Sprucing Up the Backyard

We regularly hang out and have parites in our backyard so making it better back there has always been on our minds.  When we first moved in, it was a wreck and we removed a lot of hideous plants.  Neither of us are very good at landscaping or choosing plants so this has been something we have put off for awhile.

I did always love the idea of having some king palms in our yard.  I finally put some effort into the idea and found a nursery with them at a great price.  Mimosa Nursery had the 15 gallon trees for only $55 each. For comparison, Home Depot has smaller ones for $70 each.

Our gardener picked them up and planted them for a great price.  He also removed this goofy "balls tree" we had.  It was cute enough to me, but it dropped lots of leaves into the pool and for some reason flies LOVED living in it.  There were also lots of spiders so I was happy to get rid of it.

We are very excited with the planted trees.  The smaller palms I had previously planted myself were moved to different locations.

 

Tonight Brian and I are going to pick up some wood to make some nice fences to hide the pool equipment and the carport.

Hopefully soon we will build a patio cover, but for now the fences are a good warm up.  This fence is the inspiration.

Swapping Dean's Room and the Office

For awhile now, the office has slowly become the dumping ground for toys and items Dean is now too big for.  He basically has outgrown his bedroom too so we decided to move him into the office and move the office to his baby room.

Before any new furniture made its way into the house, everthing was cleared out of the old office and I painted the room.  This was the third time I've painted this room so I decided to go with plain ol' white.  I really like it and I knew I wouldn't have to change it again as our son's tastes grow.

I had intended to paint the new office all white as well, but after all the work in the bedroom I got over that idea.  Navy/white combo it is!  No more painting required.

I really dislike my desk chair.  I need to look around for maybe a gray tufted chair or something like that.

Dean had already upgraded into a twin bed several months back, but with the room swap I really wanted him to have a loft bed.  I had one as a kid and remember LOVING playing underneith it like a club house all the time.  Plus it allows for even more storage and play space.  So the twin bed he was previously using got to stay in the office.  Now we again have somewhere for a guest or two to sleep.

In Dean's new room I also purchased one more storage piece.  I really prefer the Target cubes with boxes but the Ikea storage system allowed for a few huge containers for those awkwardly large toys.

Dean loves his new room and shows it off to everyone that comes over.

I love having a neat office again.

Lastly, while at Ikea I picked up this really cute shoe cabinet and mirror.  Our entryway was never very cute so I was happy to make it a lot more presentable and a nice vibe when you walk in the front door.

Washer Dryer Ikea Kitchen Cabinet Hack

Surprisingly this project was super fast to complete.  We expected it to be a huge headache so Brian kept putting it off.  Once he started it he finished in less than 45 minutes!  We were shocked it worked so smoothly.

Basically, we wanted a panel on the side that would be removable to easily access the water valves behind the washer and dryer if needed. 

Brian routered out three pockets and added these metal cleats.  Genius!

If you have any questions, let us know.

Finished All the Windows

What a difference windows make!  About a year ago we had just the front windows of our house replaced.  We chose to do just a few at a time so we could pay in cash for each batch.  Now we were ready to complete the job.  What a change! 

We chose the Del Mar Anlin windows from American Vision.  They installed them all in one day after waiting a few weeks for them to be custom made.  The install job looks fabulous.  I knew that new windows would really help with the temperature control in our home and the sound.  We have been super pleased.