Exterior Update Part II

Things have finally started to settle down from the wedding and we are so excited to be turning our attention back to the house. At tonight's HOA meeting we will be voting on which bid we are going with for the fence project that I mentioned a few months ago.

Once that is complete, we will turn our attention to redoing the exterior of all the units which has been in the back of my mind for a while. Apparently I have been subconsciously logging away options because when I actually sat down to make the mood board above, it came together quickly.

Proving that inspiration can come from anywhere, the two buildings I keep referencing back to are a restaurant and Barre studio from our neighborhood. Both have a dark grey exterior with warm wood details that give the overall feeling of being modern but not cold. The horizontal wood slats would tie in our new front fence and provide some visual interest to the "planter boxes" that are outside of every window but impractical in every way from a planting / watering perspective.

If you remember, we were debating changing the siding from wood shingles to another material, but after weighing costs and options, I thinking repainting the shingles (while still replacing all the rotten trim & broken shingles) would leave a budget for landscaping. The landscaping we do have right now isn't awful and probably was once pretty, but what we are left with now are a few sad bushes and a lawn full of weeds. Throw in a serious drought and some cut-rate gardeners and the whole place is just looking sad.

As I've said before, we are blessed with neighbors who also realize the potential of our small complex and I can't wait to put our heads together to make our home beautiful. As with any project, it needs one person to take ownership to get things done and I'm excited to have my nights and weekends back to focus on my true passion - my home, my family, and of course, this blog!

The Perfect Patio

What sold us on our townhome nine months ago was the giant outdoor space. Mike is a genius with a barbecue and I desperately wanted a space to improve my gardening skills (or lack thereof) and have an area to entertain outdoors. Unfortunately, we missed the mark by about a month to get those end-of-season deals so we decided to put off our hunt for patio furniture until this year.  

A while back I made a collage of what my 'dream' patio would look like and this is what I came up with:

When it comes to furniture, I am picky and Mike is frugal which makes it really difficult for us to settle on any big purchase. Fortunately for us, we found this sectional on Overstock on sale and, while it was still expensive, was the look we wanted for much cheaper than what we were finding at pottery barn, crate & barrel, etc. We could have waited for those 'deals' but we both agreed we didn't want another summer to go by without being able to really use our patio so we took the plunge.

We've had it for a few weeks now and it completely gives the patio a new feel. We were lucky enough to have our families come to our house this year for Easter and I loved that everyone was outside lounging on the sectional and enjoying the sunshine. Even Goose is a fan -- but his mom could do without the muddy paw prints!

I still want to add a little cafe table and chairs as well as a big umbrella but it's coming along. Mike is all about a fire pit too but personally I'd like a non-wood burning one so I don't smell like a campfire everytime we light it up.

Can't wait to crack a few beers and enjoy a book or two out here. Is it summer yet?

Exterior Updates

This is the current view from the entrance to our complex. Please do not zoom in to look closer at that sign - the peeling paint and rotting wood might make you a little queasy.

Mike and I attended our first ever HOA meeting last night and I am so inspired by the projects that we have lined up. Sometimes HOA's can be a real pain but since our complex has just eight units, it's much easier to get things done and feel like your input is heard.

The first on the list is addressing this stucco wall. That little building you see is a 'clubhouse' that is actually pretty nice inside (minus the fact that it gets used about once a quarter). The wall is in badly need of repair or replacement but to rebuild it is very expensive. This issue has been on the docket for almost a year and we finally voted on it last night. Here is what we came up with (the new wall is photoshopped):

Huge improvement, no? We are lucky that our neighbors are young and share the same love for clean and modern lines. The only argument against it is that it may clash against the rest of the complex which has a different vibe with shingle siding and a maroon/light yellow color scheme.

However, replacing the siding/trim and painting are also on our to-do list which means that, although major renovations are out of our budget, we could get our complex heading in the right direction. In fact, a little search on pinterest, and I ended up finding a ton of modern houses that have shingles.

I would be in favor of replacing the siding with new redwood shingles but if we decide that is too costly, I think our best bet would to repaint with a dark grey and black color scheme. Painting the exterior dark is not intuitive but has been gaining momentum lately and really does 'modernize' even traditional looking houses. Another one of my favorite tricks is painting the siding and trim the same color. Again, not intuitive but very modern and beautiful.

Pluviophile

One of my favorite things I inherited from my mom is my love of rain. Sure, I enjoy sunny days but give me a downpour, a hot cup of tea, and a blanket and I am content. We've been having a drought here in California so I am happy it finally decided to rain this week (I keep telling Mike we should move to Oregon but he's a little reluctant).

Although houses in the Bay Area don't need to take their 'winterizing' as seriously as other areas of the country, there are a few things that I always forget about until it starts to pour:

//1. Cleaning Out Gutters: unfortunately for us, Mike and I are both not a fan of heights which makes cleaning our gutters (on the second story) not the most pleasant thing. This year we got a pass since they were cleaned before we moved in and the HOA seriously cut back all the trees in our complex before the leaves fell so not much should be in there now. We did buy these little expandable, wire-mesh doodads that are supposed to keep the downspouts free of blockage, but neither of us are brave enough to climb up there and put them in.

//2. Being Extra Vigilant about a Clean Kitchen: I haven't seen any yet, but usually when it rains hard outside, all the ants decide to come inside. The house I grew up in had a big issue with ants in the winter and my mom was extra careful to clean up spills, crumbs, and store the peanut butter in the fridge (ever tried to make a PB&J with cold peanut butter?! miserable).

//3. Covering or Storing Patio Furniture: With patio furniture being as pricey as it is, you definitely don't want to end up replacing it year after year. We are waiting on buying a good set for this summer, but if we end up spending the money to get the one I really want, you can be sure that baby is getting a nice, water-proof cover to go with it and the cushions are going in the garage rafters before the first sprinkle. The same goes for the grill - it's already too late for the one we have now (it was abandoned for a few years while Mike was living in the apartment) but I recently took it all apart to clean it and was amazed at how rusted the inside was.

Anyone else have tips to add? Are there any other Pluviophiles' out there who want to put on their rain-boots and go jump in some puddles with me?

//one//two//

Fixing the Leaky Sprinkler System

Mike and I are learning a lot of new things with this house with this past weekend being our first adventure in irrigation. Neither of us are experts and agree for the big stuff we will call in the professionals, but for this minor fix we decided to DIY.

I noticed a few weeks ago that the ground around the irrigation valve was wet so I put a bucket under it to determine how badly it was leaking. Nothing annoys Mike more than wasting water or energy so this project shot to the top of the list once we determined that the leak was significant.

The long side of our house is most exposed to the elements so it didn't surprise me that this valve was the first to go. Here is what we started with:

Not knowing what we really needed, we headed down to the HD to figure it out and were pretty much amazed at the entire isle devoted to irrigation systems.

We weren't sure exactly what we needed so we picked up some spare parts and extra PVC since they were all pretty cheap. The most important thing is to know what size PVC your irrigation system uses since everything you buy will depend on that. The most common seems to be 1" or 3/4" and ours was the latter.

After we got everything home, Mike turned off the water, cut away the old system, and began to 'dry fit' the new one. It's important to figure out how everything fits together before applying the glue because once that's on, it's permanent.

1) Christy's Red Hot Blue Glue (no primer needed for this stuff)
2) Anti-Siphon Valve
3) Female Adapters (we had already connected them to the valve - don't forget the teflon tape!)
4) Extra 3/4" PVC
5) Slip Elbows
6) Couplers
7) Ratcheting PVC Cutters

After gluing it all together and turning the water back on, we are happy to announce that it is still an eyesore leak free. We still have to get a new timer and wire that up but it's coming along. We are planning on building raised beds in the spring for our little vegetable garden and it will be so nice to be able to hook everything up to a drip system.

The Prettiest Corner of the Yard

Having an entire house to redecorate can be overwhelming and paralyzing but I've found that just focusing on one small area at a time works really well and this corner of our back patio was just begging for some love.

I ended up taking Friday afternoon off and found myself outside wanting to get my hands dirty so I headed to the garden store. November isn't the best time to start a container garden but living in an area where it never snows and rarely gets below freezing does have its advantages.

This is also an excellent example of re-using what we already had. The bar with hooks and metal container was from the apartment's kitchen, both planters we already had, and the small bbq set was a gift from Mike's parents (the bbq is just out of the shot to the right). The wood and metal lanterns are a favorite end-of-season-sale find from none other than Safeway! At $7 each (down from $34), Mike and I couldn't help but buying out the remaining stock. I love how they glow with battery-powered candles inside.

As for what I planted, the white planter is sweet basil, the dark grey is organic spearmint, and sadly I can't recall the name of the tall purple plant or it's little white flowered companion but I know they grow well in direct sunlight. Here's to hoping they don't die while I'm away at training in Chicago this week... Neither Mike nor I have a green thumb but we're trying here :)