Patio... done! Bedroom... refreshed! Much accomplished around the house... definitely!

As of yesterday, we officially finished our patio! Our goal had been to finish it by the time October rolled around and we managed (just barely!). Here are the final pictures in the formation of the patio... which I must say we are pretty proud of and quite excited to use!

Laying down the patio stones. We used over a pallet of the rectangular ones and 3/4 of a pallet of the square ones. All in all, that is over 5,000 pounds of paver stones. I don't think it will be going anywhere anytime soon!

Today after putting sweeping in the sand yesterday! Finally complete and looking good! We spend quite a bit of time cutting pavers (I have become a master with a chisel and a hammer) to get everything to fit around the cure of the walkway and the fireplace. With the sand in place, you don't even notice the slight imperfections. Much thanks to my dad for helping with some of the cutting! It was like putting together a bit puzzle!

Anyone want to come over for a fire in the fire pit? We are thinking tomorrow night when it is warm out! I personally can't wait to decorate the patio up with some big pots and plants in the corner and arbors around the outside edge next year.

If you couldn't tell, I have had extra time off from work this week so I've been in project mode. Here is my other project! We ended up finally deciding to get a headboard for our bed. We have lived 4 years as a married couple without a headboard but finally began to notice that the paint on that wall is a little tacky (probably from the condensation of us breathing or the oils on our hands as we touch the wall... who knows but it annoyed me!). Here is our newly refreshed room!

We think it looks a little more grown-up now!

The other side of the room for good measure.

My other creation of the day... a jewelry holder. When I was visiting Renee last week over on Bainbridge, she had a frame with screen in it to hang her earrings on... I loved the idea so took an old frame today and made something similar! Chet put small nails on it to hold necklaces and bracelets also.

Anyway, this is what we've been up to this week. The weather is suppose to be nice so we are hoping to have a fire outside tomorrow, maybe doing some hiking/enjoying of the outdoors, and just enjoy spending some time together. Chet will be savoring some fun in Leavenworth with his male nurse friends so tomorrow is pretty much our day together this week! Who knows, maybe we'll come up with some new projects to start working on... I do love projects! :)

Making progress!

Back in August, we got the brilliant idea to get rid of our hot tub and half rotten deck... and put in a patio with a fire pit! We have discovered over the last year or so that we don't use the hot tub enough to justify it. So, Craigslist helped us get rid of the hot tub and we've been working on transforming it since!

In order to remember all of our hard work, we've been documenting it with photos.

First, we tore down the gazebo and sold the hot tub. The gazebo was so wobbly that we were able to just push it over! Nice to have that thing gone.

Then Chet, with Josh's help, tore out the deck and cut up the wood. We now have a great pile of wood to burn in our fire pit!

Note the huge pile of wood! They did a great job!

Then, because the ground is uneven, we had to build a bit of a retaining wall around the patio area before filling it with gravel for the patio base. This was after a bit of digging to get the ground level! We now have piles of dirt around the perimeter of our yard.

Next step, paint the wall, build the fire pit and fill the area with gravel base! Lots of hauling and tamping it down to make a solid base. We finished tamping it down today and it looks so good!

A little mulch and a few flowers this evening were just for fun. I probably shouldn't have done it before the patio stones are in but I couldn't resist. The pavers come on Thursday and I'm hoping we'll have time to put them in within the next week. Next year, we hope to add some benches, arbors and other fun things... :) We are certainly looking forward to having some fires and get-togethers in the near future!

Blackberry Picking

Last night I did some blackberry picking at Saltwater Park in Shoreline and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunset! What a nice summer evening...

This is just of the blackberry bushes that I battled... the view just beyond them is the Puget Sound.

Now to make something very tasty with those blackberries I picked (while getting scratched up by the bushes!). I do love blackberries in the summer!