Spring has Sprung!!!

It has been forever, but we have been super busy as you will see throughout the post.  We also have had really exciting news! I am now ABD, which is a great relief, and Eric passed his P.E. exam so now he is officially Eric Krieg, P.E. (Professional engineer).  The first change we made was that we added these two pieces to the wall in the kitchen.  I had a post about the plates earlier, and Chrissie went to Spain and brought us back these address tiles, and she gave us a Pewabic tile in the shape of Michigan.  We think that they look great! I love seeing them everyday!

 Our next project was to replace the path in the backyard.  We assumed it was going to be a lot of work, but it was that and so much more.  We had two people come help us, and it still took a couple days.  To get from the garage to the side door of the house, we had to walk through the backyard, which has some low spots.  We were always tracking things into the house so we definitely knew that we needed to replace the path.  Here is it before:

This is the concrete pieces that made up the path before.  They were really uneven and our inspector called them "trip hazards" so they had to come out.  

Here are the materials that the landscaping company dropped in the driveway.

The start of a 10" deep trench that goes across the entire backyard

The finished project!!!!!!!!! Yay! It looks great! We couldn't be happier with the path!

Like the fools that we are, we decided to add more to the path.  There was nothing going from the gate into the yard to the path so you would have to walk through the yard anyway.  We had extra material and the knowledge to do it now so we went for it.  Once again, it was miserable...

Once again though, it turned out great!

Here are some of the other projects. This flower bed had nothing in it so it is now filled.  I did all of this on a budget so it either came from family and friends or the clearance rack at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Herb garden :)

Rain Barrel! I made this during a workshop in Detroit that was put together by the Riverfront Conservancy, Sierra Club, and Maxi Container. It was a beautiful day on the Detroit River, where they brought everything you needed and you built the barrel.  I also spray painted mine when I got home.  Now it's in the backyard collecting water for my pots :)

 Garage sale purchase!

More plants in the bed by the house :)

I really wanted a fiirepit, but I wasn't sure that we were allowed to have them. All of the neighbors have little portable ones so I looked at them at the store, but I was not willing to pay $50 for it.  Of course, my next step was Google  I found these sites that had a great idea: http://www.theflourishingabode.com/2012/06/diy-metal-fire-pit-tutorial-hack-challenge-finale.html and http://www.macho.co/diy-make-your-own-firepit/

I called a local home appliance store, and they sold me this for $10.  It's the inner drum of a washing machine. $10! What a barg!

I cleaned it and sprayed it with heat resistant spray paint.

Put legs on it.  These are the struts that people use to put shelving up on walls.  It is just bolted through the holes that were already in the drum.

Then we enjoyed :) Here's our first bonfire in Zoltan (Yes, we named it)

Next projects: I bought this old jam jars at a garage sale, and I'm going to make them lanterns to put in the flower beds. I like that they seal so rain won't just collect in them.

 I am working on this last flower bed too.  It wasn't there originally, but with the paths, I think that it will look really nice. The grass wasn't growing underneath anyway so I'm planting shade friendly plants to make it look nice.

Lastly, I am making a flower box for the window on the garage.  You can see the window I'm talking about in some of the pictures above.  I think it should brighten up the beige.  I'll keep you posted on all of the projects! This is it... for now!