Patio Facelift

I've been planting up a storm and adding so much color to my backyard but I've been neglecting the patio off my back door.

Now there's not normally cardboard and wood on the ground, but even without that it was still pretty dull.  I decided to repaint my bistro set and rearrange things a little.

I set up a little spray painting area and started off priming the cleaned pieces.  I am on a blue/teal kick lately so I picked the spray paint that I used for my outdoor buffet shelf and the dining room bar.

The wind was not my friend on this project.  Not only did my painting station keep blowing over but I also ended up with blue arms, legs and hair.  Not attractive.  But in the long run I think it was worth it.  The bistro set turned out great!

I switched it's location with the grill so that if you were to sit at the bistro set you'd have a nice view of my garden and yard.

I love how bright and cheery the set is now!  It has really perked up the patio.

You can also catch a lovely aroma from my herbs as you sit at the table.  Definitely more exciting now.

And So It Continues

I just keep on planting.  I think part of my excitement is that this is really the first time that I've planted flowers that not only survive, but seem to be thriving.  I never had much luck at my condo.  I might have kept plants alive but I couldn't keep them blooming.  This year my green thumb is in full effect.  I decided to add some Knock Out roses to the back yard.  Since they become bushes, I figured they would be good against the back fence in the backyard.

I didn't create a real bed for them.  Instead I just dug big holes, filled them with better soil and rose food and then plopped them in.  I don't know if this is a good thing but I really just want the roses to grow as natural bushes and I don't necessarily need a whole flower bed.  We'll see how it works out for me.

They are tiny now but the should grow to about 3-4 feet tall and just as wide.  They seem happy and I already have a few blooms on them. 

Of course I can't pick up one plant without randomly throwing more in my basket.  I got this pretty purple thing for my daisy and lantana bed.  I brought home one with no stick nametag so I forgot what it is.

This bed layout seems odd.  I realize that.  But I'm trying to allow room for the lantana in the back to grow.  I'll be trimming the bed with white stones (like Pablo's bed) eventually and will probably reshape the front at the same time.  For now the goal is just keeping plants alive.  The last thing I added over the weekend was some impatiens to the front boxwood bed. 

I know it seems like I'm slowly handing over my life savings to Home Depot, but all these plants came to $20.  Not too shabby.  I figure that is the kind of weekly habit I can maintain for awhile without risking foreclosure. 

Mint-ectomy

My squash continues to grow at an amazing rate.  It's taking over the world.  I moved one to my parents and one to a pot, yet still I have this:

It's completely overtaking the Okra in square 7 and the Apple Mint in square 12.  Since the plant I potted seemed to be doing good, I decided it was time to move a little more.  This time I'm removing my mint from the 12th square and moving a squash over. 

The mint had some crazy roots but was replanted pretty easily.  Luckily I have a big tupperware of my soil combination that has been coming in handy for all these transfers I keep having to do.

My squash now has a little more space and the mint and okra can now see the light of day.  I hope that was the last squash transfer I'll have to do.

Other than squash-overcrowding issues and evictions, the rest of the garden is chugging along.  I have about 20 tomatoes in various stages of growth and all my peppers are starting to bloom.

I'm hoping by the end of summer this picture doesn't become one 4ft square of squash with 15 pots surrounding it.  We'll see. 

Sideyard Cleanup

I have slowly been working on the south sideyard of my house.  As I mentioned, I managed to get the giant junk tree down:

I have been working on breaking it down for bulk trash day.  I just need one or two more cuts in the large trunk and it will been ready.

I hammered the old nails on the AC fence back together and improved the look of that situation.  It no longer screams dilapitated.  Well...no longer screams as loud.

I guess I'll eventually have to add a gate or access panel of some sort so that I can completely close in the unit.  Because without all the sides closed, it's just kinda pointless, right?  This past weekend I drilled big ol' holes all in my remaining stump and then filled them with "stump killer" powder.  I'm not 100% sure how it works but it will take a few weeks to do its thing.

Soon this side area will be all cleaned out and useable!  Useable for what, it still have no clue.  I guess I will try to get some sort of ground cover going to improve its appearance and then work from there.  All I know is it's come a long way so far!

Move in day...including free plastic bag

Progress

Patio Pick-Me-Up

With the additon of all my flowers in the back yard, my patio set was a little underwhelming.

I hit up Gardenridge this weekend to grab some new pillows.  They have every color and pattern known to man, or so it seems.  I went with colorful stripes.

Much more cheerful!

Oops Paint

Everytime I'm at Home Depot or Lowe's I make a swing by their Oops Paint shelf.  This is where they sell their mistakes and returns for low, low prices.  In the condo, my laundry room was painted in Oops Paint Yellow.  A few months ago I snagged some Oops Paint Teal and I've been debating on what to use it on.

You can't pass up paint for $1.00!  The lid paint and the paint on the side of the can seemed to be different colors but I figured I liked both shades, especially for $1.

After I hung my Weeds art in the living room I decided I'd try my paint on my big ol' pine coffee table.  A $1 makeover sounds much better than buying a new coffee table right now.

It was great!  The color is closer to the paint on the lid, a blueish-green shade of teal. 

The pictures aren't great but if I use a flash the color is off.  Hank did a great job avoiding the wet paint.  Pablo never roused from his bed.  The color goes with the various other blues in the room.  It's actually very similar to the pom-poms I used in my kitchen.

I definitely think the coffee table works much better now.  The big chunk of pine stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Now it looks like the table actually belongs in the room.  I still need to seal the table to give it a little more protection but for now I'm just impressed with my $1 Oops Paint Makeover.

Mystery Solved!

I have been spending a lot of evenings out front watering my plants and in turn, I've been chatting with a lot of my neighbors.  Everyone is particularly amazed with the progress of the mystery plant in my front yard.  This is what it looked like a couple months after I moved in.

It's the plant on the bottom left

All last summer it would completely collapse each day with the heat.  I would water it in the evenings and by morning it would be perky again.  I had no idea what it was; I just knew it was pretty determined to live.  Eight months later, after a mild winter and lots more watering it grew at least twice its original size.

Then one morning out of nowhere, this appeared.

And after a couple of weeks it began to bloom.  I even have a second one popping up now.

Apparently half the neighborhood has been watching this thing progress, no one having a clue as to what it was.  I learned that the yard was professionally landscaped a few years back but had quickly become neglected and eventually the house was left vacant.  No one has ever seen this plant bloom until I bought the house and started watering.  This morning there was a note on my windshield left by one of my neighbors.  She had located the plant in one of her books.

From Wikipedia

I present to you Acanthus Mollis, better known as Bear's Breeches!  It is a perennial architectural plant used in gardening.  It is native to the Mediterranean region and can be found in ancient Greco-Roman architecture, specifically in the Corinthian column capitals.  Looking back at my Italy and Turkey photos I found several examples such as the column capitals of both the Fountain of Trevi and the Pantheon as well as in a Medusa engraving in Ephesus.  Pretty cool!  I will now use this plant to remind me of my travels around the Mediterranean. 

Greece 2008

I've also picked up a lot of tips from my neighbors about plants that work well in our shaded area.  Looks like someone will be heading back to the nursery soon! 

Free Art

They are in the process of cleaning out one of our storage rooms at work.  A couple of days ago I glanced  some foam board that was being thrown out.  One was an old presentation board but behind it were old aerials.  They were old school shots from helicopters; not Google Maps like the kids are using these days with its fancy satellite imaging.  I stared at one for quite a while, trying to figure out what city it was.  Eventually someone walked by and told me I was looking at it upside down.  Aha!  It was Dallas!  I saw the SMU stadium and then sure enough, there was my house.  Needless to say, I snagged it and ran it back to my office.

That's not stealing.  I swear it was in the trash pile.  And my house was on it.  It was definitely meant to be.  It's shot in color but apparently the world is pretty bland at that elevation.  I think the colors are going to go great with my dining room paint.

I think I will put it on this wall.  That piece of furniture will be gone soon and hopefully I will find an entry table to put in its place.  This aerial will hang above the table and the objects on the table (lamp/vase/decor/etc) will be bright bold colors.  Who knows, I might even spray paint the table itself a crazy color.  Either way, I think Dallas will make a great backdrop.

I will also find something a little more attractive than this "Sign Here" tag to point out my house in the future. 

Mockingbird runs along the bottom, and Greenville runs up the left side

How amazing is that for free trash art?  Also included in the aerial are some of my favorite stomping grounds...Super Target, Home Depot and North Park Center.  This was definitely meant to hang in my house!

Weeds

Fear not!  This is not another post about the trials and tribulations of trying to get my lawn to grow.  No, this is about art.  As you know I've been searching for something to put above my sectional in the livingroom.

Various things having been hanging on the preexisting nails helping me figure out what size my art needed to be.  Above is a 40 x 27 picture, which is pretty standard poster size.  I ended up deciding I'd need something more along the lines of 60 x 40.  Well, art that big is a wee bit expensive.  Even a blank canvas that size was pricey.  I had to think outside the box.  I had noticed a teal wall sculpture called Weeds in the CB2 catalog.  It was only 36 x 30 but they photographed it hung in sets and it really grew on me.

From CB2.com

Last week it went on sale and I bit the bullet and ordered two.  I love that all shipping at CB2 is $4.95.  That really saves you money when you are buying something large.  It showed up on my porch yesterday afternoon so I spent last night assembling it.  Here is one set unassembled.

Everything was numbered and pretty easy to snap together.  I really liked it in person.  The metal is very solid, bordering on heavy.  Hank was a little unsure, but I loved it.  The color goes perfect with the other blues in the room.

Using a tape measure and level, I tried my best to center the two pieces above the couch.  My couch is 124" and the art would be 72" wide.

My centering might be a little off in the pictures but I think it looks good in real life.  It's very fun and a little unexpected.

What's really cool is the shadows it casts on the wall behind it.  They become additional dots in grey that match my grey walls.

The base shelf itself is about 3" deep, allowing room for tealight candles if one should so desire.  I may try it out once just to see the effect but I'm pretty content with it as is.

The living room feels much more together now.  I will now need to fill the holes in the wall left by the previous owner (I was lazy and left them in case my art ended up covering them) and touch up the paint.  Other than figuring out what I'm going to do with the coffee table this room is pretty much finished.