Fencey McFencerson

Let me put a disclaimer, these next couple posts are going to feel a little incomplete... we were working on quite a few projects that I want to talk about separately, but they were all going on at the same time. So I am going to delay some finished product photos til the end... and also being very involved in all of this stuff myself, I don't have a whole lot of process pictures or tutorials for you (I was busy workin' kid!) so the next few posts might leave you hangin' just a bit. But you'll see it all come together in the end, and it will be worth it. Yay.

There is a lot going on outside our window these days!

So we are putting in a fence.
I know fences aren't for everyone, but we wanted/needed one for a couple of reasons:
    While we have a nice size lot, we are still in a residential area/neighborhood. Our lot backs up to someone else's back yard, we have a neighbor's yard on one side and empty lots on the other, which will eventually have construction. We wanted a little bit of privacy from all that closeness. We like having neighbors, we like our neighbors... we just... needed a bit of back yard privacy.
    We have a dog and kiddos* (*will have plural kiddos in december, and don't know if we will be done with two... who knows???) and wanted a safe contained area for them to play unrestricted. Also we have utility boxes in the back corner of our lot, and didn't really want kiddos playing in that area.
So us, a fence `was the right choice. However, it's not only functional, but we just happen to think a nice cedar fence looks really pretty and raises your property value... and we needed to put in a yard, and so first, we needed to put in the fence.

Before you build a fence there are plenty of paperwork things you have to deal with-- drawing out plans, taking them to the city, getting a building permit, getting utilities marked, etc. Those are important code and safety issues, if you are DIYing your fence, make sure you do all your city requires first. You don't want any surprises or accidents later.

The project started by ripping out the neighbors fence. It was a 4 ft fence that was a little rickety and gross looking. We talked to our neighbor before starting, and actually ended up replacing not just the shared portion of the fence, but his entire fence as well. (He paid the boys for it... so it was a profit that we set aside for another project). They knocked out the panels and pulled the posts, and then we freecycled the fence parts... and it actually was claimed by some friends of our about a block away. Reuse, recycle, and giggle everytime you drive by and see that old fence on someone else's property, guys!

After getting that knocked over they rented a hole digger and started carefully digging around the perimeter. I say carefully because there were quite a few utility lines they were working around.

Oh, there are the utility boxes we were boxing out... heh

Once they had the holes dug, they started putting posts and the frame in place. Carefully, slowly pieceing it together, leveling, digging, leveling again... until it was all setting just so... and then they concreted the posts in and nailed the 2x4 frame to it. For the frame they used pressure treated posts and 2x4s.

Everyone say Hi to my dad!

My Brother in law and our friend James working hard!

Once the frame was solid, the boys got to work putting up the slats. These are cedar slats. They look pretty and smell awesome while you work-- just a nice bonus there. We decided to use a nail gun instead of screws for two reasons, cost and time! Even the the best way would probably be to screw every last slat on, the fencing screws do not come cheap. For the amount we needed, it was going to run us about $400. For screws. Crazy. The nails in the air pressure gun, however were about $50, and we were able to borrow the gun from a friend, and... boy is it fast! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! in each post and you are done, as opposed to four screws, even with a power drill we'd have been there for days.

So the boys threw up the slats... okay not so much threw as carefully placed and leveled, while my dad started assembling gates.

They worked from early early that morning, until late that night. You can see that it's getting dark in these pics... but my boys are hardcore, they were going to get it done!

Hey look, they are still smiling! Actually I think they are smiling because this is the last board in my husbands hands... and look what they let me do!

The golden spike! I got to nail in the very last board in the back corner that hooked the two sides of the fence together! Woot!
And... here's that part that I warned you about at the beginning. I'm going to leave you hanging. There were several projects going on at the same time here, and so I don't have a finished project pic of anything without giving away everything, and thats no fun. But we finished the fence that weekend... and it is really beautiful and there are more beautiful things to come! Are you excited? I'm excited.
Okay.

The Yard to Be and the Foxen

So we bought a house. And we moved. And since then we've been busy busy busy trying to make the house look presentable. I mean, the house is lovely, and we moved in and unpacked quickly and actually the inside is nothing to complain about. But the outside could use some... curb appeal?

This is what she looked like the day we bought her... not... awful. But not much of a yard to speak of. A crazy, lumpy, uneven, gravel-y lot full of weeds and chiggers! Oh the chiggers are bad.

See that gorgeous lush lawn? Try not to be jealous.

Even though it was 90% weeds and chiggers, we knew it would be a few weeks (or months) before we could get some real grass in this place, and in the mean time, we couldn't be overrun. Plus we also have a puppy we had to let out to go potty, who is terrified of anything teller than a cricket. (Scratch that-- he's scared of crickets too...) but the tall scary weeds were not doing it for him, and we were not really fans of him pottying in the house, duh.  So Z diligently mowed down the weeds twice a week.
We knew we had plenty of work ahead of us, but on top of our weed infestation and our chigger infestation, we also had these guys that liked to hang out in our yard...

Those are one, two, three little foxes that liked to play in our backyard every morning. Which would maybe be acceptable or expected if our house backed up to some woods, or acreage, but our lot backs up to someone else's fence? And there is an empty lot next door. However our house has been empty for 5 years, and these guys made it clear that this lot was THEIRS.

We actually found them quite entertaining and delightful at first. Every morning about 7:00 am they would be out frolicking, jumping, running, and playing in our yard. Right outside out windows, just a few feet from our back door! Sam especially enjoyed watching them in the mornings. But then I started to get a little nervous, becuase they didn't seem to be willing to give up their space. And when we saw this:

The little dudes jumping over a full size fence! I started to get nervous. I didn't know if they would ever act maliciously or territorially if we or our kiddo or our dog was outside, likely they would probably run and hide, but I wasn't sure. I didn't want to risk it. Especially knowing they could hop fences, I was a little concerned.
So I started researching wildlife rescue organizations around us to see if they could be relocated to a safer location for everyone. I didn't want to call animal control, because I didn't want the little guys to be captured and euthanized. It was unfortunate that our homes overlapped and we couldn't live comfortably together, but even still that wasn't their fault.
I was getting ready to make some phone calls, but we started seeing less and less of them. They didn't play in our yard in the mornings anymore, and we didn't even see them darting through the empty lots next to us anymore.
About a week later we brought in the machinery and graded and tilled our lot to prepare it for grass and landscaping and fencing. Now our house looks more like this:

 And it stayed like that for a couple weeks, and without a speck of vegetation around, I think the foxen (as I lovingly called them) decided to relocate themselves to a nicer neighborhood. We have seen no evidence of them around for more than a month now, so I feel confident they have vacated the premises and I like to believe they found a much nicer home, away from cars, people and other weird stuff that would disrupt their way of life. But they were our little buddies for a couple of weeks and that still makes me smile.

So here's the house in the naked lot just waiting and ready for some love. And if you are perceptive or know anything about fence building, you've noted the load in our driveway and can take a guess at what the first order of business will be...

Swingin'

 

Sam needed a swing.
He's almost seven months, he's sitting up like a pro, and he needed some backyard entertainment for Grandpa and Grandma's big backyard. Besides that, kids love swings. What kid doesn't love a swing? It was time.
But let me tell you what I hate... plastic stuff. Especially plastic stuff that stays outside and gets faded and dirty and gross. UGH. So I researched baby swings and decided I did not want plastic. A stroll through pinterest found several pretty wooden ones, but they just didn't look so comfy for my sweet little rollie baby. Then I found a picture of this canvas/hamock style swing, and I was all, YES! Then I saw that it was $135 plus shipping from Australia... and I was like... um, NO. (But if you have $135 to burn... you can check out Swingz and Thingz they've got some super cool stuff!)

Source: swingz.com.au via Valerie on Pinterest

But upon closer inspection, I uttered those dangerous words...

I could make that.

Right?

 So I gathered up my supplies:
1 inch oak dowels
25 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope
Steel rings
steel carabiner
rope crimps
about 1 yard of outdoor canvas
Some tools: sewing machine, hammer, pliers, saw, drill press
Sturdy tree branch (still attached to the tree, thank you.)

I started by making the seat. I found this beautiful striped canvas at a fabric outlet, and I love it! I think I will start sewing exclusively with stripes, it's super easy to measure stuff... just FYI.

I cut the large piece 36"x14", the top piece is 14"x11", and the bottom leg piece is 6"x11". (I cut all my pieces from the same long strip that started 60"x14") The way they are laid out in this picture is the shape we are creating for the seat part of the swing.
The first step was to hem the sides of the two vertical pieces. You will be hemming the 11" sides. Here's how I did the hem for this project:

1. Iron over a 1/4 inch to wrong side.
2. Iron over another 1/2 inch to wrong side.
3. Sew two straight seams 1/8 inch from each side of the hem. You have a lovely finished edge, the double seam isn't necessary, but I think it looks really nice.

Next you are going to attach those two pieces to the long horizontal piece. Here's how I attached them and double enforced the seams so they would be extra safe for my little boy...

 1. I ironed over 1/4 inch then another 1/2 inch just like i did in the first two steps above. Then I measured and centered the vertical pieces and pinned them, wrong sides together, just underneath that ironed down hem.
2. Sew two seams, just as you did in part 3 above.
3. Now flip the vertical piece up over the hem you just created, and iron it flat.
4. Top stitch over the two seams you created previously, securing the vertical piece in that position and reinforcing your seams.

The next step is to fold over 3 and sew down 3 inches on all 4 sides (which I unfortunately did not take a picture of...) This creates the casing that your dowel will go through for the frame of the swing. This is the last step of the sewing portion, and your completed seat looks like this:

(note: for smaller children you may want to also sew a cushion or pillow to go behind their back. I made a 12x12" square pillow out of coordinating outdoor canvas to go behind Sam, it was the perfect size.)

Next you create the frame and ropes to hang the swing.
I used 1 inch oak dowels, and cut them to 16". My dad took them to his fancy shop and used fancy tools to put beautiful radius on each end, but that is not structurally important. You can just cut and sand the ends really well so no one gets splinters.

Next you will put a 3/8" hole 1" from  both ends of each dowel. You will want you use a drill press to get the holes exactly straight. You can stain your dowels at this point, if you so desire.

Okay, time for the ropework! I cut 2 lengths of rope (I used a braided nylon/poly blend that was 5/16") 10 feet. You need to use a lighter to melt the ends of the rope so it doesn't fray. Then find the center of the two ropes and thread them through your steel ring and pull it to the center. (When you purchase your ring, make sure it is weight bearing. Though it will never need to hold that much, ALL the materials I used for this project were rated to hold up to 200 lbs. Safety first!)

Then I used a metal rope clamp to bind the four ropes together. You can see an unused one sitting above the ropes, and I have only hammered two of the four prongs onto the rope. (just wanted you to see how this works.)

The completed clamped rope looks like this.The rope clamp is another important safety feature in this swing, without it, the ropes could slide freely through the ring and topple the swing and the little one inside. So be sure to include that!

Now it's time for the fun part... assembly! I was literally dancing about the house by the time it got to assembly. I was SO EXCITED to complete this project and get it up in a tree and a baby in it! So here's how you do it...
Thread your dowels through all four casings in the fabric seat. The front and back dowels will be below the side dowels.

Thread the rope through the holes of two crossed dowels, and create a stopper knot leaving a 2 inch tail of rope. (A simple overhand knot would likely be sufficient, but the stopper knot is a little more sturdy, and I didn't want ANY chance of those knots slipping out when holding my precious and breakable baby) (By the way... I did a ton of research before doing this project and learned a lot about knots and what kinds are appropriate for securing or bearing what kinds of loads... Anyway, I kinda feel like I earned my boyscout badge in knots. Is there even such a thing?)

Oh my gosh! You have a swing! Now you need a safe place to hang it from.  Pick a sturdy branch or beam. This little picture is from the original website where I copied my swing design from... an excellent and informative graphic so I will save my breath... (fingers?)

Again, make sure your carabiner is a weight bearing one. ours was purchased from the hardware store and rated to hold 200 lbs. Check the rating on any hardware you use--for your child's safety!

My dad also decided that Sam might like to swing on their fancy shady porch where we all like to hang out, so he got and eye bolt and hung that in their pergola. (this bolt, when properly installed was rated to hold up to 300 lbs. I know I sound like a broken record here... but when suspending your child double and triple check that all your hardware and rope is rated to hold weight and is installed correctly and safely.)

Okay, are you wiggling so much you can't stand it??? Because I definitely was at this point... my dad was tying knots to the tree and literally could not hold still from swing excitement! Check it out!

Okay, and now, brace yourself for gratuitous photos of cute baby swinging...

Favorite!

Sam loved it! He spent his entire afternoon just swinging and swinging. Then after dinner my dad moved his swing up to the porch... where he fell asleep, still in his swing.

Okay, take a few moments to recover from your cuteness coma, because I am certain you want to know about the price breakdown. Did we swing it for under $135?

2 - 1" oak dowels each 3 ft long : $10
50 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope: $12
Package of 2 Steel rings: $2
steel carabiner: $3
Package of 2 rope crimps: $2
1 yard of outdoor canvas + 1/3 yard contrasting: $11
Total cost: $40

However... you'll note that I had to buy 50 ft of rope, but only used 25... And several things I had to buy packages of 2... and I had enough fabric left that I could make a second seat... so if I purchased more dowels and another carabiner, that would total $53... 

Making the approximate cost PER SWING about $26.50

I'd say that's a heck of a lot better than $135+shipping from Australia. Yes? SCORE.

This may be the favorite project I have EVER made. I know that's a pretty dramatic use of absolute qualifiers there, but I love this little swing so much... and I love it even more watching my little Sam swing and squeal with delight. Happy Swingin'!

(I also linked this too the Summer Pinterest Challenge at YHL if you wanna check out some other cool projects...) 

 UPDATED 3/1/13: Check out OSH Revisited: Swingin' for more pics and updates on the swing, and also for an explanation on how to add pics of your swing to the flickr pool! If you have created a swing for your kiddo, I would LOVE to see it! Would you please please share pics with all of us??? Please?

Backyard Beautifucation: Part 5 (The Shead!)

So you have seen pictures of our yard-- and pictures of the things we love. Let me show you a picture of something Z doesn't love in our backyard:

This is the part of the yard that is rarely photographed, and often pushed out of the way when it is. See that dirty plastic tub? Thats where we store our outside pillows, tiki torch fuel, bug candles, some funnels, random garden stuff, and grilling tools. It's kinda a junk drawer... but you know, the outside version. Then behind it are a couple rakes that just lean against the fence, because they have no where else to go. Also, recently our crumbling, needing to be thrown out tiki torches found a home there as well. And it was starting to look cluttered, dirty, and generally unappealing. And Z would comment on it every time we were in the yard.
I know! I would say, But where are we supposed to put that stuff? We don't really have room for it inside.
then the other day Z said... what if we put a cabinet or something up by the house, and we could make it tall enough to put rakes in.
Not a horrible idea... but first you need to see another rarely photographed view of our backyard:

We do not exactly have a lot of space in which to put a cabinet. So its not like we could just go to The Depot and get one of those pre-fab plastic mini sheds to stick in our yard. (besides, those things are ugly as sin, amIright???)
Function over form Z was all... I could slap some plywood together...
Form over function Valerie was all... We could build a lovely little corner cabinet that would fit in that space and look adorable and we could have a cute little drink station for entertaining and run twinkle lights around it...
And we sat and looked at each other for a few quiet minutes, and then someone suggested, we should draw something so we know what the other person is talking about. So I pulled out the sketch book and we doodled for a while, and came up with some ideas, and when Z was at work that evening, I took some measurements, and drew up some plans. My dad called that evening, and I asked him if he thought we could build a little corner cabinet for our yard. And my Dad-- who is learning not to question my moments of genius inspiration (insert winky face)-- said, Draw a picture of what you want, and I will see if I can make it happen.
So I drew this:

Please don't make fun of me... drawing and engineering is not really in my skill set.
Do you like the nice list I made of things we could put in the cabinet???

and when Z saw it, he was excited. And when my Dad saw it, he was excited too. He claims he was also toying with the idea of using cedar planks so it would match the fence... So we were all on the same page.
And then my dad, because he's one of those engineer types, took my simple drawing, and put it all into a CAD program and printed us out plans with measurements and angles and full color views from every angle. This thing was happening, and it was going to be over-engineered as well. :)
My dad Has never been known for his spelling and language skills-- he's a great engineer, who needs 'em?-- and when he was labeling the plans for our mini-shed, he spelled: S-H-E-A-D. When Z and I saw it, we thought it was funny, and started calling our project The Shead. My dad didn't like that we were making fun of his spelling-- but we assured him we were not trying to mock him and we found it endearing. We liked having a special name for our project!
Anywho... we headed to the Home Depot to pick up the supplies. This wasn't a cheap project-- but it was done the right way-- with all pressure treated wood so it would not rot out after one season. All our material: wood, screws, glue, and hardware, came to around $150. However, a similar in size and shape plastic shed was $159... so we're not too torn up about the cost.
Enough talk onto the building.

Mmm... my man and power tools... Sexy, no?
Zachary and my dad worked in my parent's garage to build it. And... Sam even helped!

 Okay, so that picture was completely staged. Sam played inside with Grandma most of the day, but he did come out and watch his Daddy assemble the doors... and clutched a pencil for dear life while he did so. Of course Mama forced a photo opp. (Oh, come on! What was I supposed to do?!)

This is my dad working on the frame. Because it was a small space our cabinet needed to fit into, we decided a corner cabinet would be the best use of space, and the most aesthetically pleasing. But it was still small, so we opted to keep the back of the cabinet open so we wouldn't loose any space (we can shove our stuff all the way up against the brick wall-- no loss of space there!). This also would reduce the cost of material, and lighten the cabinet considerably. That puppy was all kinds of re-inforced and heavy as crap when it was all done.

It was evening by now, and the guys started hanging the doors... when we realized the hardware (hinges) we had purchased were not strong enough to hold up the doors. So sweaty and covered in sawdust we all loaded into the truck and went back to the Depot to get some bigger ones.
When we finally got back, they hung the doors and installed the hardware... and it looked great! But it was around 9:00 when we finished for the evening.

So we waited until day 2 to install the thing. But before we put it in, there were a few other things that needed to happen. Let me remind you of this-- the before pic looking from the back of the yard toward the house:

It's kinda hard to see in this picture, but next to the house it's really shady, and difficult to grow grass. On the one side we have that lovely airconditioning unit, and beside/behind that is a mud pit. The other side of the steps (where we were about to put The Shead) was not much better. So Z had the idea to do some landscaping... we put down some edging and mulch around the AC unit to cover those muddy areas, then mirrored that shape on the opposite side of the steps. Hopefully it will make the 'yard' look a little less patchy, and a little more balanced and appealing.
But our mulching and Shead installation kinda ripped out what little grass was hanging on in those corners... so we ended up laying down sod in that half of the yard. And because I am always running around without shoes and my husband and grossed out by all the mud and possible poo I may be tracking through when walking barefoot in the grass, we included a small stepping stone in the middle of the grassy patch in front of the Shead. I was deeply involved in the landscaping/mulching/sodding/stone laying process, so we have no process pictures, just this magical after:

Hey look! Mulch! Sod! Shead! Probably got there by elves or internet magic or something.
Anywho, here's what The Shead looks like empty... there are shelves on the left to store pillows, candles, tiki torch fuel, garden and grill tools, and other outside stuff. The tall open space on the right holds our rakes, shovel, pooper scooper, and other unsavory items Z wanted to remove from their former leaning-against-the-fence-by-the-grill-position. Here's what The Shead looks like filled:

And once that the doors are closed and latched that side of the house, and the filled completed Shead looks like...

AH! Lovely, beautiful, practical Shead... We love you. You look so very handsome in our backyard. I am so pleased!

And here, you can see the rakes and storage have been hidden from view bringing this side of the yard up to par with the rest of it.
And with the completion of that landscaping project, the building and installation of the Shead-- I declare Backyard Beautification complete! Yay! I could not be happier. with how things turned out.
Wanna see some before and afters? Yeah-- meeeeee too.

Before

 

 After

Grass, Fence, Clothes Line, Herb Garden

Lighting

Before:

After:

Lighting, Shed, Mulch, Sod, Step Stone

 Before:

 After:

Lighting, Shed (storage), Fence, Grass

 I feel like this has been a long journey... but I am glad you followed along with us! 

The only thing left to do to our yard is to throw a party to break it in!