My house is how old?: The Side Yard is done

Adventures in first-time homeownership

My husband (~D) and I just bought our first house. It's a great house on .25 acres, near downtown. But ~D's never lived in a house that wasn't rented, and while my dad's philosophy has always been "if you're done with a house, it's time to move," my involvement was usually limited to the cosmetic stuff. I've fortunately picked up a lot from watching him, but watching isn't as good as doing...

Our "new" house: 1838 square feet. Four bedrooms, one full bath, one bathroom "stall" in the kitchen (not even a sink in there!). We have a full walk-up attic, a full basement with attached shed and root cellar. There's a front porch, a back deck, and a three-season porch on the back that is accessed through one of the bedrooms. We have a decent-sized kitchen, a living room, and a dining room. The house sits on a ledge, and the backyard is accessed by a staircase bordered by two large retaining walls.

We'll see where homeownership takes us. We have plans, some big, some small. We just hope we get to realize them without this turning into The Money Pit.

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Side Yard is done

Yesterday at about noon, I proudly announced to Bug that I was done digging. I heard a giggle behind me - the neighbor (who was working on his own home project) had heard me. The rest of the day was spent leveling/regrading, hauling dirt to level/grade some more, and digging out the end of the driveway, which we are expanding, so that when a truck delivers our sub-base this week we have somewhere to put it.

Once the dirt was in a state that we deemed acceptable, we hit it with some bug killer (we've been trying the Eco Sense, kid and pet friendly, organic stuff) and then the seed mix that I posted about last week - it has the seed, mulch, and fertilizer all in one. I think it cost ~$35 at Costco. One bucket was just about exactly the amount we needed for this project. We have a bag of just seed, too, that we'll use once this starts growing and we can see how thick it'll grow in.

A view from our driveway, looking back at the jungle (our house is on the right hand side).