Dirty Dog (and the side yard)

What do you get when you mix a few rainy days, some dirt, and a side yard that needs lots of love? Apparently you get a pretty dirty dog.

The east side of the yard (where our foundation wall was rebuilt) still had lots of leftover pieces of brick and backfill from the foundation work. So on a nice day, we finally got to work cleaning it up. Trent even gave Saleen a bath earlier that day. Unfortunately, that didn't last, as Saleen enjoyed rubbing her face in the dirt there very much.

Nonetheless, after we picked up a lot of the bigger leftover pieces of brick, concrete, etc. from before the winter, Trent ran over the whole side yard with the tiller and leveled it out a little more.

The foundation crew had removed some of our landscaping bricks from the garden bed, so those were also put back into place.

A few of the larger brick pieces from the old foundation even had to be dug out of the ground, as they had gotten buried in the backfill.

After it was all tilled and more leveled out, we had quite the dirt-filled side yard.

The plan now is to lay down rock along the side of the house (like we did on the other side, but not with all of the additional landscaping), and plant grass seed back where it was before. Eventually all of the siding will have to be ripped off and redone here, since the foundation wall was not done correctly and there is a huge gap between the foundation wall and the siding. See that wood peaking out from under the siding? That's not supposed to be showing at all. Those are the THREE sill plates that they put on to fill in the gap, because the foundation wall was built too low, and we needed this side of the house raised. So this is what we have to work with! We have a long road ahead of us with this project, that's for sure!

Bedroom Shelves...Still a Work in Progress

As you might know, a few months ago, Trent started a small building project - a shelving unit for the bedroom. You can see more about when he first started this project here (Back in April!), a little about why we need more bedroom storage here, and the last Shelf update here. 

He has been trying to work on this every week or so, but several factors have affected the progress of building it - like tons of rain, working all the time, and the fact that it is quite heavy and takes both of us to carry it outside just to work on it. 

He has made progress though, slowly but surely...all of the trim pieces have been added to the front, and as you can see, he tested some stain in one of the sections. It will be a darker stain color, to match the rest of the bedroom wood. You can also see all of the wood putty to cover up the imperfections, like the seams and where the trim was attached.

He's been sanding this wood putty (which is stainable), to get it smooth and blend in with the rest of the wood. All that is left now is a little more sanding, then stain!

Here he is with the electric sander in action:

I'm hoping this project will get done sooner than later, as we definitely need more bedroom storage! It will be much nicer when all of Trent's clothes are organized! ;)

Planter Box Update

So it has definitely been too long since I've shared an update, but the weather lately has been fantastic! This is why I love summer! We've been outside working on lots of little projects lately, and have even been busy getting materials and starting on the basement...the next step in getting the living room and kitchen level.

Our 4th of July was pretty laid back this year - we just stayed around here, no Lake Geneva trip this year! We did see fireworks last Friday night and had a pretty fun weekend all-around.

I thought I'd share today a quick little makeover I did on my planter boxes. You may remember my Produce planter boxes I got from Joss and Main last summer:

Well...this year, they weren't looking so hot....(neither were my flowers at this point, by the way)

I only put two out this year, but they were noticeably faded, and looking very rustic! Not intentionally, though. And it wasn't really the look I was going for. Granted though, if I turned them around, they weren't as bad:



But still, I would much rather have a bright pop of color instead of the distressed look. Our porch floor already has that look going for it, unfortunately.

Enter a small paint pot I got free with a coupon at Lowe's:

You've seen them there, right? Maybe you've even picked one up yourself? I think they're like $2 or $3 normally, but there are coupons from time to time in various Home and garden magazines. They're handy for little projects like this one. This color was called Indigo Cloth, by Valspar.

I started by cleaning the outsides of my planter boxes with a wet rag, and rubbing off the rest of the label that was still there. It seemed to just be a sticker/paper-like label and came off pretty easily.

Once all surfaces were clean, I painted on the blue.

I only really gave them one good coat. Then just touched up some of the thinner areas.

And I had me some bright blue planters!

I ended up also getting a few new flowers to replace the dead ones in there:

I went with a patriotic, red white and blue theme. :)

I got some more petunias, which I like because they're pretty easy to keep alive, and some red Celosia. I have really grown to like those things! My hot pink ones have done really well this year, and these red ones are pretty cool looking - kind of like fire.

I can't wait to redo that front porch floor, but for now my planter boxes look a lot better now!

My flowers that are in the larger round planters have been doing really well this year. As you can see, I kind of have a red theme going on!

These red flowers have been doing the best out of all of them:

They're apparently called Salvia. I'll have to remember that for next year, because these babies are nearly out growing the pot at this point.

So that's it for now...Maybe I will be back tomorrow with a Shelf Update for you! ;)

The Firepit Gets New Life

Is everyone excited it's almost the 4th? Happy Fourth of July a little early! Woo-hoo for a 3-day weekend! Last year around this time, we were headed to Lake Geneva, WI for the weekend. This year it looks like we'll be hanging around here, and hopefully enjoying a Fireworks show or two!

I just wanted to post a quick update today, that is actually home improvement related! I know, it's been a while! It's a small update, but sometimes even the littlest improvements can seem like milestones when it's been SO long since a project has actually been completed! 

Today Trent gave our two-year-old outdoor firepit a little love. Here he is in action.

It was looking a little worn and rusty. Wish I had a decent before picture to show you... but it definitely needed a fresh coat of paint. We used Rustoleum's High Heat Ultra spray paint:

Here's what the sides of the firepit looked like before, to give you a bit of an idea how much this guy needed an update:

Trent actually laid out all of the pieces on a large, old board, then did a few touch-ups later:

Now it's as good as new and shiny as ever! All thanks to a little paint. It was also fast-drying, so it took close to no time at all.

We're ready to enjoy some more fires on the patio now!

Summer Weekends

Now that I've been back into the swing of things and posting regularly again, it's time to share a few fun things that we've been up to this summer. This year it's been hard to balance things like we used to since Trent's been working more. We haven't been able to work on the house much like I was hoping, or even go to the store to get materials. 

It seems like summer is already going by fast...it's almost July already! (What!??) We've both been working like crazy so of course we're exhausted most nights, but during the weekends (when Trent's not working), we do have some time to do fun things like go out, and visit new places and old favorites.

When we have gone out, it's usually because we need to go to town to go shopping, but we've eaten out at a few cool places so far this summer. Like Bier Stube in Le Claire, IA. There is also a Moline location, but we really like the one on the Iowa side, because it's right by the river. It was really buggy the night we went, so instead of eating out in the patio like we did the first time we came here, we sat inside this time.

The food here was really good, and they have a huge beer selection, which you can probably tell by the name! I got a Summer Shandy and had a salad and some broccoli cheese soup!

We've also tried a new place downtown Moline, called Barley & Rye Bistro. It was delicious! Neither of us had been there before, and they were actually trying out a new dinner menu for the first time that night. It was more pricey than what we usually like to spend, but we ate on the lighter side so it wasn't too bad. The restaurant is all self sustainable, natural and local foods which is pretty awesome. Everything tasted really fresh, like it came straight from the source.

Trent got a burger with a side of asparagus, and one of their many beers. I got a strawberry almond salad with a honey dressing that tasted amazing. To drink I had a strawberry mint julep, again super fresh and yummy. We ate on the patio which was nice! I'd love to go there again sometime.

Another new place we checked out was Schweibert Park in Rock Island. It's a fairly new park but it's been there for quite a few years now, and we hadn't gone there before. It was really nice! They have a nice stage for concerts, so it would be cool to see an outdoor concert there by the river. And this was the view:

Nothing like the sun setting over the Mississippi! You can see that there was a Bandits game going on across the river in Davenport, too. So far this summer we haven't made it to any River Bandits games yet, although I really want to go to one this year and ride the new ferris wheel for the first time!

We have, however, gone back to the drive-in in Galva for another double feature. I love this place. It's a great way to spend a summer evening relaxing outside and watching a couple of movies.

This time we saw Godzilla and Transcendence. They were both pretty good, although not being as much of an action fan as Trent is, I kind of enjoyed Transcendence a little better! I just wish it hadn't been so late so I could actually stay awake through the whole thing! :)

 

I really wish we had more time to do fun things like this and go out a little more this year. But this weekend has been more of a lazy weekend for me, since Trent's working most of it. (I've been home watching all of the Step Up movies. Haha)

Trent has been working on his bedroom shelves a little more, trying to get them finished. Still not there yet, but I'm hoping to have an update on his shelves for you soon!

Engaged Life: So Far, So Great

It's been well over a month now since we got engaged in Texas. So I thought I'd do kind of an update post on how the planning is coming so far, and what I've been busy doing since we've been "back to reality"!

When it comes to wedding planning, we don't have much finalized as of yet. All I have now is lots and lots of ideas. Pinterest is my best friend right now! I've started a wedding binder and have collected tons of ideas. I've even started my registries and have a guest list down. I've ordered samples of Save the Dates and Invitations, and tomorrow we are planning to visit one of our possible ceremony/reception venues. We've decided that we want it around August of next year, but don't have a definite date yet.

We want a pretty small wedding with just family and close friends, and I don't want a big wedding party. We want an outdoor wedding in the QC area, and I would like the ceremony and reception to be at the same place. My colors are going to be pink, peach, coral, and mint, and I love big blooms for flowers. Here are a few images I've found on Pinterest that I love:

(find these on my Pinterest here, here, and here)

Even though I love peonies, they will pretty much be out of the question in late summer, so it will most likely be English roses instead, which I am ok with! And I want a cupcake tower rather than a big cake. So...I definitely have a clear idea of what I want. I just have to put it all together. :)

With Haley's wedding coming up in less than a month, we're kind of waiting on finalizing things until hers is over, since we're still finishing up all the details for her wedding. I've been helping out on a lot of things along the way for her wedding and can't believe it's almost here - in just a few weeks! After hers is over, I think we'll really start kicking our wedding planning into gear.

We just had her shower last weekend which turned out really well! Her "cupcake cake" was really cute, and I think she loved the present I got her! It was this monogram burlap wedding date print from Etsy, customized with Haley and Dan's names and wedding date. I just got a frame for it at Michael's.

July 19th is the big day!  Then I have a feeling I'm going to be busy planning Trent and I's wedding for the next year or so! But I am still really excited to dive into things. The first month has been pretty much stress-free as far as planning goes! We'll see what I'll be saying 10 months from now... :)