The Lawless Barb

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I made this!

I had a really ugly septic tank to cover up. A septic tank is one of those very necessary things you must have on an acreage and they ulimately get placed in the worst possible spots. Last year i found something to cover them up. It was a fake rock that just sits over top of the tank! Perfect solution, BUT they were about $600! So I thought, I could make that.

Well, long story short it cost me about $300 to make because I kept running out of expandable foam (at $10 a can) and it quickly added up. I could probably decrease that cost by buying the foam in bulk next time (I didn't know you could buy it in bulk the first time otherwise i probably would have done that, but who knew how much foam it would take to cover a rock this size).

I'm going to make another one for the back yard maybe this winter. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the progress on my first one, so I will take pictures of the next one. It's kinda like paper mache only on a bigger scale. Basically, you need chicken wire to create the shape of the rock, burlap to go on top, then expandable foam, then tile grout, then paint and varathane.

Here's the before picture of the septic tank.

Viola! Much better.

Here's a close up...

Monday, September 28, 2009

Hannah & Emerson swimming in the new POOL!

We can't believe how quickly the kids have become little swimmers only after a few times using the pool. They weren't doing any of this before we started using the pool a few weeks ago. BTW, excuse Emmy's bare butt...she refused to put her bottoms on. Hopefully this won't continue into her adulthood.

Our Home

Clayton, as requested, some pictures of our house. Good luck with your building project!! Some day I'll get you some pictures of the basement.

Exterior:

Update on the pool project. What's left...finishing the outside and inside of pool house. Installing our black iron fence in place of the ugly temporary chain link fence. Building a pergola & fireplace. Constructing raised garden beds to go behind the pool house. Transplant some evergreens. Mulch. Then done.

Now for the inside. Lately my interior decorating is suffering. Just too much to do with 3 little kidlets!

Master bedroom:

Laundry Room:

Friday, September 4, 2009

What colour would you paint or stain this door?

I am getting a new door for our house. There's nothing wrong with the one I have. It's just I've always wanted a craftsman and when we built this house, there was not a craftsman to be found in this town unless I wanted to spend lotsa bucks. I could've gotten a wood one cheaper, but that has no R value. Low and behold, I found a fibreglass door through All Weather Windows AND it's a craftsman with tonnes of R value and a reasonable sticker price. I'm so excited to have found it!

My dilemma is what colour to paint it or stain it?

I think it should be stained either dark mahogany or painted black OR white. I just can't decide. What do you think would look better with the house? Keeping in mind most of the house is grey and white, but I have black accents (mail box, planters, light pole).

AND lastly, on the inside, all of our interior doors are black. So, then should I paint the inside of the door black if i paint the outside white? Help!!

This is my current front door which is stained.

You don't see the front door from the road until you drive right up to the porch. That little mandoor beside the garages is also getting replaced, but not with a craftsman. Unfortunately, this door I found only comes in a 36" and I only have a 32" opening on that door. So, I've found something else for that door. I'm bummed that I couldn't match the two doors. It will be a full lite door with the identical glass as the craftsman.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Here is the before...

Trees came out...but we will plant more!

Pool came in

Hopefully, by mid September all this construction will be a blur and we will have a pool! And as usual, it has been a bigger project than anticipated.