What to do? What to do?

If you’re a home owner, you’ll be able to relate.  Heck, you’ll be able to relate even if you’re not an “owner.”  There’s always something that needs demands your attention—a leaking faucet (we have two), wasps in the attic, crabgrass, a crowded “catch-all” room and doors hung in haste—just to name a few around the King Kompound.

Then are the things you’d rather give your attention to—a new addition to the patio and walkway, a greenhouse/storage area and fall decorating.

This weekend we tackled a few items on the “rather” list and one on the “demand” list.

Saturday, while I was chasing around looking for fabric and other inspirations for some of my redesign clients (I love my job!), Darren was home aerating the lawn.  We’re a little frustrated because we use a lawn service, but the crabgrass is winning the battle for our front yard.  They offered to reseed, but it would cost—quite a bit—so we decided to try it ourselves.  Darren aerated on Saturday and I seeded yesterday.  Then began the chore of chasing the sprinkler all over the yard. It is a big chore regardless, but especially because our faucet that we use when water the front and side yard is broken (see item 1 on the “demands” list).  It was leaking through the hose and into the yard—all summer long; Darren fixed it—now it leaks under the house in our crawl space.  So I had to connect that hose to the hose for our backyard.  It’s working, but it’s a bit cumbersome.

Now lest you think I’m just casting disparaging remarks about my husbands handyman abilities—let me throw some stones at my own glass-paned doors.

What you’re looking at are the two doors I just had to get hung about two months ago.  They’ve been propped in the laundry room for nearly a year—intended to replace the hollow core doors which were hanging there before.  My sister, Nikki, ad I came up with the idea when we were (as usual) discussing ideas for our homes.  I’ve wanted to make our enclosed back porch (sounds prettier than it is) a more functional part of our home since we moved in.  I’ll post about this project in it’s entirety later, but for now, I’ll focus on the doors.  We decided that glass paned vintage doors would serve several purposes:  they would allow more light into the kitchen; they would open-up this otherwise bleak looking corner of the kitchen; they would make the back porch and laundry room a little more inviting (not that laundry could ever be considered inviting, but the room could!).  So, I found the doors at our local ReStore—a retail store for Habitat for Humanity.  (Pause for sprinkler shifting . . .I’m back.)

They measured well, pretty close, to the size I needed.

I finally decided to attack the project while Darren was training in the desert of CA, therefore I had to enlist the help of my teenagers.  While willing, they were a little less knowledgeable about this process than I was.  We got them hung, but they don’t close.  Could be the jams, could be the doors, could be the house.  Not sure.  Should have taken pause when I called my Dad—our own long distance handyman—he said, “Good luck!”  It was the way he said it . . . more like “it’s not gonna happen” than, “you can do it!”

As I said, they’re up, but they don’t close.  ARGH!  I love the effect—the kitchen is brighter, so is the laundry room—but not being able to close them will be a problem.  Especially as we move into the colder weather and the the back porch is not heated!

Better get on it, eh?

Here’s Darren working on our walkway extension.

This is one of those “rather do” projects.  As in, “I’d rather Darren do it” but also as in “I’d rather him do it the way I want it done.”  Darren wanted to continue the pavers, I thought it should be a different materials.  I’m happy to say he yielded, now I just hope it looks good!  Completed project pictures promised for later!  (He swears this is the “week of Darren.”)  It’s back breaking work, but hey—dragging that hose around in hard work, too!

Last project I’ll mention today—the storage space.  I want to be able to transform the back porch into a creative space for myself and anyone who wants to join me.  This is the space now:

(Note the “new” old door on the left.)

You see Darren’s military gear—it can be stored upstairs.  But the bikes are a big issue—we don’t have outdoor protected storage space and we can’t let these investment sit our in the weather.

That’s an exterior door used to access our backyard via a deck.  (I love the linoleum!)

The rest of the space—love my extra large bench constructed from our old bed.  Need to replace the room divider (big piece of furniture on the right) with something more practical.

 

Storage shelves, built by our friend Chuck, and disguised by some burlap curtains (love these, too).

The aforementioned back deck to backyard.  We’re thinking we should enclose this space for the needed bicycle and lawn mower storage.  The question is how do we do it attractively? 

I had thought I could combine it with my needed greenhouse space by enclosing it with large vintage windows (also available at ReStore), but we’re afraid it would end-up looking junky (as opposed to its current oh-so-tidy appearance).  I think I’ll just use the windows to construct a mini-greenhouse—kind of like a cold frame.

Suggestions regarding any of these projects are welcome.  I’m hoping we’ll make headway on at least one of these projects this week.  I’ll keep you posted.

Gotta go move the sprinkler again.

Thanks for your indulgence.