"springing" into action: spring projects

those of us that live in new england are only given a short window of time to enjoy the outdoors without bone chilling winds and foot upon foot of snow on the ground. after being couped up in the house for months on, end passing the time day dreaming of spring flowers & steamy july weather, justin and i are ready tackle our spring & summer projects . once the weather is bearable to be outdoors - aka it does not take multiple layers of clothing that you start to look like randy from a christmas story to brave the weather- the clock starts ticking & the list making has begun (sorry mudroom, you have to wait until the fall).



justin has a sixth sense - he can always tell when i am conjuring up a new home project for us; he always seem to translate this to a project for, him to do- i consider myself an excellent assistant. i am also great at leaving subtle hints; a page from a magazine, the lowes project book set on the counter opened to the layout i like or the infamous e-mails; "what do you think of this" or "just thinking...".

our current project list includes

small shed for snow blower & lawn mower - built  by justin

removing the white rocks from the garden path and replacing with crushed gravel 

building a patio with brick pavers on our already existing concrete pad

new shutters (current color: purple)

splitting what is left of the woodpile for summer & fall fires

repainting the patio foundation walls with dry lock

building the stonewall in the garden for the future herb garden

installing a cork floating floor in the basement

i am liking this pattern & stone for the patio

i have been searching for the perfect patio set- teak is absolutely beautiful. as i was driving through town, trustworthy hardware had a beautiful teak set on display that could be seen from the main road. once i laid eyes on the set i knew it had to be mine- they gave me a great deal and since it was the middle of january they agreed to hold the set until the weather warmed.

this is the set plus two additional chairs

my ongoing projects always include landscaping- we truly need to reseed the side lawn this fall (the best time to seed) and add additional perennials, flowering bushes & small trees to this same area. these are the 2 that i have been dreaming about:



variegated dogwood



flowering dogwood



i am on the hunt for a vintage bike- the hope is my gram has one but i have yet to venture into her garage/attic to see. my goal is to bike more often than not this summer to reduce my carbon footprint, plus i love biking- it is very freeing.



i love this bike!



blueberry bushes- high bush are also on the list.

we will see about this one, i still have to convince justin to give up a portion of the yard. he thinks i am taking over the yard as it is.

stay tuned for the before, during and after of our completed projects!