Radiators, Restoration and Garden Rehab

Its getting cold and its time to wear socks every time we go outdoors now and test out radiator life indoors. I love our radiators. It makes me happy turn the thermostat and hear them hum and hang my towel on one in the morning.

I started carving out the first of our garden beds this morning and have plans to ask our next door neighbor for the use of his chainsaw to remove the yews all across the front of the house. Am looking forward to the open look and all the possibility it allows. The gardens I made this morning are super cute and I have plans for a climbing rose on a trellis on the stone wall at the back, an arbor in another section of the yard, and am hoping to divide and transplant the peonies, irises and daylilies that we inherited with the house. I can't wait to see what color they all are. I will bet on pink for the peonies and my landscape designer friend things the daylilies  might be stella d'oro which would make me quite happy as they are a little more controllable and interesting than giant swaths of the orange variety.

"Before" of where I put the two new little beds. I love this doorway and can't wait to frame it beautifully.

Cutting and rolling up the sod to make it an open soil area for flowering plants!

Sod rolls

A kind of chopped off "After" shot...shows all of the small bed on the left and part of the bigger one on the right. They are both half moons against the stone. Climbing rose will go on the wall to the right.

Here's where I envision the arbor. Right in that gap between that pole on the ground and edge of the new bed. I think it will be a great entrance to the garden from the drive.

 

 

A view of some of the yews across the front of the house that will require a chainsaw.

Have chicken and baked potatoes in the oven and a table I trashpicked off a curb that I'm working on restoring. If only I had a magical stash of spray paint to pick through and use, I'd love to paint it and also the changing table I made and the days for painting large furniture outdoors are drawing to a close. Pretty soon paint won't dry well because it will be too cold.

Legs of my trash table

And the oh-so-separated at the moment top...trying to figure out how to put it back together.

Am stoked for a weekend as I have made a new plan, run errands on weekends and thus eliminate manic insanity on the days when I have the car during the week. It should help me keep the dashing around minimized during the week and help me actually get into some sort of a home routine again. As is we're either totally grounded and cozy-home or running our heads off with three quarters of us in tears by the time we run home panting at the end of the day and realize there aren't any dinner plans. Can't have that.