My New Front Flower Bed

It has taken weeks and weeks of slow moving progress, but I can finally show you what I've been working on!  We had a small raised bed in the front under the kitchen window.  (I, of course, did not take a before picture.  That would take way too much planning on my part!)  But here is what it looked like after I had started working on it.  You can see the pile of dirt up by the house.  That is the original flower bed minus the pavers.

Our neighbors gave us some mulch a while back and we used it for other places around the yard.  What mulch was left we piled in this bed and that ended up tilled in with the rest of the dirt.  (My friend Dawn pointed out that the mound was right under the cross.)

I had a LOT of pavers to move and grass to remove.  I thought it would ease up after I got that part done, but no such luck.  The original pile of dirt was full of rocks and I didn't think it was going to be good soil for the new plants.  Unfortunately, that dirt was so compacted it was a bear to break apart.  As I chipped away at it, we took several loads and dumped in the back yard for a future project.  

My sweet hubby helped me on Saturday getting the last of the old stuff out and then tilling up the bed.  I had bought a couple of bags of gardening soil and he tilled all that together.  Hopefully, that will help the plants have a good chance of surviving.  They need all the help they can get with me taking care of them!

Throughout the whole process we dug up all kinds of things.  Kentucky is known for rocky soil, but big chunks of concrete was not what we expected.

This is what we had to dig up to plant the very first plant.  We were really wondering if it was a sign of things to come!

The rock path is made out of rocks we dug up when removing the grass.  Believe it or not, there are even more!

We ended up with a couple extra bushes and decided to plant them in key places to hide the crawl space entrance

and the a/c unit (if you look real close you can see the little bushling).  I need to make another run to Lowe's to get one more bag of mulch to finish off these areas.

We purchased smaller versions of the plants to keep the cost down, so it looks a little barren at the moment. 

I can't wait to see it once they grow a bit!

Living thru faith,

Misty

Our New Porch Light

Remember when I told you about our upside down porch light?  Here's a picture of it when a bird was trying to build a nest on it.  Silly bird!

Last week I ran across an awesome deal hanging in 

the lighting section at Lowes! 

5 buckaroos!!!

It was regularly $33 and marked down to $9.97 on clearance.  Turns out it was the last one and the display model.  While the guy went to get what he needed to take it down, my friend Dawn encouraged me to ask him to mark it down more.  No way, I thought!  But sure enough, 

he gave me another 50% off!

I had planned on spray painting it black, but when we held it up by the door it looked good with the brass on the door.  Since I can't change the brass (it's encased in the window), I have to learn to live with it. It has black brush like strokes in it and blends everything together.

I just love it...and it's right side up!

Living thru faith,

Misty

More painting

When I painted the front door, I decided to also paint the back door.

(I was having to hold the screen door open and take the picture at the same time.)

The thing I really hate about painting is taping.  

And then what aggravates me even more, is peeling off the tape and finding the paint that came through anyway.

So, I guess one day I'll start scraping the glass.

Living thru faith,

Misty

A little painting project

We had some nice weather this week, so I decided to go ahead 

and paint the front the door.

I would really love to replace the door, but that just isn't in the budget.  I would rather have one that would let in more light than the little fan window at the top and one without the brass.  I couldn't do anything about that part since the brass is incased in the window.

So, this is what it looked like before.

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The door gets direct late afternoon sun and this color had faded over time. It actually looked pink.  I had a hard time deciding on what color to paint the door because of the fading issue and the colors in the brick.  I would love to have a red door, but the brick had more orange in it than red.  

Plus the red would just end up pink again.

So, I decided to embrace the gray.

I think it turned out pretty good, but I'm not loving it. 

I think I'll like it much better once I get everything else done.

I need to replace the upside down light fixture 

(I'm not kidding.  It was installed upside down.  It doesn't fit right side up.)

I am going to paint the house numbers that you can't see in this picture. (They're brass.)

I am going to move some of the planters on the porch and would really love to find an old wooden bench or something to add some character.

And last, but not least, I plan to spruce up the flower beds.

So much to do.  So little time.  So little money.

This should be interesting!  :-)

Living thru faith,

Misty

Outdoor Day Dreamin'

Now that the weather is warming up and the sun is staying up a little longer, I am thinking about all the things I want to do outside.

And, of course, I get a lot of inspiration on Pinterest!

I want to hide the garbage cans and a/c unit.

Source: camelotartcreations.blogspot.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

I want to paint the front door and pretty up the little porch.

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

I also want to add railings to the front porch...eventually.

Source: apexcarpentryinc.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

 I really want to put a window box under the kitchen window.

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

So many ideas!

We'll see what actually happens. 

But until then, I'll just keep day dreaming!

Living thru faith,

Misty

The Ginkgo Trees

We have the most beautiful ginkgo trees in front of one of our buildings at work.  

Their fan like leaves turn a beautiful bright yellow in the fall and then in just a matter of minutes they rain down and create a golden blanket on the ground. 

All the leaves fall in this beautiful show of God's creation.

Those with offices with a view of the trees, spread the word and folks come to watch the show. 

They gave a us a little tease on Tuesday when some started to fall, so it shouldn't be long now.

Living thru faith,

Misty

Our Shed is Finally Up!

The boxes and supplies have only been sitting in our garage since the day we were given the keys to the house! But the shed is finally up!

 Saturday afternoon Brian and Matthew built the frame and then we worked on getting it level and filled in with pea gravel. We only had to make 3 trips to Lowe's to get it all finished!  :-)

Sarah did her best to supervise the boys.

 By the time it started getting dark, the foundation was finished and the floor was attached.

Sunday afternoon, they started building the walls.  It was definitely not a one person job!

Sarah was again right in the action.   
Her job was counting out the screws and handing them to Matthew.

About 4 hours or so later, it was finally done!

There was a chance of rain overnight, so we decided to wait to put everything in to make sure there were no water leaks.  However, it didn't really rain, so we just went ahead and put in everything (that would fit).  I didn't get any pictures of the inside because it was getting dark when we started loading things in and it was completely dark when we finished.  Of course, then it really did rain. So, still no pictures.

I, of course, want to organize it better.  Why? It's not like I'm even going to be in the thing!  This is Brian's domain.  Why should I be worried how it is organized?!  Ok, I might have to go in to get a rake or something.  Then again, I'll just send the boys to do that...

Living thru faith,

Misty

Level Ground

I mentioned before how we moved all the dirt that was dug up for the paver patio 

to some low spots by the house.

We moved a lot of dirt.  

It was amazing how much dirt was needed to actually level out the section just by the house!

In order to help with drainage, we tried to grade it slightly so that water would drain 

toward the side of the house.

We will actually be putting in a rain barrel on that end.  We have the barrel, but Brian needs to outfit it with a nozzle and whatever else to make it actually function as a rain barrel.

There is also a section on the other side of the patio that needs to be raised and leveled off.  There were actually holes that had formed underneath the concrete.  

Unfortunately, we did not have enough dirt from the paver patio project to complete that side as well.  At least we were able to get the larger section done and ready for putting up the shed.  

(I'll show you that project tomorrow!)

Living thru faith,

Misty

My Big Deal for the Weekend!

I am so excited about the big deal I got this weekend!

I bought mums at Lowe's for 62 cents a piece!

Yep, that's right...62 cents!

They had just marked them down to 75% off that morning.

So now I have some flowers by the new patio!

And in my pots in the front!

I got 6 plants for less than 4 bucks!  I figured even if they don't come back next year, I still would have gotten my money's worth this year.

Yep, I was doing the happy dance!!

Living thru faith,

Misty