My garden

Our backyard... it has come a long way.  It was bad, I mean really bad - like that hot mess celebrity that is a train wreck waiting to happen but you just can't look away. 

See the hot mess here...I'll wait for you to come back...
http://www.dragonfliesandthistles.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-backyard-mess.html

A real mess right!  Well we did get grass last year.  It was an amazing transformation! Well, on one hand it was so bad that it could only get better right! 

http://www.dragonfliesandthistles.blogspot.com/2013/09/backyard-progress.html

The side is still in the same shape as it was last year.  I couldn't decide exactly what I wanted to do.  At first I wanted to plant lots of bushes and flowers and make a pathway BUUUTTTT.... we have dogs and they tend to run along the fence line and trample things.  So until we are dog-less, (and that isn't likely to happen till I'm 90), I have to come up with something else. 

Then I thought about just leveling it in sections and using rocks to make the sections.  Then flagstone the part right off the cement area by our porch.  I know it is hard to visualize.


So this part... move the fence more toward the front of the house or add an addition fence for the trash can.  Oh yeah take all the other junk to the dump!  This is the wood my husband 'agreed' to get rid of, we still have 6 shelves of scrap wood in the garage. 
So here I would level with dirt and lay mulch and flagstone to make a patio area.

Then tier it as it slopes down the hill.

Yes we need to continue to replace the fence on this side.... just add it to the list! 
We've tried for years to get rid of all the rocks that were here.  Obviously we are still working on that!
I use to pay the kids $5.00 a wheelbarrow load each for shoveling rocks! 

I think you can see the hill better in this angle... and Gizmo our Malti-poo.  He's the smallest of the dogs at a whopping 12 pounds.

When it rains the water just rushes down this hill and under the trampoline, we've got to do something! 
I would just use dirt and large boulders and mulch on this entire area.  I think...

One thing that is great is my garden.  I use to grow veggies of all kinds in this area but my husband asked that I just grow flowers and he likes the flowers better.  I can say that I enjoy coming out every week to relax and weed and look at what is blooming now.  Yes weeding is relaxing for me... yanking out weeds gives me an odd satisfaction. 

 If you remember a post I did a few weeks ago about taking spent bulbs and re-planting and tricking them into blooming again - it looks like it worked!!  Check it out in the below picture!  Right in the center is a Daffodil from that set coming up.  The ends look a little bad, I think the snow 3 weeks ago got it but hey it is going to bloom!
http://www.dragonfliesandthistles.blogspot.com/2014/04/its-april-and-it-is-still-snowing.html

 I like to buy perennials.  My suggestion is to spend the extra money and get them.  You can add annuals and other seeds around them to make a great looking garden. 

This is Russian Sage (purple) and Queen Anne's Lace (yellow/white) and the pink is a wildflower that is self seeding - so even though it is an annual it comes back every year. 



My Columbine is even coming back this year!

 

I bought self seeding annuals from Home Depot, I purchased a Hummingbird mix and a Butterfly mix.  Self seeders will have seeds in their dried flowers and you can harvest them as I do after they dry and spread them around in the spring again.  BUT be careful, if you use Miracle Grow feed on your garden it will inhibit and usually kill the self seeders.  Some of the feed prevents self seeding things from germinating.  It is intended for weeds but many wildflowers work the same way.  So read those labels before you feed your garden. 
Here are some of the wildflowers coming up already.

 These below have gone crazy.

The garden is looking good!  As is the backyard, all the grass came back after the winter/spring we've had.

The one thing we have to decide on is that one poor tree.  It is still VERY stressed and again only produced leaves in the center of the tree.  It now has some very dead branches that will need to be cut down.

Most of those leaves are from the tree behind it in our neighbors yard.  I really don't like chopping down trees but I think this one is going to have to go.  I'll keep you updated as I baby it a bit more this summer.  But doesn't the grass look great!!! 

 

To re-cap: 

1.  My suggestion is to buy perennials and self seeding annuals. 

2.  Remember to read on the tags of those perennials to see how large they are going to get.    

3.  Remember before you feed your garden to read if it is a weed preventer.  Many self seeders act the same as grass/weeds and those weed preventers will prevent your seeds from germinating. 

4.  Buy packets of wildflower seed mixes from your local garden store and sprinkle them into your garden.  Their little pops of bright colors will be a welcome addition to your garden and many wildflower mixes contain plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. 

 

Have a great weekend!  I am hoping it is going to be nice here in Colorado as I've got several painting projects I want to get done.  I also have a July 4th craft idea I'd like to finish and share. 

Thank you for stopping by.  Be safe.

Victoria

 

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Summer house tour

It is June, at least according to the calendar.  Here in Colorado we've had some crazy springtime weather.  Yes it is our spring, the tree's have just leafed and the wildflowers are in bloom.  However, this is what the weather has been like.

Storms, tornado's, hail and even snow.... yep June. 

As I said before I decorate the house for the seasons and holiday's.  For the summertime I really enjoy moving the furniture around.  I take the dinning room and turn it into our living room and vice versa.  We eat on our covered porch in the summer and rarely inside, usually because Colorado Springs has such nice mild weather and no bugs so you can eat outside in the nice breeze every night.  Hopefully tomorrow! 

So here is the house tour.  WELCOME!
As you come in the front door I kept the springtime flower arrangement.

But as you can see, I flipped my dinning and living room areas.  The dinning room is now by the fireplace - 

I decorated the table just with some simple lanterns.  I think I may fill them with sand and sea shells but for now they are empty.

The buffet, still with its broken leg (that's how I roll) is along the one living room wall. I decorated it with sea shells, turtles, dragonflies and things that remind me of summer.

If you now turn to your left you can go down the traditional ranch style hallway.

I normally have a plant in a basket down at the end of the hall, I move my plants outside in the summer.
To turn right you would normally find our dinning room, but now it is the living room area.

 It really does give an entirely different look to the house re-arranged this way. 
Here are some details.  The end table.  The box I got at Target a few months back.  The black dragonfly stone I got in Boulder CO in May.  The candle is a Yankee. 

 I moved the china cabinet to the one long wall I have.  I added the lamp to the top along with some of the kiddo's framed art work, some vases and a live plant. 

Then there is the coffee table - The orb is the one my daughter bought me or my birthday last year.  The rattan tray is from Hobby Lobby as is the little stand.  The white tray is a Target purchase and the blue bowl is from Home Goods. 

I like the look of layered trays.  It gives texture and interest to your display. 
I also try to decorate my little 'widow' between the kitchen and the 'dinning room' for every season.  My husband brought this little guy home from Germany on a business trip, he's an incense smoker and just too cute to not leave out all year long.

Now the kitchen.  I didn't do much in here except to make a coffee station.  I got the white tray at Home Goods and the Sugar and Creamer is my china, Lenox.  The pattern is called Chesapeake.

I have little counter space but I did add a Home Goods sale tray to the counter along with some other Home Goods purchases, a blue box and a covered dish and cow creamer.  I got the dragonfly at Hobby Lobby and the blue candle holder is Party Light.  The piece of marble I picked up on an adventure to Marble Colorado. 

Directly by the fireplace is the door to the covered porch. 

In the summer we put the dog screen up so the dogs can go in and out as they please.  It really does work and keeps any stray flies, bees and even the moths that are out this time of the year. 

We live on this porch during the summer.  It is covered and cool.  If it ever does get really hot (and that means in the 90's for us) we do have a mister on the porch to cool us off. 
Directly to the left of the screen door is a wicker piece that I've had for years.  I always decorate it in different ways and will move it around the porch depending on my mood. 

The table sits as soon as you come out of the door.  I bought the silver orb at Target (currently on clearance!) the two fishermen's weights I've had for years.  I think I got them on a vacation in Boston.  I hope to make my own to add to the collection.  The tray is Pottery Barn clearance a few years ago and the candle is from Hobby Lobby (I bought 4 of those little flower candle holders last year in the party section).

If you turn to your right we have a hot tub sunken into the porch and here is where I put my Home Goods cart.

Back to the left is the sitting area.  I am good with chairs!  I hope to find a good deal on a bench at the end of the season this year but for now the chairs will do.  I actually think we got them at Safeway a few years ago.  Yep Safeway the grocery store!

 Here is a close up of the outdoor coffee table.  The tray is Home Goods, there's another one of those Hobby Lobby candle's, the vase full of marbles is dollar store and the fake tulips are the one's I used for my Easter craft. 

 Here is where the hallway plant ended up.  The end table is from Gordman's.  The pillow is from Home Goods. 

 This dragonfly pillow is from Target.

And that is it!  I hope you enjoyed my home tour.  I'll be sharing some decorations for July 4th in the next weeks as well as some painting crafts (if it ever is nice enough to spray paint!). 
Till Thursday - have a safe and happy week! 
Victoria
As always thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy what you've seen and might get some inspiration to flip some of your rooms around! 

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Dah Dah Dah.... the laundry room - YIKES

I believe that every room in your home should reflect the personalities of the people that live there.  Whether it is items displayed from various travels to collections to the style of furniture itself, your home is a reflection of you.  I do believe this, but I also believe that everyone has that one room where you cringe when you go in it.  It is sad and uncomfortable. 

Well if all of this is true then my laundry room is the Little Shop of Horrors! 

First, it is small, I mean teensy weensy small.  Not much bigger than a closet but big enough to house the furnace and hot water heater as well as a washer and dryer.

Here is the door to the Little Shop of Horrors.  Be afraid, be very afraid! 

 

It must have this kind of beveled door because the furnace and hot water heater is in there.  Do you know what a pain in the arse it is to clean this door?  It is right in our game room, right near the pool table and downstairs refrigerator so people are down there quite a bit, so I have to keep the door clean of dust.  If you look at this above photo you will see the dust on the lower slats... I started cleaning the uppers again tonight.  It is a weekly job, yes my house gets that dusty.  I have no idea why.  To be honest though that build up of dust is probably 3 weeks.  I've been lazy. 

 

So let's open the door on the Little Shop of Horrors shall we? 

 



I was in the same position as when I took the door photo. Not much to look at - no ceiling, crappy wall to a bathroom that was put in by the prior owners.  A few years ago I tried to make it nicer by putting in shelves and some shell pictures... but come on YUCK! 

Odd angles and that useless space back there... Pipes showing... See I told you The Little Shop of Horrors!  (Don't ask about the curlers.  My husband read online that they would get rid of the dog hair - yeah no.... they stick to everything BUT the dog hair. But there they sit....still, cause you just never know!).  

 

So lets step in a bit.  It is a small room, again with odd angles and no ceiling - just pipes and the floorboards from the first floor. 

On the left, immediately behind the door is the large furnace and hot water.

 

 And crazy pipes for the outside sprinkler system and humidifier - I live in Colorado where the average humidity is 12% so in the winter we need to put water into the air or live with a lot of static electricity. 

I couldn't even get far enough away from the pipes to take a clear picture!  Oh and that white thing down there - that is a boot dryer. 

 

OK now I'll turn around and take some blurry pictures of my washer and dryer.

 

I need help here bad.  I don't like being in here.  There isn't enough room to fold clothes, I have to do that on my bed or the pool table or I set up a card table in the game room.  I can't even put my steamer in here, it goes in the closet next door - on the other side of the furnace we have an under the steps closet. 

I can't push the room out on the other side, behind the washer and dryer either as that is my husbands office and there is a 200+ gallon fish tank on that immediate wall.  I can't go directly back either as that is the small but full bathroom that the prior owners put in and I can't lose a bathroom. 

 

So I am stuck with this odd little space.  Now I just need to make it pretty.  Now this isn't an impossible job - close but not totally impossible.  Oh yeah and my budget is less than $100.00! 

 

First I need to paint the walls that I do have in there.  I was thinking colors and my husband said, "blue, I like blue."  Well, we have a lot of blue in the house right now and since I don't have a window I was thinking a chartreuse or lime/apple green. He made a face. 

 

Next I think I need storage.  I wonder if I could get a cabinet in that odd space in the back corner?

 

Not sure how I'd get to it but it would be a good place for some storage unit. 

 

I also think I need different/better shelves.  I like these..

 

I wish I could do a countertop but my washer isn't a front loader, so that is out but that would solve the folding station problems!  I'll just have to come up with something else.  I like the idea above of the bar to hang clothes on, I need one of those.  I also would like a place to lie things flat like this..



Just maybe I could fit something like this in that odd little nook? 

 

I like the idea here of the storage between the washer and dryer.

 

This is a nice idea... it folds up when not in use!  I just need wall space for it! 

 

So to recap... Little Shop of Horrors...  need storage and a place to hang clothes, maybe fold them as well.  Color on the walls - an apple green maybe?  New shelves that are nice and pretty and some baskets or bins for storage. 

 

I don't think I can do much about the furnace and hot water heaters, I can't enclose them otherwise the room would be even smaller, and it is against fire codes. 

 

Do you have any ideas for my Little Shop of Horrors?  I'd love to hear them. 

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I will keep everyone updated on the progress. 

 

I'll be back on Thursday, till then be safe!

Victoria

 

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