Sunday, March 24, 2019

Wine and Book Ready

Every year for the past 4 we have spent 10 days in Europe in the Spring.  I always waited until after that trip, usually mid-April to early May, to set up the outdoor living room.  This is one of the reasons we want to stay in the house.  It is directly off our dining area and is lovely to look out at.  We both spend a lot of hours out here each year.
Real life, beer can on coffee table and all lol (missed that when I was taking the picture yesterday)



Originally we were going to set this up fast to show it to prospective buyers but since changing our mind about selling we decided we were still going to set it up early this year.  We have been blessed with beautiful sunny days all week and 12-15 degrees Celcius beautiful weather so now was the time.  I even sprung for some early annuals in a few pots.  I won't put in our front flowerbed for several weeks yet but this gives us a nice pop of colour and I spent a total of  $20.57 on flowers and I had to replace one of the$4  yellow dollar store pots as hubby accidently killed it when it was stored in the garage.  These are primulas and cyclamen, both hardy plants for cool non-frost mornings.  By June it will get too hot for these flowers so I will switch them to something else.  If there appears any chance of frost in the forecast I can bring the pots inside for the night.

We bought 3 of the outdoor mats when on sale for $40 each a couple of years ago. Still in great shape but the edging as faded.  I've ordered some fabric paint and I will attempt to paint the edging black to clean them up.
3 colours of clyclamen

I bought the hen and chicks last weekend at a flea market for $1

unusual type of primula in pots we brought back from Spain 3 years ago
We bought the patio set when we moved here almost 7 years ago.  The cushions are a bit faded but odd size so can't be replaced.  I was going to try and make some replacement cushions but we realized the frame is rusting out due to our weather (cushions come in in winter but the frames stay out) so we will just try and squeeze a bit more time out of the set as it is.  Two of the seams on the cushions dry rotted so I hand sewed it back together and it is still holding, that was 2 years ago.  It still looks good and we've looked but so far nothing comes close to the quality and price of this set.  Unfortunately they no longer make these or we likely would buy the same set again.

I also planted a seed packet of cilantro, one of spinach (I can't stand it cooked but love it raw in salads) and planted a bunch of English cucumber seeds which will hopefully grow into good starts by May which is when I will move them to containers outside.  If not I will buy some.  Cilantro seems to grow better here in the Spring versus summer.

We need to relax a little bit today as the last 3 whole days have spent working on the outside.  The "Lifetime" horizontal shed we bought in the last post has been put together.  For something that was made in America the instructions were so terrible that it took us two days, a total of 8 hours to put it together.  We had work appointments on Thursday that were cancelled so we took the opportunity to do work on it.  We often work weekends for the business so it evens out in the end.  Hubby looked at online reviews.  Obviously some of them are fake as there was one that said he put it together by himself in 2 hours.  Seriously, there were about 60 pages of instructions with terrible diagrams and things weren't properly labeled so we had to guess a lot.  In a few cases we put things on wrong and had to fix them.  There is zero chance anyone put that shed together by themselves.  We intend to add a strongly worded cautionary review of it.  Anyway, the shed is in one piece and will now work perfectly for what we need in terms of outdoor storage.  We need to have our irrigation guy cap off one sprinkler head before we can move it to the correct spot then hubby needs to build a small wooden platform to put it on and paint it so that he can run the weed wacker around it without damaging the outside of the shed.  
Keter Deck Box

We also ended up buying the deck box at Costco for $150 - it took a mere 45 minutes to put together, and is perfect.  This box is huge, and will be great for me to store all my ceramic pots in and hand tools for gardening.  No more accidental pot breakage from storing them in the garage.  Now we should have zero storage issues in the garage and outside.  That checks a huge box for staying in this house.  We just need to work on inside storage.  To date everything we have done has been paid for in full with our current paychecks.  I still have about $1500 in the home fund to access (that is used for repair, maintenance and things bought for the home) before we have to get into savings.  We will use savings for our carpet replacement.  Hopefully we can try and scope out carpet for the bedrooms in the next week or two so it can be scheduled.  

Today is a day of rest, we kind of overdid it this week and our bodies are paying for it.   We also have a heavier work week ahead so need to be ready for that.  Definitely wine and book patio time is in the cards this afternoon.




24 comments:

  1. That looks a lovely spot to chill out! And I'm with you on the instructions! Over here we get instruction manuals in about 16 different languages so I spend ages tearing out anything but the English and French before I even start. With Ikea instructions I find that if I follow them EXACTLY they work but not so much any others!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've put Ikea together before, but usually those are tried and true and somewhat make sense. This was like someone wrote instructions but never had anyone try them out.

      Delete
  2. Looks great! We have (I think) the same Costco box, and use it to store all of our pool supplies. It works great & matches our patio furniture. It came fully assembled, hurrah. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ours didn't come assembled but there was only 6 pieces and some screws so it was a one beer project according to hubby lol. It is a great size, so glad we bought it.

      Delete
  3. What a lovely place to sit! I recognised those planters instantly as being Spanish, they're gorgeous.
    I wonder who on earth said you could assemble that chest in two hours? Stephen Hawking or another genius! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If we had to do it over again we wouldn't buy that shed but once you are into it there is no turning back. It is the first time my husband (type A personality) ever agreed to quit and start again the next day. It was just too much. I wish we could buy those Spanish pots here in Canada. I am so glad we brought them back.

      Delete
  4. love your little pots of flowers, and the pots from Spain. The outdoor area looks lovely and using those mats underneath - a great idea. look forward to hearing about your trip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jan, it is a nice peaceful spot to listen to the birds and take advantage of afternoon/evening sun.

      Delete
  5. We got back to the float cabin yesterday. Last year I used trimmings from my pansies on the potted blueberry bushes. When I transplanted in January I put sprouted pansy plants into my desk planters. Amazingly with all the cold and snow while we were gone they survived. Now I will save about $15 on new starter plants. And I overwintered my geraniums in the condo so those can come up and be transplanted into their regular repurposed BBQ planters, a savings of $20 or more depending on prices this year. - Margy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great over winter! I really have nowhere to store geraniums over winter but my strawberry plants pulled through, even after a bad frost at minus 11 in February. They lost most of their leaves but I gave them a haircut on Saturday cutting off the dead bits and there are lots of new leaves.

      Delete
  6. I have several of those Spanish pots. Use them in my bay window over the kitchen sink for storage! Great holders for scissors, pens, bag sealers.

    My ability to kill plants is a family legent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol, great use of the pots. My Stepson and his girlfriend are headed to Spain this Spring, I may have to ask them to bring some more back

      Delete
  7. We have a cheap PVC chest that we keep cushions for one set of outdoor furniture in. It sure does make a difference -- and I am drooling over the better quality box you bought!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. According to comments here this deck box is super popular - the maker is Keter and it was $150 CAD or $100 USD, definitely worth it and it comes with a lock area if you want to lock it you can. I'm wondering if it will fade but it has rave reviews.

      Delete
  8. It's so nice to have an outdoor living space. We hope to create one soon by installing a sliding glass door that goes right into our backyard. Then a patio will come after that. It will take a lot of work, not to mention funds, but I know it will add value to the house an an extra living space for us to enjoy. I adore your wall pockets!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just doing that one thing is so enjoyable, we did it in the first house we had together then built a deck and we used it so much. And it definitely adds to property value. It was one of the reasons we decided to stay as so few homes are like that.

      Delete
  9. What a bit of paradise! Weather is relative, however. We commented today that it’s ONLY 16C!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You poor thing, best get your winter coat on :)

      Delete
  10. I love your outdoor room. It is a lovely place to sit and mull over the workday with a book and adult beverage. Shhh, don't tell anyone the cushions are less than stellar. We would never know!
    I have to wait until the big pollen dump is over before I get ours set up. Right now it is happening but not finished and there is no point in putting things out until everything is completely covered in yellow dust. Then one major scrubbing will be all it takes to have things livable.
    We have that same Costco box at the lake. It is great and keeps the goose poop off all the life jackets, plus after a quick rinse off, it serves as additional seating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have pollen too - we use a leaf blower every day to blow everything off. Our trees are just starting to flower. Love that Costco box, it was an after thought, not part of the original storage plan but it is so big, great for my gardening bits.

      Delete
  11. Well done. It looks lovely. You have that certain touch that makes everything come together.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks great and soooo inviting! I would never tackle a project like the shed so am impressed with your stick-to-it'ness. I bet there were a few beer and glasses of wine needed. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You guys stay busy!
    We have those Costco deck boxes too! We actually have three - one for my garden things. One for his 'debris.' And one for toys the quads played with when they used to come here every week. They have outgrown them now and I am going to clean that box out and use it for other storage needs. Good and sturdy these boxes are! We may need one at the ranch!

    ReplyDelete