Frontal Greenery, Take Three

You may remember that it has been quite the struggle to keep our plants growing at this house. We’ve managed to kill almost every living thing that we’ve planted in our dirt.

I don’t know if it’s something that should be mentioned, but our example has just been stellar. All of those landscaping and gardening magazines keep asking for interviews. It can be a burden to be so good at killing plants, you know.

 

When we did some more landscaping last fall, we bought what we thought were die-hard plants. I was tired of paying for things that never grew and then just gave up the ghost. So we got a Texas Sage for the corner of the front planting area. We were sure this would be hardy enough to handle both the winter and summer months. The nursery guy agreed that this sage wouldn’t let us down.

He let us down.

In fact, he didn’t grow even a tiny little bit. After we planted last fall, he lost most of his hair leaves. We thought it was just from planting stress, but we soon realized nothing was growing back. All of the other plants were doing well at this point (knock on wood), so we knew something was up.

 

I am not a fan of dead plants. I know I keep killing them, so you would think it is something I like because I do it so well. I was anxious to get Deady out of there, and replace him with something (temporarily, at least) alive.

When we were at Home Depot on Saturday, I found a sale and a nice old lady who gave me great advice. We picked out the healthiest Bells of Fire on the lot, and Hubby and I brought it home. We decided to give it the weekend in its pot before we ended its life in our soil.

Monday afternoon, while Hubby was hard at work staining gate pieces inside the garage, I got to work with my gardening gloves and a shovel. Deady came out to make room for the new Fire. He looks great! And alive…

Towards the end of gardening season last year, we found a smoking deal for bags of mulch for 80% off. At about a dollar a bag, we decided to stock up.

Since I had lots of mulch available, I decided it was time to refresh the front planting area with a new coat of black mulch. I love the stark contrast between the green plants and the not-dusty-yet mulch.

 

Since we began this little greenery project out front, only two of the originals still exist. This is a Barrel Cactus, which can get huge, and a Natal Plumb, which can also get big but takes a while. Lots of our neighbors have both of these guys, so we knew it was a safe bet to get something long-lasting.

They are still alive and growing, so that is a new one for us.

We also have an Elephants Food, to which I was always drawn in the store. Finally, we brought it home. It has done the best and has almost tripled in size since being planted last fall. I love the almost-red stems next to the bright green leaves. It almost feels like a succulent because the leaves are so thick. This thing is amazing. And not just because it is Christmas colors.

Now that I know it can survive our wrath, I want to buy more for pots in the backyard.

This little guy was quite a surprise. I didn’t think he would last long, but he is now one of my favorites. Maybe because it is named “Little John?” I love the bright red flowers that have blossomed several times since last fall. This guy almost looks tropical to me, and tropical is always a welcome guest here in the desert.

See how pretty the flowers can be? They almost look like caterpillars!

When we had too much space when planting last fall, I ran to Home Depot to buy a $3 cactus. We’ve had better luck with cacti, after all. Slightly more hardy (only slightly because we’ve killed cacti, too!). This little agave came home with me and was planted to fill a small gap. He’s pretty, but lethal. Very sharp, and he unfortunately collects all of the tree leaves that get shed. I still like him, though.

This Japanese Boxwood is really pretty, too. It is often used as a hedger, but I think we can make it a beautiful, round, controlled bush out front. We are letting things grow for now but will start to tame and trim probably later this year when they’ve been growing for about a year. That is, of course, if everything makes it to a year. He has thicker stems and has beautiful white and green leaves.

Last but certainly not least is our new guy, Bells of Fire. I just hope he lasts. I love the bright green with pops of yellow and orange in blossoms. I am just craving color everywhere! After a year of growth, we will start to guide him into becoming a round and gorgeous plant to first greet our guests.

Cross your green fingers with me that these will survive this time. We are going fake plants next time any of these die. I am hoping we never have to stoop that low, but I am also tired of buying plants that we eventually murder anyway.

The Mother of All Desks

You know how some projects take muuuuuuuch longer than expected? This post was well-intentioned to happen a few weeks ago. It's amazing how allowing for proper drying time after paint and stain can really eat up timing for the overall project, huh?

And you all know that I'm such a patient person...

But it is done at last! We brought this puppy into the house on Friday when Hubby mistakenly told me that he had the day off from work. That poor guy will not be taking any days off again any time soon, I bet.

One disclaimer: Hubby seems to have a standard Building Uniform in all of these pictures. You will see him ever-present in blue plaid stretchy pants and his Defending the Caveman t-shirt. Occasionally, you see him in basketball attire, but that is only when he had just removed the Building Uniform that he so loves. Don't worry...it was washed after each day that he wore it. I've been doing lots of laundry this past month!

So let's get right down to it...

Demolition Man

We received some awesome cabinets from friends who had recently gutted their kitchen in a remodel. Though they weren't the correct size to support a desk, Hubby's eyes glistened over when he heard the price...free. Ryan even loaded them up in his truck to bring them to our house, since it would have taken thirteen trips in Corolla. Hubby got to work tearing them apart in preparation for cutting the pieces with yet another borrowed tool from a neighbor. We certainly picked the right neighborhood since everyone has tool shops galore! Do you see how long and narrow the cabinets are? We needed them less long and less narrow to properly support the weight of a desk top. And to not eat up too much real estate where Hubby could be sitting. Thus, using Alan's table saw, Hubby quickly cut down the cabinets to make the pieces to build them short and stocky. Soon he was ready to put all of his carefully-measured pieces back together.

Glue It And Screw It

The assembly was done very well, and I am sure that it helped that I was gone for most of it. It's amazing to me how much more he can get done when I am not around to constantly make "suggestions," as I like to call them. He probably refers to them with other names. Hubby built four cabinets and attached two together for one side of the base, then the other two together for the opposite side. He also built a toe-kick to allow the doors enough height to be opened over the carpeted office. And he added toe-kicks on top, too, to create little paper cubbies while providing enough clearance for the doors to open on top after the desk was in place. If I can take any credit...the paper cubbies were one of my few successful "suggestions." I was really impressed with the cabinets after the build. Though there were some cracks where joints came together, I knew we could cover them up in our next step.

Prepping Like It's High School

Thanks to some help from Young House Love, I knew that wood filler would be our bestest friend to get rid of some cracks, crevices, and holes that we didn't want visible in the final product. Using a putty knife and a little too much confidence, I tackled filling all spaces before letting them dry overnight. We then sanded all of the surfaces down. The doors also got a sanding to roughen them up for the primer and paint. We tack-clothed everything to get rid of the dust before primer went down.

Painting For Days and Days and Days

Once the surfaces were all prepped and not-so-pretty, it was time to lay some smack primer down. I only put one coat on but was a little worried that it had been a wasted effort. Luckily, after two coats of white paint that we had leftover from another project, the old wood was now reborn with a beautiful, clean look. I waited a full twenty-four hours in between coats, which just about killed me. I was tickled with the results when it was all said and done. The cabinets sat finished in the garage for about a week while we worked on the top of the desk.

Stains Of Our Lives

Hubby scored this beautiful gigantic door at Habitat for Humanity for $40. It was the bulk of the budget for this under-$100 project of ours. At first, I was tempted to just leave it in its natural wood color. But I am a fan of dark woods, so we stained it with one coat of Dark Walnut from Minwax. Man oh man, am I glad we did! I LOVE the color of the stained wood. It is so warm and inviting and smells like cookies. Two out of three of those comments are mostly true. I liked it before, but the stain and then semi-gloss polyurethane on top of that just make the desk top sing. We added four coats of poly to the top and two to the bottom. Didn't I mention how much patience I exhibited during this entire project?

Bringing It All Together

This was my favorite part, of course. Everything up to this point had been grunt work. Now we were going to see big results in very little time! I had begun this process a few days earlier by arranging and cleaning and moving things in the office. Then I regretted being so proactive, because the office was then a mess for a few days until we could get the big desk inside to finish the job. On Friday morning, we started bringing it all in the house. First came the two bases, and then the doors went on. Hubby drilled some holes for some handles to be added...some leftovers from our kitchen cabinet job before we moved in. Then we hauled in the gigantic (and heavy) top to place over the two cabinet bases. It's purdy already, but now we get to move everything in place and get the old out. Have I ever mentioned how much I passionately hated Hubby's old desk? And that he would never let me do anything about it because he had a desk? I am so tickled that it is now gone, and that this gorgeous beast now takes its place. The only downside? Since we got a little toe-kick happy on the top and bottom to allow the doors to swing freely, we ended up creating a really tall desk. Too tall for Hubby's present office chair. But you know what? I haven't been a crazy fan of that lately, either. We are on the hunt for a tall chair to replace the now-too-short current option.

The Big Reveal

 I love being on the other side of the room with my desk, and I absolutely love that we were able to make a reading chair fit in here. Now I can peruse my cookbooks to pick out dinner and be much more comfortable. I just love creating reading nooks in every available space. Nerd Alert!

Hubby seems to be happy with the end results as well. The desk is large enough to house not only his work station, but all of his play goodies as well. The concealed storage is just a dream, and now we only see what is absolutely necessary on top. Perfection for a Type-A gal such as myself!

I love it. I absolutely love it.

Handy Hubby Strikes Again!

While we were visiting in Utah, my computer geek Hubby was put to work installing all sorts of technical gadgets for my parents! He made their printer wireless and reloaded some Nintendo games to the family computer that had "mysteriously disappeared." Since the nerdy stuff only took a few hours, my parents had a back-up plan ready for him in case he zoomed through it all with ease (which he did...show-off).

Hubby flexed his handyman muscles by installing shelves in the garage to store camping gear, used tattoo guns, small refrigerators, archaeological dig finds, fishing poles, a tent the size of Rhode Island, and cat Man Caves (don't ask). This will free up some shelving room inside the storage room inside the garage (I can draw a picture if you're already lost like me!) for the ever-important food storage which is currently living in the basement of their home. Mom is so excited to get her family room back to normal, and Hubby was happy to oblige.

Besides, it meant he got to play with power tools, measuring tapes, hammers, levels, and shaky ladders all day instead of fraternizing with the still-spray-painting / constantly-gabbing women in the back yard.

With such gorgeous weather, Hubby was able to work through the day and finished by the time my step-dad, Merrill, came home from work! Isn't he handy?! Only my husband can make shelf-building look that good.

We narrowly dodged the bullet unfortunately missed out on helping them move the 14,938 five-gallon buckets from the basement to the shelves, but I've heard that Hubby's hard work is in use just a few weeks later.

The only problem for Hubby? Now I want some shelves in our garage, too! It might be his own stinkin' fault for making this project look so stinkin' easy. I can't be blamed for this particular whip cracking.

At least I'll wait until it doesn't feel like an oven in the garage before forcing him to complete kindly encouraging that he begin such a fun task. It was fun, Hubby, right?

Right? Hubby? Am I right?

(For those concerned, this is a hypothetical question since Hubby wouldn't be caught dead reading my blog. Says he, "Why should I read it when I live it?" If he only knew my secret-agent skill of embellishment!)