Backyard Progress - Retaining Wall DONE!

That's right, you heard it here first.

(Of course - where else would you hear it?)

We (of course I mean Kidney Bean - have you 

seen how big a 6x6x8 is?  There's no way that lil 'ol me could lift

one of those babies - my arms are like noodles)...

but I digress.

The wall is complete!

And here's the proof:

I am unable to take a picture of the whole thing, but the top picture is

the right side, where you can see the wall is shorter, 

a little higher for the curved part, and then

5 boards high across the back.

In the bottom picture, you can see the rest of the wall.

It's not exactly symmetrical, but we knew it wouldn't be

when we started out, since we were going to 

continue with the areas that someone

else had tried to start something.

The green on the cut angles in the top picture

will fade with time - it's the wood preserver.

And yes, we do have several (I think 7) boards

leftover -- oops! -- so I think

we'll use them in the front yard to clean up the landscaping there a little bit.

Backyard

A couple weeks ago, we asked a couple companies to come out and

give us an estimate of how much it would

cost to landscape the backyard.

The verdict?

WAY too much.

We thought if it was $3k or less, we might

be able to swing that.

But it wasn't even close - double that figure and then add some more.

So we're going to do it ourselves.

 You can't really tell in these pictures, but all that dirt is higher up than the weeds.

The back fence is about 28 inches or so higher

than the ground level where the weeds are growing.

 And here's the base of the one lonely tree back there.

It's not my favorite, but it's staying.

 Pavers that prove that someone at some point thought about

landscaping back here.

I would've thought it might have gotten a little farther along in the process, since

it's apparently in the CC&Rs that the

backyard must be landscaped within one year of purchase.

But, I guess it's true that when it's out of sight, it's out of mind - 

our house was built 6 years ago.

Here are the before shots, when Kidney Bean grabbed a hoe and 

started hacking away at some of the weeds. 

It's not a big backyard, but it sure is (was) full of weeds.

Wish us luck!

We have been enjoying it so far, and you'd better

believe that we will not be spending $8k back here to get what we want!

First Floor

 The long-awaited day has arrived (like you've all been holding your breath for the last month just to see what our house looks like - HA!).  Here's the nickel tour:

First living room (you can see the front door in the right-hand corner of the picture on the left).  The boxes are empty (except for hundreds and hundreds of pieces of packing paper), and just waiting for the moving guys who said they would come back and get them sometime.

Here's the next living room, which is basically completely open to the first, via a wide archway.  There's the fireplace in the corner, which really makes me wonder how to arrange furniture if and when we ever buy some.  If you stand at the front door, you can clearly see the fireplace. 

The second living room leads to the dining room and kitchen.  

 To the left of the diaper box in the bottom corner, there's an awkwardly shaped half bath.

Here's our first major purchase for the house - a fridge!  We tried and tried to figure out what we wanted in a fridge, and were wooed by many really, really, REALLY nice ones.  But in the end, we went with the inexpensive route, and we are quite happy with what we ended up.  I felt ridiculous while we were shopping, since we were only looking at stainless steel (which is nice, but definitely not my first choice), but since all the other appliances are ss, I didn't want to buy a fridge that didn't fit in.  Because then it might be sad.

Finally, to the left of the fridge is a door, and the picture of the pantry is taken from just outside the door.  It leads to the garage (the door is just outside the picture, on the left).  I didn't take a picture of the garage because it's a pretty typical 2-car garage, full of stuff.  And we are also working on something out there that we're not quite ready to reveal.

Two Weeks

We've had the keys to our house for two week today, and it's been wonderful.  I would like it even more if all the boxes were unpacked and things were put away, but I can only do so much a day right now...the last time we moved, we were all set up in 3 days.  But I just don't have the energy right now.  And that's okay.  At least it's almost all done.

And I'm still working on the camera cord - but here is a picture of our new place:

We love it!

Oh Yeah, Baby!

We signed the papers for the house on Friday and are expected to be given keys on Tuesday!  Hooray!!  I am sick of living out of suitcases, although we loved being at my parent's house, but now we're in a hotel room and let me tell you, the family togetherness is getting to be a little much....and it's only been one night.  Wish us luck.  And expect things to be pretty sparse as we get our new home set up with internet and the other necessities.

Do You Know This Website?

A few months ago, I stumbled across a website that is about homes.  It might be about the lady's family, too, but I know she does interior design.  And for around $30, you give her the dimensions/pictures of your room or something like that and she will design the room for you.  I think she's back east somewhere.

Also, in order to save $30, are you any good at furniture placement/design ideas?  If we get this house, I have no idea how to arrange the living/family rooms that connect and are right at the entry.