Dane and I feel like we can finally call ourselves homeowners now, because we just successfully tackled our first DIY project! As I mentioned last week, part of our fence blew down in a big wind storm a few weeks ago and the whole section needed to be replaced. Having never done anything like this before, we’re pretty proud of our handiwork… so come take a look!
I hadn’t originally intended to blog about this little project, so I don’t have any before pictures, unfortunately. But what you can kind of see from this photo is that the original fence stuck out quite a bit further than where we placed our new fence. The previous owners had carved out this area as a place to store their ATVs. Since we don’t own an ATV – and we honestly never cared for this random patch of bare dirt along the side of our house – we decided to build the new fence back a bit further and flush with the rest of the existing fence. Part of this section of dirt will get turned into a flower bed and then the rest filled in with grass.
Here’s the front! We’ll paint this to match the rest of the fence soon.
And here’s the back! This is the view from our deck. I really enjoy the look of the wood, and this section is kind of sectioned off from the rest of the yard, so I don’t think I’ll paint this side.
We were feeling pretty motivated by the time we got done with the fence, so we decided to go ahead and finish off the remaining random dirt patch that same day! It’s kind of hard to see here but there is a small, short section of deck to the left of this area. There is also a small piece of fence on that side, which sections this area off from the rest of the yard. (The previous owners had kept a hot tub here… but rather than finishing off the area they simply sat it on cinder blocks right in the dirt. Weird, right?) Since we’ll most likely never own a hot tub, we thought this would make a perfect area for a grill pit! That way the grill master still gets to hang out with everyone but the grills don’t take up space on the deck.
We’d initially planned to use paving stones, but after exploring all of our options we decided to go with these rubber mats instead. They’re made from recycled tires – which makes my Earth-loving side feel good – and they should be much nicer to stand on while I’m cooking than concrete or stone. Plus they were super easy to install… they literally just clip together.
Now, to be honest with you, I was a little apprehensive about posting about our little projects. We’d posted a couple of these pictures on Facebook, and some of our friends had some pretty rude things to say. Look, we know it’s not perfect. In fact, we probably notice all the little imperfections more than any of you do. Yeah, the fence is a little uneven in spots. So the ground under our patio isn’t perfectly level. So what? We’re not professionals here. And for our first DIY projects, I don’t think they turned out that bad.
So that’s that! This is just the beginning of the home-improvement trail, so I’m sure I’ll have many more projects to share in the future. Until next time…
the little cupcake that could 