Adventures in Remuddling

Tig has been diligently trying to grow basil and cilantro seedlings.

Neither of us has grown anything from seed since we were children.  So this is an adventure for us.  Each day brings a new surprise.  The basil seeds are so small!  Cilantro takes twice as long to germinate as basil, who knew?  We feel like kids again, watching seedlings grow.

OK, not really the driveway, but our 2 parking spaces. That’s my next big project.

We currently have a compacted mound of earth filled with gravel that we use. It’s supposed to be a gravel driveway. For maintenance, the previous owner just dumped pea gravel on the area when needed (or when they felt like it). This spring (and probably every spring), when the ground thawed, the soil “heaved”, and the stones sank into the wet soil. And the cars end up being stuck in a pit of mud.

You can see how far the car sank in the mud as evidenced by the line of mud on the tire.

Continue reading “The Driveway, Part 1 - The Problem” »

So the original plan for our 2 parking spots was to lay down concrete pavers. We got a couple of estimates for work to be done. Let’s just say, we did not want to spend what the contractors were telling us to spend. So we thought gravel would be just fine and plenty economical. And surely, I can spread the gravel out myself.

Continue reading “The Driveway, Part 2 - Digging” »

Tig built a compost bin a couple weeks ago. Now we can save our veggie and fruit scraps; even the coffee grounds go into our labeled containers. Our weekly garbage volume is definitely decreasing now.

Week three I fell behind as work became more and more hectic. Tig also started to do the back parking spots, and we felt it was more important to get started on some landscaping while the weather was nice.

I was supposed to have cleaned out our entryway and put in a landing strip. Instead, I tried to design it and until I had more time. While doing some research, I came across this picture from Real Simple Magazine’s website. I liked the idea of having peg rails to hold an assortment of items, from bags, to umbrellas.

Continue reading “Week Three - Entry Way Planning” »

Week Four was devoted to the living room. I wanted to focus on the two areas that were cluttered. I spent an afternoon listening to parts of every record and weeded them down to one box. That freed up some space behind the chair. Then I unearthed a tiny bookcase that I had found in the basement. It was used to hold an assortment of pots. After cleaning it up and coating it with water-based polyurethane (the paint was chipping and I didn’t want the possibility of lead chips all over the place), it looked somewhat usable. The bookcase now holds our books which previously stacked in little piles against the wall.

Continue reading “Week Four - Cleaning up the living room” »

Hmmm, I could’ve sworn I took a picture of the nightstand “before”, but can’t seem to find it anywhere. Oh well. There is a great thrift store nearby that we like to frequent. A month ago, I picked up a $12 nightstand. Kinda ugly, made of particleboard, and had some ugly hardware.

Tig, bless his heart, removed the hardware and filled in the holes with 1/4 inch dowels. Today, I was able to sand and prime the nightstand. Here it is primed.

Continue reading “Painting a thrift shop find” »

That’s right. If you did not flinch at the title, let me repeat it. 18 TONS of gravel. EIGHTEEN TONS.

It’s a good thing they delivered it, except that there’s always a hitch. The first delivery of 8 tons came when I was not present. It was scheduled for the afternoon, but they came in the morning instead. So the driver just dumped the stone on the shared driveway, next to the big pit that I had recently dug out. Even if I was around, the pit was not ready for the stone either. I of course had to prepare the foundation.

Anyway, they came and dumped 8 tons of gravel into a mound that was a little less than 4 feet high. I know it does not look very big in the picture - more like a pile of sugar - but really, it’s a lot of gravel.

Continue reading “The Driveway, Part 3 - 18 Tons of Gravel” »