Autumn Wreath

We are now festive! I decided to be crafty and made my own wreath (about $20). I used a plain grapevine wreath and just secured the wheat, cat tails, berries and pumpkins.  I had some left over ribbon from our wedding to tie it up.  I found this magnetic door hanger from Hobby Lobby that works really well, as well. If each year I add a couple of decorations, we will eventually have a festive home!  Maybe I should have just purchased a similar wreath from target ($26), I know all the imperfections and it did take some time, but it is a creative outlet!  Overall we really like it!

Re-upholstering the Dining Room Chairs

Greg inherited a dinning room table set from his Aunt/Grandfather last Spring and so we decided to re-upholster the chairs (they were pretty beaten up).  We still need to refinish the wood (or repaint), but for first timers, with few tools, I think we did an alright job!

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20425752,00.html

We (meaning my Dad) ended up cutting out a new base and gluing a high density foam (purchased online) onto the board, then covered it with the batting.  All following the video instructions.  The glue was a little sticky, and hard to work with so we didn't get exactly what we wanted out of the shape of the cushion, but it worked and we are overall happy with our new chairs!

We added cording, I think it made it a little more polished, but it did take a bit of effort. 

We ended up stapling these as well.

Final product....took longer than we thought but we have six new chairs to sit on!  Now to refinish and re-stain all the wood pieces (ugh)!

Painted Dresser

If you have been to our old apartment or our new home, you are probably aware of all our "hand-me-down"  furniture.  I truly believe in the saying, "fix it up, make it do or do without," Pres. Hinkley.  We have been reluctant to buy much furniture, mostly because we dream that maybe Greg could make the furniture with the few tools he has, or buy high quality (non-particle board) wood.  Both of which would take either a lot of time or a lot of money.  So, to keep our bank account from dropping too much, we have simply made do with what we had.  Our daughter needed a new dresser, and a friend gave us a hand me down with broken hardware.  The pictures don't really show how beat up it really was, but we bought a "sample" of paint ($7.00) and some new nobs (20$) and made a nice little dresser for Madison.  Maybe we should have painted it white, but it was fun to do something a little different!

Greg removing the old, non-functioning hardware.

I ended up painting the dresser twice, since they didn't get the color right the first time (gave me the wrong color), it took a couple days because of that, but we are happy with our finished product! In the end we could have paid 4 times as much and purchased a cheap dresser, but for now this will do nicely!

Patio Upgrade

Here is Greg digging up the area around our patio.  We went to Home Depot Friday night and we honestly thought we would complete our project in one day!  However, what we thought would be an inexpensive, quick project, quickly turned into a three week project!  First, we had to have somewhere to put the dirt, so Greg and I compromised on where our fruit trees should be moved to and where I could have a garden bed.  Then we had to dig out that garden bed, and remove a tree and its accompanied stump, and then continue to remove the land around the patio.  We thought we had made great headway (all in one day) when we came across a sprinkler line with two heads that had been buried under the grass.

We probably could have just moved the heads of the sprinklers, since they are on flexible pipe, but in the future we would like to put a pergola up, and would need to pore concrete right where the sprinkler line went.  Additionally, we broke one head and thought for about an hour that we had a leak in the system.... somewhere.  After a crash course in sprinkler systems from Greg's brother, we were able to move the line, put a new head in and continue on in the project.  However, we have yet to find all of our valves and actually understand where all our pipes go.  Perhaps our valves are buried underneath the grass like our sprinkler heads were!

We actually thought last weekend that we would be able to finish at least part of the patio, but ran out of paver base and sand at 9:00 p.m. when the stores all close.  However, in Greg's words he said, "I am not going to Home depot one more time today"...  so we would have had to have waited anyway.  Unfortunately, all our work was flooded Saturday night with a huge rain storm, most of our sand and paver base was mixed and unleveled, and the water has not drained because of subsequent rain ever since. 

However, Greg's perfectionism paid off and it is finally complete!    I dream one day to have a plumeria, hybiscus, callalillies, philadendron, papaya, avocado, lime, lemon and grapefruit trees! We will see what will fit in the future!

Gardening 101 on a Budget

We have the garden bug!  We bought $25 worth of wood and started a 4' x 6' planter!  We are using the square foot gardening method, so we are growing our squash, cucumbers, zuccini and watermelon up instead of out (on the North and East corners of the garden.  We used some of our myrtle twigs (free) and twine ($2) as our supports for the tomatoes, bell peppers, beans and squash.  We bought a couple plants from the "Fortbend county extension agency's" annual vegetable sale, and we planted a bunch of seeds.  Here is Greg building the planter bed on our driveway. 

Here is the garden after planting tomatoes (four types), lettuce (three types), peppers (three types), strawberries, and some herbs.  We also planted seeds of peas, beans, cucumbers (pickling and lettuce), beets (for the greens), a couple other types of lettuce, yellow squash, watermelon, and zucchini.  Everything has come up, we have even divided a couple of plants and given them away.  Someday we may build another bed, I really want to grow our own pumpkins this year, so we shall see if we get to another bed, or if we will have to find another area or just buy them (they are very expensive here).

Arial view, you can see several of the seeds popping up.

Silly as this may sound, this really is a dream come true, I have been so envious of other people's land for so long.  So far we have had several strawberries, tons of lettuce (six large lettuce's worth) and we are watching tomatoes ripen on all our vines and peppers on all our pepper plants!  Now we have our own little producing garden!  We did use the square foot gardening method, purchased vermiculite, sand, peat-moss and compost (a blend of all the "compost" at a garden center).  The soil is the expensive part!  Since I graduated with a soil science degree we are doing our own compost, but it wasn't ready in time for our first planting. One thing that I would do differently, is to plant everything at the same time, I tried to plant some seeds after others were established and they just didn't do as well as the plants that were well established.  

I recently came across these "Home Grown" episodes, some of my old professors are on these shows. They talk about when to plant, when to pick, square foot gardening, pests, etc.  I always recommend checking with your local extension agency on when to plant and which varieties do well in the region.  However, reputable  garden centers (not Lowes or Homedepot) should have the right varieties to grow.  I also recommend getting seeds at these locations, instead of the grocery store, etc.  At high-end garden centers you will get almost a 100% germination rate and the correct varieties in the correct seed envelope. Check with your local extension agency to see when the best times to plant may be, since this will be different in some cases even city to city. 

Holly Wreath

I finally have had the time and space to be domestic.  This was my first attempt at a wreath from clippings from our holly bushes.  I got a wreath from the dollar section at target and thought that it would be perfect for gifts for my sisters for Christmas.  Unfortunately, the wreath was short lived, about two weeks before it turns completely brown.  And it took more leaves than anticipated.  I ended up adding more foliage to the top and binding the stray leaves down a little better.  If I feel domestic again before Christmas, I may make another wreath like it, but M. demands a lot of attention at this age. I made this wreath outside while she painted on the driveway, it ended up being a very messy morning.  Needless to say, that idea is out the window for Christmas gifts for the sisters!  However, it was fun and it only cost a dollar!  Not bad for my first try, huh?

The Agrarian

For those of you who know me well, you know I love Williams and Sonoma!  I have a silicone spatula in every color and don't cook without a silicone spatula!  Well, while doing my usual holiday shopping I noticed a new section on their website called "the agrarian".  This is me to a "T"!  My major was essentially in agriculture, so I love perusing gardening websites especially the extension websites.... Anyway, here is the link.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/agrarian-garden/?cm_type=gnav

Since my oldest brother started a beehive I have wanted one, and they have beehives, chicken coops, canning supplies, gardening supplies, etc. It is heaven on earth for the avid gardener.  However, I will give one word of caution with regards to the plant varieties and soils sold on this site.... stick with your local extension agencies for varieties that are best for your area!

What do I want from this site for Christmas?  Mini beehives for wild bees.  They don't make honey but they sure do pollinate well! I had Greg make me some of these, since you can easily make these yourself (below)!

Anyway, the site is just fun to look at, I personally will probably never buy anything from the site, but I always enjoy window shopping!

I hadn't heard of mini bee homes till I came to Houston, but apparently wild bees will actually make their home in these little man-made drilled holes.  The more pollination, the more production!  Someday I dream of having an actual bee hive, but until then these wild beehives will have to do!  I am told they will find the nests in about a week.  Greg cut up some of the limbs of a tree we just removed and drilled holes, he may have drilled his hand in the process, but here are some of the several "beehives".  Someday when we want to invest more money and time we will make more advanced homes for the bees.  

We tried to find places where their was some shade and protection from the elements and close to our various fruit trees, berry bushes and garden!