Can you dig it?

Dig Dig Dig...its been all about digging and hot weather.

We've been experiencing record breaking hot weather this last week and poor tuboo had to spend every night digging. Too bad we couldn't use Hampton and ZuZu's digging skills to help him out with this.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Look at all those rocks and crap!


This is the left side of the yard, tuboo will be working on this side tomorrow


A rare treat for Hampton. We let him out in the front for a few minutes. It only took that long for him to want to eat and get into the rocks and dirt ~ Have some class Hampton!


A favorite spot for the bb's as they watched their daddy dig.



We did manage to get out today and we found some great deals. We got an umbrella (that even tilts) for $29! We also found the perfect wrought iron patio set we've been looking for since last year. Cute huh!

once you go black..???

Ok, need your help! Tuboo and I are arguing about #2 and #3 (see pic below for number scheme). He wants to paint #3 black but I think it will end up looking to 'piano' like. i like the cream b/c it softens the look (as Debbie also noted) and also makes it all match the rest of the house. What do you think? If we paint #3 black then not sure what to paint #2. Do we paint it olive to blend in (thats what it was before).

#1. don't worry we'll paint this white with black tops to match the stair railings. don't let that distract you.
#2. as you can see currently this small strip of trim is black.
#3. as you can see currently this is cream like the steps (which we decided to paint all cream - didn't keep the white backing - are they called risers? i dunno)






Anyway painting continues the rest of the week and prob won't get done until the weekend.

p.s check out the shrub on the right side of the last pic. Tuboo spent the whole day cutting the shrubs and bushes along the side of the house and out front. 10 bags full!! the way he cuts the shrubs is like how some people pluck their eyebrows. he couldn't really see how much he was plucking whether it was too much or what. good thing i stopped him at one point! the shrubs on the side look very cute now. we now have our very own muffin top shrubs :)

paid for being diligent but not diligent

Hello!
So the contractor who did our pavers FINALLY took away their equipment and garbage so we can start figuring out what to do with the law BUT they took our shovel by mistake! AGGGHHH!!! Anyway, its not like we don't have anything else to do.

On to why we (or I) 'paid for being diligent but not diligent'...so the steps on the stairs had some cracks b/c of weather i suppose. some of the cracks were deep and not even primer would fill so after reading something online and some passing words from someone, the cracks were filled with polyfill. yes, polyfill. i was very diligent about making sure i filled it correctly. Unfortunately with the rain the ployfill started to rise and my beautiful paint cracked. :( long story short, i spent a long time getting that polyfil out, esp b/c i did such a job filling the cracks! my blood sweat and tears are on those stairs, literally!
Anyway, enough whining... :)

lesson for you all - don't fill outdoor stuff with polyfill!

playing with paint colors

The pavers are officially complete! The paver head dude came by last night and sealed it. We debated wether to get the sealing done as we like the worn out look but common sense won out. We figure the pavers will get worn out eventually anyway but best to protect them if we can. The sealant changed the color a bit too which took a little getting used to but again its all 'new' so we'll give it some time to get scruffed up :)

We are super happy with how it all turned out but what is depressing now is the lawn. sigh...

We spent the day painting the stairs. It was damn hot outside. Anyway, we are experimenting a bit with how we might paint the stairs and railings. Take a look and let me know what you think.

We added a black trim, kept the posts white and painted the railings cream. For the stairs we painted the top cream and the backs white. The railings and posts on the porch are the original colors.

Note: the white isn't as bright as its just primer and the rest of the paint is just 1 layer of paint

This is what it looks like without the black trim (kind of)

We are so tired, this will have to do until next weekend. Work starts up on Monday and its gonna be busy! So you'll have to wait till next week to see what we decide :))

paver dude 'rocks'

The paver dude showed up unexpectedly today and did some more work. The paver dude 'rocks' (heehee, get it?)!!....It delayed our 'day of painting' but we didn't mind. Here are some pics:


stairs 1/2 primed






we like the white railings but it won't match the rest of the house. we have an idea of how we can keep some of the white but not sure yet. will show some pics of our 'test' paint job in the next few days.

view from the door to the front yard:



There is Hampton keeping a close eye on things again. He's taking his security job very seriously!

At the end of the day we did manage to get a layer of paint on the sides of the stairs. Pics to follow soon. Man, are we pooped!