Work Bench Basement

While my girlfriends were in town the other weekend, Glenn was busy in the basement. What? You don't want to go in every store at the outlet mall? I don't understand.

While we were busy shopping, Glenn was busy building. We had gone to H Dizzle earlier in the week with a U-haul trailer to pick up the majority of the building supplies. Maining the 16' 2x4s and the 4'x8' sheets (3) of plywood and pegboard (2). Side note, did you know that the Prius can fit 8' 2x4s with the hatch closed? We returned 6 2x4s sans trailer without a problem!

Glenn designed and built the work bench as an L-shape that goes from the utility sink to the door to the backyard. It is 6 feet by 13 feet! And since we only have a few outlets in the basement, he built the beer fridge right in. Seems appropriate.

Glenn has become quite the builder since we've been back which is good, cause I've always got a project up my sleeve for him to work on. Although, I think he enjoyed this project so much because he didn't have to deal with my "input". :) We are loving all the extra storage space in the basement and it's even better having it organized! Or at least getting organized.

Patio!

Over a month ago, Glenn and I had a patio installed in our backyard. I know! I'm sorry loyal blog readers, I kept you in the dark. Mostly because the process took an entire week, so it took me awhile to take all the picutres, but I still haven't taken the final picture. We picked up new patio furniture from Craigslist last night so hopefully that will be coming soon. A $1000 teak Home Depot set for $350. Success.

We decided on a stamped concrete patio because 1) faster and cheaper to have installed than pavers and 2) it looks nicer than just plain concrete. First, I laid the hose out on the ground in the pattern that I like and the company came out and spray painted the design.

Next, they had to dig out part of the yard to make sure the water flowed in the right direction. We ran in to a few mysteries in the yard, like this pipe that Glenn had to cut out. I'm pretty sure we have an old oil tank burried in our yard. Yikes, I don't want to think about having to take that out. Next, they put up a border to hold the concrete.

                                    

We left a space next to the stairs so that I could plant some flowers and we plan on putting up a lattice to cover up the space under the stairs. Probably a flowering vine so that it eventually gets covered up. The patio goes along the entire back of the house from this point on. Since we have a door to access the basement, we wanted the patio to be located here. The guys building the patio had hopes of using their heavy machinery to dig out the ground, but they didn't have any luck. Even with the fence panels down, the center post wouldn't come out and their machines wouldn't fit.

The first step, which I don't have any pictures of, is to pour the colored concrete. We chose a reddish-orange to match the brick on the house. Next, they put a grey powder on top and used a rubber stamp to press the design it. We chose an ashlar brick pattern. It looks a little like slate too which we have on the front walkway. Next they let it set overnight and then come back and power wash it so that they grey only remains in the 'grout lines' and indents.

The grey powder unfortunately, is pretty messy, so I still have a few finger prints to wash off the back of the house!

The last step after power washing is to seal the color and cement. It really brings out the colors of the cement.

We can't wait to use it all summer!

Gathered Clutch

I saw this tutorial a few weeks back and I knew I wanted to try it. I've never attempted anything like this but the directions seemed to make sense. The hardest part of the project was finding interfacing in a Japanese craft store. I wondered around til I found something that looked about right. It turned out to work great! I've never used interfacing for a project so I wasn't sure how it worked, but for thinner fabrics, it is a must! I made the black and white one first so it has a few mistakes but the blue striped one turned out much better. Plus I used thinner fabrics which were MUCH easier to work with.

The longest part was cutting the fabrics to size, but the actual construction doesn't take very long. The first one took me about 4 hours from start to finish, but the second one, only about 2.

This picture makes me realize that my blue stripe is crooked. Oh well. I also put little pockets on the inside.

For never haven sewn anything this complicated- I'm pretty happy with it! I have a whole box full of old scraps from our pillows, roman blinds and curtains. I'm excited to make more!