Finishing Up the Fire Patio

Finished fire patio.

Since day one, our landscape plans included a patio with a fire pit.  Here we are seven years later, and we have realized this dream.

This patio started out with large 6x12 pressure treated timbers we picked up at a second hand store.  Then, we used the wooden structure as a garbage dump for old bricks, concrete chunks, and miscellaneous other bits and bobs.  Once we got it filled up, we topped it off with sand and laid down pavers.  The process from start to finish was relatively easy.

We constructed a temporary fire pit using fire brick and a fire grate.  Long term, we'll revisit the fire pit itself and hopefully build something more permanent in nature, but this seems to be working well for now.

Patio after leveling with sand, and laying weed barrier.

Laying pavers.

Potager Garden 2013

Select photos of the Potager Garden 2013:

Tomato plants.

Attempt to trellis cucumbers up ladder.

A bees paradise.

Kale

Apples on the vine.

Artichoke preparing to bloom.

Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Tomatoes and Green Beans.

Drying Chrysanthemum and Lavender.

Harvesting Chrysanthemum blossoms.

Other 2013 garden photos:

Workshop Nearing Completion

We've been absent from the blog for awhile now.  Consider it a blog vacation.  Rest assured, we've been busy on home projects.

Before remodel.

We recently completed the installation of siding on our workshop.  We used the same wide-skinny-skinny siding pattern as found on our house.  We found an excellent deal on siding at our local mill outlet, but unfortunately it did not come in the two sizes.  We were able to easily rip the siding down into the smaller size on the tablesaw.

After remodel.

We completed the drywall in the studio space.  The studio is meant to be a mixed use area that can be used for art projects, craft projects, plus cooking and canning.  We also intend to build a countertop/desk area as a small home office.  Since finishing this space, we have found ourselves using it quite a lot.  We found the
space particularly useful during our annual summer/garden party.

Inside studio finished space.

We will be posting additional pictures as we finish the space, install trim, complete the floor, etc.  Additional blog entires will follow that show some of our garden outdoor space projects.