Update on Patio, Cottage Decor

Alright, I promised an update pic of the patio. It's a bit blurry, but whatever. You get the idea. I still need a bit more concrete, but it probably won't happen until the weekend. There will eventually be grass in between the cracks, but I can't seed it until I install all the blocks and pack the dirt. So it will be a while before it's looking really nice.

Since an update on my patio is a little boring, I thought I would spice up today's post with an idea. Here's a story:

My husband had to go to his camp to clear out some old metal things to bring to the recycling center. There happen to be an old broken wheelbarrow in the mix. He wheeled it to the side of my garage and it has since never moved. It ended up being one of my favorite yard decorations.

So I need to remind everyone: cottage style is about what you make, or what you find. It mostly involves things that other people would throw away, or plants that you split from a friend/neighbor's garden. Take a look up at your own cabin and see what you can salvage, or even head to the dumps. You would be amazed at what you can find.

Large Scrap Trellis

Alright, let's get the How-To on the scrap Trellis done. If you cut a straight line when making your garden room divider, there should be no cuts to make here.

Large Scrap Trellis

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-Your scrap piece of standard lattice

-2 8' 2x2's

-stain

-staples and staple gun

1.Your scrap lattice should be 8' long. Unless you want a freakishly large trellis (in which case your 2x2's would need to be 10' long) trim off 2 feet off the length of the lattice.

2. Stain the lattice and your 2x2 poles. I actually spray painted my lattice white and only did 2 coats to let the natural wood shine through, giving it a weathered look. This technique also made it pop out better from the side of my white garage. I stained the poles with the same color as my porch railings.

3. Staple your lattice to the top of one 2x2 pole, then do the same on the other pole on the other end of the lattice.

4. Dig two holes spaces as far as the poles into the ground. I only dug down 1 foot because my trellis is stabilized by the side of my garage, but if it's going to be more free-standing, dig the entire 2' down.

5. Plant some nice vines according to your climate zone.

Here's a picture of the side of my garage, almost finished, with some newly planted lilac bushes, my old broken wheelbarrow, trellises, and the previously posted room divider.

Country Style Room Divider

Alright, I've been promising a How-To on the screen room divider, so here we are. I don't have exactly how many boards you need. 1. I winged it by going back and forth to Menards. 2. It depends on how many sections you want. But here it goes:

Country Style Room Divider

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-1x3 boards

-staple gun

-staples

-4x8 standard lattice (we'll use scrap for another project)

-chicken wire

-4 silver hinges (to match the chicken wire)

-2-3 L-brackets (optional)

-stain

Alright, this is pretty straight forward.

1. Cut your vertical boards to 6'. Miter the end of only one side to a 45 degree angle. You need to do this 12 times.

2. Cut the top crossbar to 24 inches. Miter IN both sides to a 45 degree angle. (long side should be 24, short should be 21-ish). Do this 6 times

3. Next we need to do the middle and bottom crossbars. Straight-cut these to 21". DO NOT MITER THE ENDS! Do this 12 times.

4. Now you need to start assembling the pieces. The mitered corners should fit nicely. Look at the posted picture for reference as to how the pieces go. A monkey could figure this out. BUT you should pre-drill holes for your screws because 1x3 boards will split easily without.

5. Once that's all assembled, roll out your chicken wire onto the top opening. Staple it in place, then cut around the edges. That's the easiest way to do it, or else the chicken wire will keep rolling up on you. Do this for only 3 screens.

6. Cut your standard lattice to the dimentions on the bottom hole. Mine was 21" square, so I cut my lattice to 23" square. Cut your pieces the LONG way. This is important for the scrap for a future project. You should end up with one really long piece of lattice.

7. Staple the lattice to the bottom hole on only three. You should probably use longer staples for this. Now you should have 3 screens with chicken wire and lattice, and then 3 with nothing but the frame. Screw the empty frame onto the one with the chicken wire/lattice. This will hide the prickly wires and give it a nice finish. You are essentially sandwhiching in the chicken wire and lattice between two frames.

8. Now all you have to do is stain it all. (You may also want to do this to each piece before assembling to cut down on mistakes of painting the chicken wire, or just be careful). I chose to spray paint the lattice. This is something I also did on an upcoming project. If you only do 2 coats, the paint won't sink in to some rough spots in the lattice. I LOVED THIS! It gave the whole piece a more aged, weathered look, which is a style that I'm addicted to right now.

9. Install the hinges where the 2 lower crossbars are. If you want this screen to fold up nicely, intall the hinges on the front side between the first two, then on the back of the last two.

10. This step is optional. I connected the screen to my house using the L-Brackets. It made a nice little room for my potting bench.

Stay tuned for more projects to come!

4th of July, Patriotic Parfait

What a 4th of July party! Friends and family all gathered to celebrate our great nation's birthday. I learned that I NEED to get that patio finished soon (so many scraped knees from my baby), that if you give my friend enough beer, he'll do almost anything (besides being shot with Roman Candles), and that if you want people to leave your house because you are leaving, you need to ask them if they could lock up the house when they leave.

The decorations were beautiful. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this momentus day (besides my friend's new "bald-man" look), but I did get to take some pictures today of some leftovers, like my vase with patriotic colors, and my potter (on my new kerosene lamp!) with pretty red flowers.

Anyways, I promised a recipe, so here it is. Sorry there's no picture. I forgot to take pictures and I ate the last one yesterday.

Patriotic Parfait

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3 large tubs of vanilla yogurt (not sure of sizes)

1 tub of Cool Whip

Reddi whip

a bunch of sliced strawberries and blueberries

In a large bowl, combine the cool whip and the yogurt. Then layer your ingredients in a clear cup (I just used plastic). Yogurt, strawberries, yogurt, blueberries, yogurt, line slices of strawberries around the edge then stick a spoon in the top and spray a bunch of reddi whip on the top.

You can freeze this the night before. Take it out about 2 hours before your party.

I DO have pictues of my new how-to's, but I don't want you to get sensory overload. So here's the order of the next posts: room divider, trellis, updated patio, corner garden, bathroom remodel.

Work hard, Play harder

I almost fell asleep at the wheel today. That was pretty scary.
I've just been so busy. Like today:
-Made a trellis
-Made a room divider
-Mowed the lawn
-Weed-wacked
-Painted a table to carry the drink tub
-Wrapped up 30 spoons/forks/knives into cute little festive napkins
-Unclogged the gutters
-Installed more gutter screens
-Swept the deck and washed the wicker cushions
-Commuted to school, took a test
-Went shopping for the party
-Painted the porch railings
-Hung all my plants.
-Potted a butt-load of flowers
-Began cleaning the house
-Helped my husband install our new digital antennae
-Filled all the bird feeders

I didn't know I could do so much within a day. I'm so exhausted, but yet I still have to give one more coat of paint to my bathroom remodel before it's done. So up and coming posts:
Bathroom remodel
How-To screen room divider
How-To Trellis
Update pics of the patio
4th of July recipes and decor

Stay tuned!