick is in and the dishwasher is snug in its hole with filler pieces to make it look more built in.




I love all of the drawers in the kitchen, especially the organization part.




And the front door was officially finished on New Year's Eve. Doesn't it match the floor so nicely? Mark did a great job choosing the stain.



We wish everyone a happy & healthy new year!

Door Makeover

You know how sometimes you get on a roll and you end up starting more projects than necessary? We're guilty of that.

Our front door was incredibly inefficient. It was a gorgeous wood door with fun detail but it had warped over the years and had cracks. Our entry way was a frigid cold draft every winter. So, while the rest of the house was a mess, we decided it was as good a time as any to knock out the front entry.

Old:

New:



It's not quite 100% finished yet. He's coming back Wednesday to (hopefully) finish. This is taking longer than anticipated for the following reasons:
1. The [insert your own description here] people who worked on the door/stairs last did not put ANY structure under the doorway. It was a giant hole full of expanding foam.
2. Because there was no suportive structure beneath the door, the framing couldn't hold the windows and some of them slid through the floor, leaving a lovely half inch gap at the top of the window which was a hole to the outside world.

The door guy has been amazing and he has taken the time to do a top notch job. Our front room is much warmer now!
Highly recommended: Steve Harper of Ace Windows & Doors.