Tan on Tan on Tan (And Baby Ferns)

Guys. I have a tan house. With tan trim. And a tan door. That's a lot of tan.

Especially when you consider that we were working with a dirt lot with little vegetation to be found? Sad, colorless, monochromatic house. I mean, it's really a lovely house, and I still pinch myself as I drive up to it... I live here! This is my home! But all the tan hurt my brain a little bit. I wanted something that looked welcoming and cheerful...
Obviously a bright color door was just the wink that our house needed, don't you think?

So I told my husband I was going to paint our front door something cheerful, and his response was, of course, what? Why? Whats wrong with the color it is?
But I plowed ahead, undeterred. I polled my friends, I gathered swatches, I taped stuff to the door and stared at it for days... And I decided on a really nice plum color that I was quite excited about, then I made the mistake of asking my husband what he thought of my color choice and he just sighed and said, Please don't paint my door purple.
Okay, first of all, it's plum, not purple. And it's a LOVELY color!     ...but I decided to go with something a little less bold, because in the grand scheme of things a door color is not a HUGE life commitment. So I thought I'll ease the hubs into it, and then we'll punch the color up a notch next year if I need more...

So I selected a lovely green called "Baby Fern" that was somewhere between an apple green and a muted ferny color. I put on the first coat... oh man, it looked tinkerbell city. But I remembered advice of some of my fav DIY bloggers, Young House Love, when they say the middle always looks crazy. This was not the end of the vision... this was the start with only one coat of paint. So I didn't panic yet.
It took three even coats for full coverage. I painted slowly and carefully and made sure to allow adequate drying time between each coat because I wanted the door to look smooth and streak/brush stroke free. Once it was done...

(Oh, Hai Charlie!) I was pleased with the result! Much happier.
But remember the crazy in the middle part? This is still the middle. Yes the green door is happy and brighter, but just the green door on the tan house with the dirt yard was honestly not a HUGE improvement. This still the middle... it's coming, it's coming, it's coming! And the more finished the yard became, the more the door makeover made sense-- Even to the husband and my father who weren't believers in the Baby Fern magic.
Oh, but also, while I was in the business of painting doors and distributing magic, I decided the back of the house needed love too...

Because this guy didn't even have any trim to boast! Saaaaaaad. But not to fear, a few hours and a few coats of paint later....

...and he was boasting a brighter outlook on life as well. Actually, ignore the bottom right corner of that pic where there's a sneak peak of beauty to come. (this pic was actually taken a few weeks later, oops.) But I was happy all the way around with what a quart of Baby Fern exterior paint did to perk up my house.
A few weeks later I was chatting with one of our neighbors, and she commented on what a transformation the exterior of our house had been through. She specifically mentioned how much she loved the happy green door, it made her smile!
It makes me smile too!
But this isn't the last you will see of that front door... more magic to come! What about you? Anyone else painting their door this fall???

Backyard Beautifucation: Part 2 (Airing our dirty laundry)

In Part 1 of the Backyard Beautification I mentioned how I would love to have a clothes line. I have always thought this would be a lovely addition to our yard, but once cloth diapering came along, it kind of became a necessity. If you are into the cloth diapering scene, you know those things can get kinda stained and smelly-- but you can't just use any old detergent or stain removers on them... and the very best, most effective stain and odor eliminator is... THE SUN.
But as much as I desired and required a clothesline, our space presented issues in making this dream come true
1) Shade. Our south facing house gets little sunlight in the backyard, as you can see in this picture. I needed the sunlight to bleach the diapers, but I didn't even have enough space to lay them out on the ground. Just that little strip on the back fence was all I had to work with.

2) Space. Obviously, we have a small yard, so putting in a permanent clothesline anywhere in our yard would be inconveniently in the way. Frustrating.
I started talking to Z about my dilemma. I thought I could put one up along the back fence... get some large screw eyes that would hold the line out a couple inches, and that should work. But it would be in the way of the gate, so you would have to duck if you wanted to go in and out, and that was a problem.

 

 Z thought for a moment, then cleverly suggested tying the ends of the clothes line to carabiners, so it could be easily removed when not in use. AHA!

 Genius! No? I knew I kept that man around for something! ;) So I purchased $.98 eye screws, $1.50 clothes line, and $1.00 carabiners for a project grand total under $5. And... I put up a clothes line.

And then I hung up diapers.

It worked perfectly. These guys were able to soak up all the sunlight necessary to dry them and remove stains (yay!). They hung a couple inches from the fence, too... so no splinters in wee one's bum. And it sure beats dragging a load of diapers to my parents backyard! 

 Oh, yeah! We are in business now! And when I am done with my laundry... I can just put the line away...

Which is handy if you want to open the gate, or walk through it without being--literally-- clotheslined.

Ah! It just makes me happy. Sooo... our yard is well on it's way to being beautiful AND functional now. YAY!

Backyard Beautification: Part 1 (High on grass!)

I am not sure you can even call it a yard. It's more like... a small concrete patio with a strip of *grass around the outside. *Or what should be grass, but was not because it was all dead and tore up from the dogs.
This is a multi-part project that's been a long time coming. But lets just start it off with a picture of everything our backyard is, before I tell you everything I dream it could be...

This was our yard last fall. This picture was taken from inside the house, because it was the only way to get the entire immense space all in one picture. Note the luxiriously patchy brown 'lawn', the rickety grey fence about to fall over, and the dog poo on the concrete (ew, I totally posted a picture of poo on my blog. Things are getting a little too real here.) The smell was also pretty amazing. I mean two little dogs in that little space pooping on concrete and dead grass? Awesome.
The only pretty part of this picture is the grill. AH! I love that grill. But I was getting to the point where I hated using it, because it's in the smelly gross backyard. SIGH.
I wanted a pretty backyard. Green grass, a small herb garden, maybe some potted plants, a clothes line where our unmentionables could flutter in the wind, a fence that didn't threaten to topple over on me if I got too close on a breezy day. Oh, and lighting, so we can use our patio in the evenings. Must have lighting... er-- better lighting than the shady, crusty tiki torches we are currently using. Sigh. A girl can dream?
Unfortunately landscaping is not an instant gratification kind of thing and we spent a long (still pregnant!) afternoon outside raking and tearing out dead stuff, tilling and seeding our 'lawn' for a grand result of....

this:

 Ooooh... ahhhh...

I know, right? So much better! Or... not. Sigh.

But do you like how I put a red potted plant on the table to try and brighten things up a tiny bit? Much to my dismay, just a few days later the wind blew the pot off the table and it broke. Stupid wind. 

I was deflated. I know that landscaping is a slow, laborious process, but this was just disheartening to look at. At least it didn't smell anymore. And good things were coming in the near future.

Good things like... a new fence.

A NEW FENCE! 

Well, at least on 2 sides. Actually the only part of our fence that belongs to us is the very back portion. The right side is a neighbor, and the left side is a neighbor. The left side, though still ugly, is at least sturdy, where the right side was about to fall over. So when our neighbor saw us working in the yard that day, she mentioned she was going to be replacing her fence that weekend, and we kinda wanted to hop the fence and hug her! Then we immediately made plans to do the same the following weekend.

My Dad and Husband got to work and spent a saturday afternoon putting in the fence and doing the male bonding thing. :)

I don't have pictures of the fencing process... I didn't even take an 'after' shot. I must have been too pregnant and bitter that day, but that means you get to fast forward to a spring shot of a fence and a grown-in(ish) yard:

 Oooh... ahhhh... yard! Same little white dog too. So the grass is still patchy, but it's about 300 times better than it was, and we are working on that. The fence is sturdy, and ain't too shabby to look at either. My boys did a good job. 

We are well on our way to a more beautiful, functional backyard. Yay.