Peonies & Landscaping

Since we bought our house, I've started getting more interested in flowers/gardening/landscaping. Lucky for me, previous homeowners had left lots of perennials that I've been able to enjoy. I've also added a flower bed to our back yard and added perennials to that. And I always get some annuals to add more color to the yard.

Today, I just wanted to share some photos of the flowers that have already bloomed...my spring blooms. My absolute favorite ones are my peonies. They are so big and pretty and smell SO GOOD.

A few weeks ago we spent a good chunk of our weekend taking out a giant bush/shrub in our back yard. I haven't liked it since day one, and over the past few years it has just gotten so big and out of control that I couldn't stand it any more. So we cut it down and then dug up the stump...it was a lot of work but SO worth it. 

Some BEFORE photos:

Looked so much better after it was cut down:

 After the stump was dug out. And then I planted a small forsythia bush that I hope grows and blooms next year!

And a little Before & After:

I really love doing yard work and can't wait to do more projects this summer. Do you enjoy yard work? What are you favorite flowers?

Outdoor Space: Spring (& Deck Update)

Since the snow has finally all melted here in Michigan, we are starting to do some work in the yard.  Nothing exciting yet, because temps still drop below freezing at night, so no planting flowers or anything quite yet.  We've been working on cleaning up leaves, cleaning out the gutters, and cleaning out some old flower beds.  Like I said, nothing too exciting has been happening yet, because the weather just hasn't been warm enough.

I do have some pretty crocuses that are blooming in my front yard and I love the pops of color they add.  I can see that my daffodils and lilies are starting to come up too!  I'm so excited to add more flowers this year, once the weather gets a little warmer.

Our big outdoor project this year will be re-staining our deck.  If you have been a reader for a while, you may remember that in August, we stained our deck using Olympic Rescue It.  We loved the way it turned out.  It last great the rest of summer and fall.  We had our grill and a table and chairs on the deck.  The dog runs all over the deck and we are on it all the time.  It held up great.  Fast forward to March...the snow started to melt and when we started to see our deck we couldn't believe it.  After the snow as gone, the deck looked awful!  The stain had bubbled and chipped all over.  Huge piece come off now if you barely touch it.  I plan on writing an entire post about this, but here's what it looked like last summer:

And here is a sneak of what it looks like now:

We haven't decided exactly how/what we are going to do to fix it, but I think we are going to power wash it and get it all off, and start over.  Long story short, we are NOT happy.  But like I said, more details to come in a future post.

On a happier note, we have done some work clearing out some rocks/old overgrown flowers from the side of the house.  I love that it is warm enough to do some work outside now.  We spend a lot of time in our yard during the Spring/Summer/Fall.  We love to grill, play with the dog, and just hang out on the deck.

Have you been doing an work in your yard yet this Spring?  Do you have a favorite flower you plant at your house?

Make sure you stop by these blogs to see what they are up to with their outdoor spaces:

Away She Went

Decorating Delirium

A Small Town Rambler

Glamista Home

Staining Our Deck with Olympic Rescue It

When we bought our house two years ago, we knew that we'd have to stain our deck.  I don't think it was ever stained or sealed and we knew we'd have to do something to it.  The deck isn't old, but it did have some spots that were splintering (or whatever the word is...you know what I mean) and since we didn't think it had ever been stained or sealed, we wanted to try out the Olympic Rescue It resurfacer that we had seen on commercials.  

We headed to Lowe's last Saturday morning and picked up four gallons mixed in the Timberline color.  They have tons of colors you can pick from.  I don't love the color we picked, it is a little too "red" for me, I wish it would have been more of a tan or brown.  Anyway, our deck is not huge, it's roughly 182 square feet not counting the step.  The Olympic Rescue It says you need to do two coats, and one gallon will cover 50 square feet doing two coats, so that's why we picked up four gallons.  They were priced right about $35 per gallon, but we got a $10 rebate on each one, so it was basically $100 for our deck.  We only ended up using just over two gallons, so I guess we have lots of extra for touch ups if we need it!

Here is what our deck looked liked before:

We power washed the deck a few days before so it would be dry, and then we cleaned it off real good Saturday morning.  I used a brush and got in between all the cracks and did the sides, while Kevin used a roller with an extender to roll the top.  The stain is like a very thick paint, but it actually went on really easily.  We had to wait 6 hours before we could put on the second coat.  We did the second coat that evening and then were able to be on it the next morning.

Here's how it turned out:

That photo was taken on my iphone the day after we finished.  These are from last night, the lighting isn't great.

The stain is not smooth, it has a little bit of texture to it.  It's very thick, so it fills in all the cracks.  You definitely can't get a sliver from it any more!  

I took a close up photo so you could kind of see the texture of it:

Even though the color isn't what I hoped it would be, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I feel like it finally looks "finished."  I didn't realize how bad our deck needed to be stained until I saw the before and after pics together.

I'm really curious to see how it holds over time.  We get rain, snow, sun, and we are out on it all the time.  I'll keep you all posted if we experience any issues or if we are still loving it later.

Have you ever used a product like this on your deck or patio?

***UPDATE:  After going through one winter, our deck looks AWFUL.  The Olympic Rescue It stain bubbled and chipped all over and we will need to re-do the entire deck.  An entire follow up post will be coming soon, and I will include the link here when it is up.

Five on Friday: Yard Ideas

On Tuesday I shared what our yard/outdoor space looks like (if you missed it, you can find that post HERE).  Today for Five on Friday, I'm sharing five things I'd like to do to improve our yard.  We really do love our yard, but of course, I'm always finding things on Pinterest that I'd love to incorporate to make it even better!

I'm linking up with Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha and you should too!

ONE.  Make some kind of portable beverage station that we could keep in the shed and bring out when we have people over.  How cute is this one from Lil Luna?

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TWO.  Our deck is low to the ground and has just one step.  I'd love to add more outdoor lighting, including some fun lights on the step like this photo below.  This is one of the ideas that will probably never happen, but something that I'd love to do!

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THREE.  One thing on our list for this summer is to stain our deck.  I think I want to do a dark stain, but we haven't even started looking at colors yet.  We better get on it, because June is half over already!  View Along the Way has a great tutorial on how to stain your deck (and some great "tools" to use).

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FOUR.  We've already created a new flower bed area in our back yard, but I'd still like to edge our other flower beds with some type of brick.  I love the way the brick is laid in the photo below, because then the lawn mower can mow all the way to the edge and you wouldn't have to use the weed whacker/trimmer next to all of the brick.

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FIVE.  I'd love to add some white railing to our front "porch."  It's not really a porch, just a couple steps leading up to our front door.  Right now, there is no railing on those fronts steps, so I'd like to add one.  I think it would give it a more finished look.  I love the look of the white railing on the steps in the photo below.  This is something that probably won't happen for a while, but it's definitely on my list!

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You can find more of my ideas for our yard/outdoor space on my Pinterest board.  What's on your wish list for your yard?

Have a great weekend!!

Our Yard/Outdoor Space

Today I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals to show my yard/outdoor space.  I love seeing home tours, yards, rooms, etc., so I was really excited to join this fun linkup and check out every else's yards!

So here we go.  I'm starting with the back yard.  We spend a ton of time in our back yard and we really love it.  We have a deck and patio area where we grill and hang out.  We are working on getting the lawn looking a little better, so hopefully over the next few years it will be fuller.  Admiral LOVES playing in our back yard (you'll see him photo bombing a few pics).  Also, all of these pics are what our yard always looks like.  I didn't do anything extra before taking the photos, since you'll see a dog water bowl and the chuck it on the ground in some of them :)

Now to the front of the house.  Like the back yard, we are working on the lawn and flowers in the front too.  I didn't do anything special for these pics either, this is what our front yard looks like on any given day.  I need to weed the flower beds...don't judge me :)

Can't wait for the lillies to start opening!!

Anyone know what this is?  I've heard hydrangea, but it's never flowered before.  But I see some little flowers starting on it finally!

And of course our basketball hoop in the driveway.

Make sure you head over to Momfessionals to check out all the other yard and outdoor spaces!