Tiny Garden Expansion

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

Rain Chain

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

Garden is not Dead

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

Patio Updates

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

Fresh Grass

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

Front Yard Updates

A note: I have to start by saying BLACK LIVES MATTER. This is a relatively trivial blog about house projects and creating a home you love – all that means nothing in the face of injustice and oppression and systemic racism. So non-Black readers: thank you for showing up here today but, if you aren’t … More Front Yard Updates

Modern Gate DIY

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

Mailbox

I’m trying to put together a monster front yard post and realizing that I never shared our new mailbox. Shame. It’s adorable and deserves a dedicated shout out, so here we go! You may remember this mailbox post full of beautiful modern boxes and me wondering whether the cost of a new mailbox was worth the … More Mailbox

Patio Shenanigans

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