The Pool Process - Landscaping Completion

I've been calling stores everyday for their sod inventory. Did you know that most stores will only stock sod on Thursday or Friday night? I am assuming because most people lay sod on the weekend. Rain was predicted, but I decided to go ahead and take my chances and do whatever I could before the gloomy weather showed up.

Days before, I leveled out the ground, clearing the rocks and laying a layer of top soil. Here are our before shots.

You can see our old grass starting to grow back. It's too bad that we don't want our old Bermuda grass. We decided to switch to St. Augustine, a less allergic grass since both my husband and R are highly allergic to Bermuda.

I picked up some sod on Thursday night. I came prepared lining the bed of my van before-hand. I even wore "sod-carrying" clothes that day to work and brought my gardening gloves to the store so that I could load the sod myself.

Here's my first load. 75 pieces of grass 24x16 lay here. Each piece was a lot heavier than I originally thought they would be.

Green grass is so lovely.

I originally was going to unload the grass and wait for my husband to come home to help me lay it, but I didn't see the point in that so I started laying the sod myself. I was done after an hour and was off to the store again for my second load of St. Augustine.

By the time I got back, my hubby was home. Yay! I was so drained at that point, but still managed to finish up. I did take a break to make dinner and do homework. When we were done, I must have stared at it for several minutes. I couldn't believe the instant improvement our yard looked. We were done and I absolutely love how it turned out.

I tried to keep our yard with very low maintenance shrubs and perennials. You can see in the images above, I have planted some Japanese Boxwood, roses, and Indian Hawthorne among our Peach and Plum tree. Below, I have calla lilies and hydrangeas.

I can't remember the name of these purple flowers, but they are also perennials. They have attracted so many butterflies to my yard.

The only annual I have planted are some pink begonias.

For the pool side of the yard, we decided to stay away from mulch. We figured that rocks were easier to maintain in the long run and less likely to fly into the pool. I have planted palm trees with irises which will bloom this summer.

Here is a shot of behind the pool. We have more palm trees with some Indian Hawthorne and some hollies.

In front of the pool equipment, I have planted a wax leaf lingustrum which will one day cover the the pool equipment nicely. They now have white beautiful blooms.

Behind our grotto, we have some low maintenance hollies.

That's my 3 week landscaping project.

We started with this:

And now have this

I am so excited to finally be done. My husband does want to plant some more grass near the back gate where the electrician dug trenches, but we'll have to ask our neighbor if they mind St. Augustine grass taking over first, since it is a more aggressive grass and will probably take over the Bermuda that we share. For me, the project is officially done and I am so relieved that what I envisioned in my little brain, now reality, is exactly what I want. We have spent so much time sitting on our porch just staring at all our hard work. What a relief that we are now finally done.

To-do List

I am shocked at how much I accomplished this past week. I managed to get all the landscaping tasks done. This week I am concentrating purely on E's birthday party.

• reupholster all of the lawn furniture

• Sod West yard

No more mud pit! I'll tell you later how I laid sod.

• buy chaise and umbrella --> sold out of the chaise I wanted!
• sit in the spa and relax (couldn't get spa to work)
• make cupcake stand --> didn't meet my goal
• finish princess peach crowns

Originally I was going to sew these crowns with felt, but due to lack of time, I designed and printed them out instead. They don't look bad, but if at the end of the week, I manage to find the time, and if only a few girls RSVP, I may end up sewing them.

• gather goodies for birthday
• wrap gifts
• Set up new dining set

I put it together and we had a lovely dinner on the porch.

• Put together new grill

I couldn't believe how many pieces it takes to put this grill together. If I had known there were so many pieces, I would have definitely let them install it. At the same time, every time I look at it, I will feel some sort of accomplishment for putting it together. We have already put the grill to good use. Just minutes after the last screw was place, we fired it up.

• Set up seating area

• Clean side yard bricked area with pressure washer

We finally were able to move all the pots of dirt away. Doesn't it look clean now?

• Install solar lights

I love my solar lanterns. I bought them 7-8 months ago even before we started the pool process. We have them all around our landscaping and I love them. My only regret is not buying more than I did.

• Brick area around air conditioner units

Physically, this was a lot of work. I still have cramps in my hand from pounding the bricks with a mallet to get it level. It was worth it because we got rid of all the extra bricks we just had lying around.

• Hem hubby's pants
• Wrap sister's b-day gifts

No pic of my sister's wrapped presents, but I did buy her some necklaces that looked some what like this. Do you like the flower?

New this week

• Get goodie buckets together and labeled.
• Buy candy and fill eggs for egg hunt
• Make cupcake stand!
• Finish scratch cards
• Make ruffly pillows (this one is for me).
  
• Figure out how to get the spa ready
• Study for CISSP (exam I have to pass for work)

It doesn't seem to be as bad as last week.

My House - the Dining Room

Here's my dining room. It's a hodge podge of different things, mostly clearance items that I have picked up through out the years. A lot of the things in my dining room were bought for other parts of the house, but that have now landed in here for one reason or another. For a room that we sit in once a year, I am pleased with the way it looks. I am especially happy about the cost to make up this room.

I bought the table at Pottery Barn Outlet for only $125. The tax on this table new would cost more than that! It actually seats 12, but I took out the two leaves so that it would be a perfect square. I wanted either a circle or a square table for the space and got just that.

There are a few blemishes and scratches so when I have the time one day, I plan on refinishing it to a rich espresso color or even paint it black. It's hard to stomach covering the grain so I am leaning towards re-staining. Yet, at the same time, I don't look forward to sanding it down to the grain in order to stain it. We had no real dining chairs for quite some time. I bought these comfy chairs at Target.com. I waited for their 15% off furniture sale with free shipping and used my 10% off rewards at the same time. I paid $500 for 8 chairs, making each chair about $62.50 which isn't bad.

I fell in love with this chandelier and had bought it for my old house. When we decided to move, I tried to find another one for my new house, but was unable to do so, so I decided to take it with me.

I installed the home's original chandelier, but updated the brass color with a coat of black paint. Ironically, I got many compliments. Here's my old dining room with the home's original chandelier.

I bought this side table at Target one summer for 75%. It was only $67. It sat in my foyer for sometime, but once we bought our piano, it needed a new home and it fits perfectly in my dining room. Excuse the dust :)

I bought the lamp and vases at the same time and all at 75% off. It was from the same collection so I didn't have to think too much if it would work well together.

Each one was only $12. I thought that was a fantastic price.

Here's the burnt orange color I love so much. It's basically in every room in my house in some way.

The chair on the left I bought for the game room, but it turned out to be too big. I bought it at Haverty's. It was a little pricey, but I got them to knock a couple of hundred dollars off just by asking. It doesn't hurt to try to negotiate a better price. I didn't have to negotiate for the chair on the right. I bought it at one of my company's surplus sales for only $1. Yes, only a buck. I am not into high gloss so I plan on painting the arms and legs a satin black one of these days. I may or may not re-upholster the cushions. Right now, it's neutral enough to work well in any room.

I've had my eye on this painting for quite some time and was pleased to grab it when it dropped 30% off at Target. I used my rewards card for an additional 10% off. Score!

The mirror I bought at Garden Ridge. I needed another mirror for one of my bathrooms so I was excited to get it at their B1G1 sale.

My kids photo's flank the other wall. This is just temporary. I bought these frames at Pottery Barn Outlet as well for only $4.95 each! They were nearly 90% off with all the discounts.

I bought some canvas last month and plan on having each one of my kids paint something for me. Their artwork will be my artwork for this wall. I am excited to see what they come up with. I know I will love whatever they create.

I re-purposed this rug from my office. Of course, I had a $30 off coupon for this beauty. I love how it looks in the room.

I sewed the curtains one of the first weeks we moved in for privacy so it was made from left over $1/yd fabric (total cost $6.00). It was supposed to be a temporary solution, but I like the way it looks so it stayed in the room. I bought the roman shades from Target and cut them down to fit the window. The paint is a nice chocolate brown that just so happens to be oops paint from Home Depot. One can of paint for $5. I love the double crown molding in the room. The builder made that upgrade for free!

That's my budget friendly dining room in a nut shell. I am missing a chair in this picture. My husband nabbed one of my chairs for the day. I just noticed this picture is also missing my tree picture! Oops, but you get the picture!