The one pandemic hobby that stuck around: veggie gardening. And this year I’m going big(ger). It started in the panic of 2020 with one little 6’x3′ raised bed (similar here) and some crappy curbside pickup soil. It was enjoyable enough that I kept at it and even added a second garden bed in 2022. After … More Tiny Garden Expansion
When we were replacing the underground gutter drainage pipes in our backyard, we swapped out an old rain gutter for a rain chain. We rigged it up ourselves and weren’t sure how much water a chain could direct vs an enclosed gutter pipe. Turns out, they can handle A LOT of water, even doing the … More Rain Chain
Not sure if anyone has any interest in watching a garden grow, but my tiny raised vegetable garden isn’t dead yet and it has been one of the surprise hobbies (therapies?) of this weird year. Along with…drumroll….sewing, another activity I previously hated but I guess I don’t in upsidedownworld 2020. I have been super happy … More Garden is not Dead
Continuing the summer of making the backyard better, the patio got some work done too. Basically, this will be a post about the life-changing magic of vintage mosaic coffee tables. Our patio, for so long, has been the home of misfit, mismatched, and broken furniture and, like everyone this year, I was ready to invest … More Patio Updates
The stock tank that was scheduled for May finally arrived a few weeks ago and we are now pool people!! It took a lot of persistence to make it happen with general above ground pool supply shortages, but I think it will go down as the bright spot of a hard year. A pool – … More Stock Tank Pool DIY
I’ve been searching for a vintage outdoor sofa for awhile, ideally an iron set with hairpin legs, and have come up with nothing. Ready for a patio napping spot now and not willing to spend $2k on something new, we decided to build what we wanted – floating side tables and all! It cost us … More DIY Plywood Outdoor Couch
Playing a little chronological catch up here with a project we did in May and June: redoing the backyard grass. If ever a small task has snowballed, it’s the one where we had some extra dirt left over from another project and thought maybe we should use it to level out a few areas of … More Fresh Grass
Following years of avoiding things that tie me down, it felt like it was time to venture back into vegetable gardening – on a small scale. Since we obviously aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, why not? I wanted a smallish, modern, movable, non-wood raised bed and I’m really happy with the one I ended up … More Modern Container Garden
We have been anxious to replace our backyard fence since the day we bought our house six years ago. You can see kinda where we started in this post. Those images are overly generous. In real life, the scene was utter fence clutter. We started thinking about this project last fall when the house was … More Corrugated Polycarbonate Privacy Fence
We’ve needed to rebuild our gate for like years. It was water damaged, flimsy, and only hanging on by 50 unsightly emergency screws. It was one of those semi-easy projects that we continually ignored, only thinking about it during high winds when it would bend and bust open. Design indecision really dragged progress. I wanted … More Modern Gate DIY
*Update: See photos of the exterior paint here – only 1.5 years late :) I’m slowly trying to put the lid back on the can of worms that the exterior paint job opened up. In an effort to save money, but mostly deterred by color decisions and the repairs we needed to make before painting, … More Exterior Paint Progress
I’ve put in a few good hours looking for mid century-ish exterior wall lights and I thought I’d share some favorites at all different price points!Our newly bright white house needs some adornment after its fresh coat of paint. As in FIVE new exterior lights. When working on a project where there are so few … More Modern Outdoor Lights
Totally unintentionally, the patio has been all switched up! It all started when one of my kids Chris Farley-ed one of our acapulco chairs. The chair was ruined during the funny, but destructive fall. So, I brought out a black acapulco chair from inside (left without a home after this room’s recent rearrange) and decided to … More Patio Shenanigans
Somehow this has turned into a saga. Two years ago I bought some replacement covers (actually two different kinds ugh) for our backyard vintage butterfly chair frames and wrote this long post on places to find them. I have detailed info there, but to summarize: if you want replacement canvas covers for your (non folding) … More Circa50 Butterfly Chair Covers
Sharing a handful of things have me excited right now: 1. I can’t stop thinking about this room. I’m so inspired by it. Possibly because it reminds me of a cool hippie version of my daughter’s room with that coral block of color (that goes onto the ceiling YES). But it’s probably just all the … More Stuff
Last summer/fall, not unlike this summer/fall, was a time of big yard work. But instead of front yard redoes, it was backyard redoes, and it was the first yard we ever really landscaped, if you can call our very minimal application landscaping. We did a lot of winging it when it came to our plants and hoped for the best. … More The Backyard Turns One
I’ve wanted a screen door for our bedroom to backyard door since we moved in that didn’t scream farmhouse/country. A way to let the light and fresh air in and the bugs out, while blending with our house in an unobtrusive, modern, and minimal way. We always thought we’d have to build one from scratch, … More Modern Screen Door
Any self-respecting suburb lover enjoys a good backyard, myself obviously included. And any respectable backyard has fire. A favorite addition to our backyard was a simple, low fire pit. Even when it’s not fired up, it serves as a gathering spot, as places where fire happens often do.I purchased ours after a pretty exhaustive search and … More Modern Fire Pit Roundup
Hey there!! I shared the pretty-much-all-finished-and-so-colorful-backyard a few months ago (with an additional post all about plants and another on that crazy painted wall), but the patio was shielded from your eyes for your own protection. It spent a few months last year looking respectable until we decided to bring that tulip table into the family room. Since … More Mid-Century Inspired Patio
Update: See the backyard 1 year in here. Following up on my long backyard post from a couple weeks ago, I’m here today with another too long post on the specifics of what we planted and why. Ripping out a fine enough yard and starting over from scratch, and doing it all yourself on a budget without any landscape experience, sounds … More Drought Tolerant Plants in the Backyard
SUBURBAN * POP 