{Summer} Summary

Oh Summer, where did you go?!? 

My plans did not all get done. They were a little long and optimistic. 

However, three big things did get done, and three more got started. So let's focus on those, ok?

The bathroom. Wow did it change!!! If you're new here, you'll have to look back on all the bathroom posts. I started with inspiration and plans and went through many of our days from demo and rebuilding. Now it's nearly finished, completely working, and ready for some decorations! 

If the bathroom wasn't on this list, the backyard flower garden would be my favorite thing this summer by far. It was once an overgrown pile of weeds, grass and home to the dog house that was never used. Although the dog house still isn't used, it's got a great little front "porch" (or "curb appeal"??).

Almost all of this was done for free, with the exception of the mulch and a few flowers. I need to do an updated posts now that the flowers are filling in nicely and the gutter run off (aka dry creek bed) is finished. 

And the first project that I kicked off summer with was painting the front door's trim black. 

It was just a primed white and I love how the black frames the door that I stripped (see the original here) and the screen door that my dad made us (isn't it great??!) I'm not sold on the teal mailbox. It's better than the bright yellow it was prior to this paint change but I'm thinking it needs a new color. Navy or black are the two choices I'm going between. 

And projects we started, but haven't completed, yet, are:

1. The backyard play place for the kids. Three words as to why it's not completed: It. Got. Hot. As in hit you in the face, sweat from the front door to your car, type of hot. And the bathroom remodel took over. 

2. The shed. I primed the walls after removing some of the rust. It's been a big improvement but the roof needs major TLC. One problem - getting up to the roof to paint. It'll involve ladders, scaffolding, and patience. And maybe getting over a fear of falling off said ladders.

3. Herb Spiral. In the garden photo above, on the far back right corner is a flat tree stump. We had to cut down a tree years ago and we will continue the line of stones with creek rocks and make an herb spiral garden. Doug got started but ran out of rocks. We would get more but we're getting them from my parents' farm and there's no way to mess with the plants this type of year. So in the fall, we will get the tractor and go find more rocks in their creek bed. 

Honorable Mention: Gardening - we haven't had the best luck, but our tomatoes are slowly coming on. We're working on some plans for next year that'll hopefully see a giant increase in what we grow, so more on that later. We did have success with raspberries (three brand new plants), cucumbers, and now my chocolate cherry tomatoes. Hoping for more luck next year with our blueberries, strawberries, and whatever we decided to grow more of. 

Other projects don't finished (or even started):

Painting our front and back porch floors (and possibly ceilings). BUT… my dad bought a power washer, so this will help us when we get around to it. And the front porch provided great cover for tools and a workspace for the bathroom remodel. 

Organizing the office… yep, didn't happen at all. Halfway through the summer I decided that I should makeover our basement to a craft room/art studio/my office and although that hasn't happened yet, it gave me a good reason to not focus on my upstairs office. My office will eventually turn into Doug's office when he goes back to school for his master's.