Looked for shelving ideas, of course the internet is full of them! Went with these plans, and happy with how they turned out!
projects
All posts tagged projects
The Walkway
by Chansoda on June 24, 2015After the garden, we tackled the walkway leading to it. Wanted to add some interesting landscaping to the yard, because you know… we didn’t do enough digging and hauling with the garden already (sarcasm).
But seriously, it looks much better. And the digging, nope, did not get any easier. But we did it! The first original home owners were big in to their landscaping, but it got lost and overgrown throughout the years. So working in the yard always feels a little bit like an excavation. We unearthed a lot of hidden belgian blocks in the ground that use to line their gardens and walkways and were able to gather them up to line our new gravel walkway. We even got a bit of a history lesson on them. The community was founded by a group of Jewish NYC firemen who wanted a summer home/camp for their families. When the streets of NY were being ripped up, the cobbled pavers removed to make new roads, these guys decided to grab them and use it up here in their homes. So, original belgian blocks from the streets of New York City, literally. Pretty cool.
After the digging was done, we thought the hard part was over. It would have been had the gravel been delivered right next to the walkway. But instead it was dumped on the driveway… which is fine, at least it wasn’t the wrong driveway.
Shovel. Wheelbarrel. Haul. Dump. Repeat until we eventually used up the two yards of gravel.
No more (big) landscaping projects after this.
As for our garden, it’s growing very nicely.
And the sound of pea gravel beneath our feet is soothing to hear.
My “Little Free Library” Project
by Chansoda on June 4, 2015Maybe it’s not so romantic, but I really wanted power tools for Christmas and that’s exactly what Karla got me and I couldn’t be happier. My brother was little horrified when he heard that’s what I received, he’s use to giving his girlfriend the jewelry and fashionable hand bags. Then when it comes time to helping him put something together for his girlfriend (say a handmade computer desk), who comes to the rescue??? Yea, not one of my other brothers (I have 4 of them), his only sister with the power tools.
Anyways, the tools have been put to good use! So far, I fixed the screening on our porch, even went to my mother’s and screened in her porch for her, and built a garden bed for our home. Putting pieces of wood together with nails and/or screws, apparently, has resulted in the misconception that I’m some sort of expert, and was volunteered by a certain some one to make a “Little Free Library” for Caramoor.
The project is fun and I’m certainly a fan of the idea of book sharing. It’s great!! Building it… well it has been a learning experience. I’m trying to make it look sort of like the Rosen House at Caramoor, which is a Mediterranean style stucco building… it’s a work in progress. I may have made it a bit too big and awkward, most people have been asking me if it’s a dog house for Holly. No, its a house for books! Latest challenge is the roofing, I have been youtubing how to roof a house. I couldn’t put real spanish tiles on this roof, but did find something that sort of resembles it. So, we shall see!
Gardens and Dirt!
by Chansoda on May 30, 2015I build, we dig, she plants.
We wanted a garden and was it a lot of work building and filling this thing! We went with cedar planks for the garden bed and used 2×4 studs as posts. A kind neighbor saw me working hard on the construction so he dropped off some of his old fencing, which I was able to cut up to build fencing frames that will keep the deer and other animals out. After it was built, we did the math and realized we needed about A LOT of dirt to fill the thing. That can get expensive with delivery. So, at first we attempted to save money by filling our friend’s truck with dirt from the community compost pile… by hand shoveling… which means we first had to hand shovel the dirt in to the truck, then off the truck in to our bed… The truck broke down after the first run so we didn’t get very far… then we decided that was enough for the day.
As luck would have it, the next morning another neighbor stopped by and asked if we still needed dirt. A mistake delivery just happened to work out in our favor. Don’t turn away FREE DIRT! They dropped off a huge pile of topsoil into our drive way (of course it starts raining…pouring rain… but free dirt is the silver lining). Eventually, we filled the bed with the heavy wet dirt and got the plants in to their new home. A lot of work, but mission accomplished.
I’m not sure what Karla planted, but I know I can’t wait to see it grow.
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