Our Project Wonderland Progress.

Well, it's been four weeks since I wrote about Project Wonderland (our plan to fix up the backyard and turn it into a wonderful space to both relax and entertain) and I am happy to say that Zac and I have made some progress. The backyard project is not always numero uno on our list of things to do (as we both have work and other things to tend to) but a few items have been crossed off of our to-do list.

Let's revisit that list shall we.....here's our progress:

- Clean off patio space and find proper places for everything.

- Set up sitting area on patio space.

- Add flowers and plants to the back wall. (Partially complete)

- Build latice wall on the back fence.

- Grow vines on the back fence latice wall.

- Hang votive lights from tree .

- Create overhead lighting for the patio space.

- Place solar power spot lights in front of trees.

- Finish digging out trench to add fish pond.

- Lay cement foundation for brick wall against back fence.

- Lay down cement blocks to begin building wall against fence.
- Cover cement blocks with stone.

- Lay cement foundation for additional patio entertaining space.

- Add electrical power from the house to additional patio entertaining space.

- Lay down paver path from patio space to additional patio entertaining space.

- Put in lines for water pump for fish pond and propane for outdoor fireplace.

- Build outdoor fireplace.

- Lay down pavers on floor of additional patio entertaining space.

- Build furniture for additional patio entertaining space.

- Add stone to outside of outdoor fireplace.

For not being able to make the backyard our main priority right now when it comes to projects, Zac and I are pretty happy with the progress we've made. I should actually say that I'm pretty happy with the progress that Zac has made. He's responsible for all of the hard work that has gone into completing our backyard projects. I come up with a few ideas (like the hanging votives lights project seen here) and Zac is handy enough (and awesome enough) to figure out a way to make it happen. I appreciate this ability of his more than I can express in words!

Anyway, back to the checklist. After we completed the votive light project, Zac and I got pretty excited to continue on with our list of backyard improvements. We concluded that the next easiest and least expensive item on our list was to clean off the patio space and find a proper place for everything that was currently cluttering the large space.

So we set to work and decluttered the patio space before Zac sprayed it clean with the hose.

Jim's fear of the yellow garden hose kept him in the house watching the action behind the safety of the sliding door.

After Zac sprayed away the dirt and spider webs that had accumulated on our patio, it was time to set up the sitting area so that we could finally sit on the patio and enjoy our backyard. My parents recently gave us their old glass patio table and two matching chairs, which we set up on our new clean patio. After a little rearranging we finally had a place to sit and relax.

In addition to the new lounge area, you might have noticed another patio upgrade in the picture above. In case you aren't all too familiar with our patio, I'll point out the change for you. Thanks to my handy-dandy Zac, we now have overhead lighting on our patio!

The lighting project was one thing on our to-do list that we were really excited about. Our back patio only has one small light that barely shines bright enough to see a one foot radius from the back door. Since we like to entertain and wanted to hang out on the patio after the sun went down, it was important to add some more light to the space. So Zac pulled out his power tools and went to work on adding some more lights above the patio.

Zac went to Lowe's and purchased four of these interior light fixtures for only $5 each. We realize that they are indoor light fixtures, but since they're going under the patio awning we don't have to worry about them being hit with rain, too much sun, or any other outdoor elements that would require a more heavy duty outdoor light fixture.

The plan was to connect all of the new light fixtures together so that they could all be powered through one electrical source. To make sure that we didn't have wires dangling everywhere, Zac decided to drill holes through the beams of the awning in a continuous line so that the wires could run a straight course to each light.

When he was finished it looked like this:

Next, Zac took down the only patio light that came with the house. Check out how small it was:

We decided that rather than replacing the light, we would just use it's electrical power to light the overhead lighting we were about to put in, and then cover up the spot where the light used to be. In the future we hope to get french doors to replace our sliders. If we kept the light (or added a new light in the same place) our future french doors would probably hit up against it when open. Plus, we figured that four overhead fixtures would provide us with plenty of light on their own. So Zac pulled down the light and used the power to connect all of the overhead lights and allow us to use the existing light switch inside the house to power our new fixtures. (See, I told you he was handy.)

Since there are 5 posts that support our awning from crashing down on us, it was an easy decision to put the lights evenly spaced between each post. Zac cut wooden blocks which he then connected to the awning. These wooden blocks would act as the base for the new light fixtures.

Next, he took the wire that he had connected to the old light fixture outlet (seen two pictures above) and began threading it through each of the holes he had drilled earlier, using a staple gun to keep the wire in place as he worked.

After the wire was in place, it was time to attach the new light fixtures to their wooden bases....

....and connect the wires.

We were pretty excited when the lights went up and we could successfully use the inside light switch to turn them on and off. You might also notice in the photo below that the wires seem to blend right in with the awning. This is because the previous owners were kind enough to leave behind a can of paint they used when they built the awning. Thanks to Lowe's we were able to color match the paint and Zac painted the wood blocks and the wires which really made the look come together nicely. The lights look as though they've been here all along.

As a little surprise to me, Zac traded out our old light switch and replaced it with a dimmer switch. I was thrilled with this change. It was such a great idea. Now we can control the amount of light on the patio and create different moods. (The night that Zac showed me the final product he lit candles on our glass patio table, added some flame to the votive lights in the tree, poured some champagne, and set the new overhead lights to a soft glow. It had the perfect romantic vibe.)

As for the hole in the wall that used to be our patio lighting, Zac was able to patch it up using a replacement panel that he purchased at Lowe's. The texture is slightly differently than the existing panels but the difference if hardly noticeable. Zac used the the paint to color match the new panel after he put it in place. There is a tiny seam that can be seen when you look up close. Zac did such a great job of patching the spot if you didn't know that the panel had been replaced you wouldn't even notice.

The light project, which only took one day to complete, made such a change to our backyard's evening look. Looking at the list of things to get done, we saw that we could get even more light in the backyard by crossing  "Place solar power spot lights in front of trees" off of our list. We picked up two solar lights for $14 each at Lowe's and put them in front of each of the cypress trees against the back fence.

The solar lights get plenty of sun during the day so they put out a nice spotlight on the trees in the evening. We'll definitely be adding a few more spotlights on the other trees in our backyard a little later in the future.

Next came laying down the cement so that we had a foundation for the stone wall that will go along the back fence. To start the project, Zac dug out a trench along the back fence where he wanted to lay the cement. He piled the dirt up against the area between the trench and the fence to add some heighth to the future flower bed.

Zac purchased a bunch of wood from Lowe's (some of which he used for the light project) and planned to use it to line the trench and prevent the cement from seeping into the grass area.

The wood was also really important for maintaining a straight line and making sure that the new foundation didn't turn out crooked and crazy. It also helped Zac determine how high the concrete would go once he poured it and allowed him to have a reference once it came time to level the concrete.

Next, Zac used some posts to shape the rest of the trench including the rounded areas.

The concrete was poured in stages in the early morning and evening when the weather was cool outside. In the right corner of the yard, Zac had Jim imprint his little paw prints. He wrote in Jim's name and the date as a permanent reminder of when we got our little pup.

After a few days, the concrete had time to settle and it was time to remove the wood.

Zac filled in the hole along the trench left from wood that was removed (the grass will eventually grow back in this area) and began lining cement blocks along the new concrete foundation. Later these blocks will be covered with stone that will match the future fireplace.

We started adding flowers to the new bed behind the concrete wall. We aren't crossing this item off of our list just yet because we plan on putting in a lot more plants and flowers.

The lillies have really taken off and are quickly becoming some of our favorites.

So there you have it, a little update of our Project Wonderland progress. We're excited to get everything done and Zac is amped to add a few more projects to the list (including moveable planters). We'll share more details as we complete more projects and cross them off of our list.

Anyone else have some summer projects going on? Feel free to share!

Oh My Gourd Part 2

Time for a little update! About two weeks ago I filled you all in on our surprise compost pile plant life. (Click here to refresh your memory.)

Within a short period of time our compost pile had gone from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Recently, we noticed this bad boy had sprouted out from one of the vines.

We've been uncertain about what this bulging plant really is but just a few days ago we got our answer. The fruit of our plant has gotten much bigger in size and it has also begun to turn orange. We've got ourselves a pumpkin!

It turns out that the pumpkin seeds from last year's Halloween carvings are doing well in the compost pile. Not only has the pumpkin grown tremendously, but so has the plant that it has sprouted from. If you scroll up to the top of this post you can see what the plant looked like about a week and a half ago. Today the plant looks like this:

The walls of the compost pile have disappeared under a jungle of leaves. As much as we love to see that the pumpkin plant is thriving (especially in this summer heat) we will be pruning it back just a little so that it doesn't spill too far outside of the compost pile walls. Along with all the new leaves, we've spotted a lot of new flowers as well. Hopefully this will mean that we'll have a few more pumpkins growing as well.

For now we at least have one new pumpkin! Zac and I found this little guy growing on the ground just outside of the compost pile. We took this photo a few days ago when the new little pumpkin was the size of a baseball. Today the pumpkin is about the size of a child's small bouncy ball.

It's amazing how quickly they grow! Unfortunately, we don't think that these pumpkins will make it another three and a half months to become our carved jack 'o lanterns come Halloween. We hope that several more pumpkins will sprout up in time for the holiday celebration. It would be such a cool thing to be able to pick out our own pumpkin every year for Haloween. I'm sure that the future kiddos will have fun picking out their own pumpkins, watching them grow, carving them, and then putting them on display for all the other trick or treaters in the neighborhood.

In the meantime, Zac and I are excitedly awaiting the arrival of new pumpkins.....stay tuned!

Project Wonderland

One of the many things that Zac and I love about our house is the amount of space that we have in our backyard. After living together in our first apartment for 3 years we were so excited when we got our home and discovered the endless possibilities of projects and fun having a backyard would bring.

Zac and I have lived in our home for nearly two years now. We've had plenty of time to sort through our ideas about what to do with our backyard space and now we are putting together an official plan which we are calling "Project Wonderland".

We really love to host parties, have people over, and entertain. It makes us so happy to fill our home with the people we love and enjoy ourselves, laugh, celebrate and create memories. Our plan is to make our backyard an extension of our home in the sense that it will be another place to make our guests comfortable and allow us to entertain a large number of people

Before we were able to put our plan into action, Zac and I first had to finalize a plan. This involved looking for inspiration...everywhere. One source of inspiration came from the fireplace in our living room.

Zac and I love our fireplace and think that it would be so great to have one outside in our backyard. It would definitely create a focal point for our space plus sitting out by the fireplace with our friends and family sounds like a great way to spend our evening. Zac plans to pour cement, build the fireplace, and add stone to the outside of the fireplace later.

Browsing through Pinterest.com I found this little picture for some inspiration:

The fireplace will be going in the back corner of our backyard. We will be adding some stone pavers to create a little path from the existing patio to the back corner. Zac has big plans for creating a deck and building some custom furniture to give the area an outdoor living room space feel. His furniture plans involve building a few chairs and a sectional style sofa for lounging. This picture from Pinterest.com is kind of what we had in mind with the furniture:

Surrounding the deck, Zac has already begun to dig a trench where he will create a fish pond.

The dirt from this trench went straight into the compost pile Zac created last summer. I am super excited about this pond. I love watching fish swim around. Before we got our little pup Jim, the only pets that I had ever had were fish. Currently Zac and I have about 20 very small fish in a 10 gallon tank. It will be so nice to sit on the deck by the fireplace and watch the fish swim in the pond.

Our backyard currently has only one source of lighting; a small light bulb just outside the patio door. So, needless to say, when the sun goes down we usually head inside since the backyard gets so dark. To brighten up our backyard and encourage some post sunset hang out time in our space Zac and I definitely need to add some lighting. Our plan is to add some spot lights to highlight our trees as well as extend our power out to the fireplace and add some lighting to the deck. Also our backyard has a long covered patio:

To give us some overhead lighting and allow us to hang out on the patio and play games without having to strain our eyes to read our cards, our plan is to add 4 overhead lights. Zac is going to extend the power from the house to the overhead lights which will allow us to use the light switch for the current patio light to turn on the additional lighting. (Thank goodness Zac is so handy right?!) We plan to add a dimmer switch so that we can control the amount of light at any given time. This will allow us to have enough light to see our game boards and cards on game nights as well as turn down the lights and create a romantic feel for a date night dinner outside.

To add a more whimsical feel to our backyard space, Zac and I want to add some light that will hang from the trees. These lights will not be powered by electricity or solar power. Instead we want to add some candlelight. Looking online at different lighting options I found this picture during my browsing session on Pinterst.com :

It pretty much represents perfectly the look that we are going for. It looks kind of magical right? The string seems to disappear and the lights look as though they are hovering in space, almost like little fireflies. Using candles makes this whimsical idea look soft and romantic as well. We love this idea and think that we can accomplish it pretty easily.

To make the backyard a little more whimsical and wonderland-ish, we'll also be adding a lot of flowers and plants to our space. The majority of these flowers will go along our back fence. Zac wants a variety of flowers so that the look is less uniform and more playful. The idea is to have flowers that come in a bunch of different heighths and vary in color. Another picture from Pinterest.com serves as inspiration:

In addition to the flowers along the fence, Zac really wants to add some latice. His big plan is to plant green vines along that latice that will eventually fill out and create a wall of green. It will definitely be something more pretty to look at than a plain wooden fence. We are thinking about planting honeysuckle since it has some really pretty white blooms, but we don't know how it will hold up in our Fresno climate. We'll definitely be looking into what vine-like plants will work out the best. The best thing about working on our garden is that we have an amazing nursery just two blocks away. Not only do they have some incredible plants, but they also have a big fish pond. We will definitely be picking their brains about our backyard garden/fish related projects.

Once all of this is complete and we are happy with the way things have turned out we hope to add a few more fun projects to our list. Check out this outdoor movie screen and lounge area that I found on (you guessed it) Pinterest.com:

Isn't that uh-may-zing?! I can totally picture us hanging out in our backyard during the summer with a few of our favorite people, munching on snacks, drinking some wine, and watching a movie. So perfect!

So here is the check list of our plans for our future backyard wonderland:

- Clean off patio space and find proper places for everything.

- Set up sitting area on patio space.

- Add flowers and plants to the back wall.

- Build latice wall on the back fence.

- Grow vines on the back fence latice wall.

- Hang votive lights from tree .

- Create overhead lighting for the patio space.

- Place solar power spot lights in front of trees.

- Finish digging out trench to add fish pond.

- Lay cement foundation for brick wall against back fence.

- Lay cement foundation for additional patio entertaining space.

- Add electrical power from the house to additional patio entertaining space.

- Lay down paver path from patio space to additional patio entertaining space.

- Put in lines for water pump for fish pond and propane for outdoor fireplace.

- Build outdoor fireplace.

- Lay down pavers on floor of additional patio entertaining space.

- Build furniture for additional patio entertaining space.

- Add stone to outside of outdoor fireplace.

Needless to say we have quite a few projects ahead of us and a lot of work to get done to turn our backyard into another space to hang out and entertain. We're looking forward to the challenge though. We love working on projects and anything that makes our home a more beautiful and comfortable space is definitely worth the work that goes into it. We'll be getting as many of the smaller projects done as we can first before diving into the big projects that require more man power and money. The fireplace may have to wait until after the wedding simply for cost reasons, but hopefully by this time next year our little wonderland will be a reality.

Oh My Gourd!

Last summer, Zac and I thought that it would be nice to build a little compost area in our backyard. Now that we were no longer living in an apartment and had plenty of space outside, we could make it happen.

Zac removed the railroad ties that lined the length of the back fence and used them to construct a good sized compost bin. He filled it up with dirt that had been dug out of another part of our backyard (more details on that later), and we began to use our new compost pile regularly.

The majority of things that found their way to the compost pile included peelings from cucumbers, potatoes, bananas, zucchini, squash, oranges, etc. We also threw in grass trimmings, strawberry stems, watermelon rinds and our carved pumpkins after Halloween was over.  All in all our compost pile was working out just as we'd hoped. The railroad ties fit together nicely so we didn't have to worry about leakage of dirt through the walls of the bin. Plus Zac had constructed it along the fence furthest from the patio door which prevented us from being pestered by flies who found the compost pile to be their new hot spot.

A few months ago Zac and I started to notice a little plant growing in the middle of our compost pile. We had no idea what it was but we were curious to find out. Although we still used the compost pile for its original purpose, Zac also began to start watering the little plant that had sprouted up. As if it had grown overnight, our little plant had taken over the compost space and now it looks like this:

We were amazed at how big the plant had gotten in such a short amount of time. The leaves that are growing suggest that the plant is in the squash family. Zac and I started to think back on all of the things that we had thrown away in the compost pile that could have resulted in such a big plant. The very first thing that came to mind were the pumpkins that were tossed in at the beginning of November. Not only had we thrown in whole pumpkins but when we were carving them we disposed of their inner plant parts and threw those in the compost pile as well. Other thoughts on the potential result of this plant included squash, zucchini, and watermelon.

After the leaves filled in the entire bin the flowers started to bloom. Big, beautiful, yellow flowers started sprouting up all over the compost pile.

We also noticed a little fruit or veggie starting to grow. The first time we saw it, it was as small and green as a ripe lime.

Now it has grown to the size of a football. It seems to be the only one of its kind. Out of all the blooms on this plant this has been the only thing that has started to grow. From the coloring and shape our best bet is that we have a watermelon plant on our hands. No complaints from us there! We LOVE watermelon.

Perhaps soon we'll know for sure what this is.....we'll keep you updated.