Powerhouse

Due to the fact that our home was built in 1918, it has had multiple tenants, who apparently all had different tastes in phone companies! There were AT&T, Bell South, and Charter junction boxes affixed to the back of our house. Each box was equiped with separate lines running through our back yard.

It was a mess.





Benjamin removed all but our main power line, and voila...

Timber!

We decided we want a cleaner slate, and so we removed many trees and shrubs from the front and back of the house... A project that was a lot harder than it looks!

Front yard before:


Back yard before:


Step 1:
Dig, jab, jump, and pull on the tree in an attempt to show it whose boss.



Step 2:
Realize your strength doesn't quite compare to the strength of your SUV. Link the SUV to the rope, and the rope to the tree, and ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!



Step 3:
Re-evaluate the rope you are using. Have a good laugh, and look on the brighter side... the roots are loosened up a bit!



Step 4:
Enlist your neighbor with a truck and a chain. Turns out he'd like to remove the trees on the fence line of the property anyway.





Step 5:
Chop up the wood into such a neat pile, and bundle the branches for pick-up.





Step 6:
Admire all your hardwork... you are steps closer to your vision!

Special thanks to Benjamin... He spent multiple days, and nights working on this, and did most of the work all on his own. I would drive in at midnight from a shift at the restaurant to find him working in the yard. He wanted to have something new done each time I arrived home. How sweet!

Thanks babes; all your blisters, scratches, and sore muscles are worth the beautiful yard you are creating for our home.

clean. crisp.

How I love a white couch... the ulitmate definition of clean and crisp. And... ultimately impractical. I can't help myself, and i've started dreaming up the decor and design of my sweet little bungalow.


How Lovely. I absolutely adore this room and the framed fabric on the wall. I wish I could cut and paste it in my sun room or living room... and voila. Dreamy.


Put together perfectly. I thoroughly appreciate the white on white with a dash of color here and there. I like how the staircase is very simple and I just might put one just like it in my dining room/kitchen when it comes time.


Cozy. I could just curl up on this couch and take a nap. I love a couch that says "sit on me, i'm comfy."

Sign me up

Ben attended the monthly Fairmount Association Membership Meeting the other night and lookey lookey what he brought home...







These old street signs from our neighborhood have been retired and a new design has been put up in their place. Ben managed to snag these two, and we have no clue as to what we'll do with them yet but i'm sure they will eventually find their place!

One mans trash... Another mans treasure

Bulk trash pick-up day!
Every third Monday of the month we are super lucky to have bulk trash pick up. The rules are that you cannot have the trash on your curb more than 3 days before pick up, and that it can be one pile the size of a Volkswagon Beetle.

The pile shown in this picture is spread out for better passerby viewing... and believe it or not this picture was taken after many items were already taken. The things people will take amazed me!

We had a disatrous front & back yard when we moved in... but Ben and I actually found it quite rewarding to get down and dirty cleaning it up. Here are the results so far:

Before:
In major need of raking, weeding, and trimming!


After:


Before:
The backyard was turned into a literal dump by the previous owners. This is the place where we came up with all the trash for the bulk pick-up. We trimmed shrubs, took down a chain link fence, dislodged beer bottle caps from the dirt, and the list goes on!




After:




We've had many bonfires in the backyard in order to burn tree trimmings, and other items that there just wasn't enough room in the trash for.


Now that the yard is cleaned up it is much less of an eye sore. Of course we will landscape it beautifully but that is not our next step. Next step: moving inside to clean it up and prep it for some major carpentry work. I'll keep you posted.