Can I just say that right now I am in Project Heaven?

I work best and am happiest when I can work like a butterfly. And sting like a bee. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Or was it ‘move like a butterfly, and sting like a bee?’) My apologies if you aren’t old enough to remember Mohammed Ali. But I digress.

I am happiest when I am juggling multiple projects and can flit from one to the other, whether it be work or play or work at home.

Anyway, the flowerbed is done. *Happy Dance!*

I did not enjoy it.

But doesn’t it look nice?

I have one blue fescue plant that is struggling; it’s a sun-loving plant that was living in the shade at the store. And of COURSE there was no other blue fescue in town, so I’m hoping it will come out of it.

I typically go with a color palette of pinks, purples, and white, and a variety of textures in my landscaping. Easy on the ornaments.  I’m liking the look. Just in case you forgot what it looked like before, here is the ‘before’ shot.

 The perfectionist in me crept in once. I realized I there were a couple of plants that I should have moved a couple of inches a different way.

Two inches.

Dig up a plant on a hot day and move it two inches? N.O.

I got over it.

Then I really got over my perfectionism when I sent two men to the store to pick up pea pebbles for me. Graciously, they complied. And brought home two different colors of pea pebbles. (!) Fortunately, it takes a lot of pea pebbles.

After I was done, I realized it didn’t match the pea pebbles in the other bed.

Who knew there were so many colors of pea pebbles?

I didn’t need it to be perfect, I just needed it to be done. Chances are, you would have never noticed it didn’t match the other bed.

Now I’ve made you want to look. 😉

Time to celebrate! 😀

Before Restore

It’s supposed to be really nice this weekend. Like, gorgeous. Weather like this is a DIY’ers dream.

So in honor of that, I thought I’d share this terrific project idea to really give your house some Curb Appeal. Not only will YOU like the look, so will buyers if you happen to sell your house at some point in the future.

This is the flower bed after I tore out all the flowers, weeds and mulch. See how ugly that exposed foundation is?

You can see it actually has a dark color of stain on it: it had fallen victim to a failed project to stamp the wall to make it look like stone. A great concept, it just didn’t work well in reality. (Meaning, it required both of us.)

When we had the deck enlarged last summer, we had our contractor paint our exposed foundation with Restore. We just hadn’t done this part. (Honestly, I don’t think we thought about it. You really didn’t SEE it, and you know how it is when you don’t see something…)

On a recent weekend, I used our leftover Restore to paint this portion of the foundation in the picture shown below that had now been exposed.

I did not enjoy it. But I love, love, love the finished product!

“Restore’d” Foundation

 

Restore makes it look a little bit like it’s been stucco’ed. It gives it a solid texture, and helps fill in cracks or small holes.  Restore is made by Rust-Oleum, comes in several colors, and is available for decks or concrete.

If you’re painting concrete,  make sure you purchase Restore for Concrete. The Deck Restore is not thick enough to stay on a vertical wall.

Behr also makes a similar product for both decks and concrete, called Deckover. It comes in 54 colors, according to their website.  Either of these should be readily available in your local home improvement store.

We have a walkout basement on our addition, so a great deal of our foundation is exposed. It required one Home Depot and two Westlake’s to get us all we needed.

It goes on very thick, so you’ll use more than you would if you were simply painting or staining the same surface. It uses special rollers to give it the texture.

It is messy.

So make sure you wear shoes and clothes that you really don’t care about. And use plastic to cover up your patio or your nice landscaping.

Here’s a tip: Because Restore requires 3-6 hours to dry, if you decide to paint one coat one day, and the second coat the next, wrap your rollers in plastic and stow them in the freezer overnight. I highly recommend tossing them when your project is complete. These aren’t rollers you’ll be using again. And, be sure to use some blue tape to protect your siding.

Ladies, I recommend wearing plastic or latex gloves to protect your manicure. Ask me how I know this. 😉

Happy Restore-ing! 🙂

BEFORE

Over the years, my landscaping has taught me one thing over and over:

“Low maintenance” does not mean “No Maintenance.”

Take this flower bed for instance.

The grasses were overgrown.

Some of the plants were dead.

Some of the plants I wondered what on earth possessed me to pick THEM? What was I thinking?

Why did I let myself be talked into cedar mulch?

Why did I let it go so long?

Is it too early for a drink? (Just kidding, not really. That came later.)

It had reached the Point of No Return: the best plan, I decided, was to rip it out and start over. The “over” comes later. You’ll have to stay tuned.

I did not enjoy it.

The cool thing about being married to a contractor is the toys that come as part of the package deal. I had most of it ripped out, and Jimmy brought the backhoe and helped me with the rest.

5 years worth of plants, mulch, and landscape fabric discarded: $235

Backhoe fuel, additional black dirt, and ruined pair of shoes: $122.50

Co-Pay for back adjustment after ripping out flowerbed: $35

Having all this ugly crap gone: PRICELESS! 🙂