DIY Backyard Bench

I finished assembling my DIY turquoise bench in our backyard garden oasis this afternoon. I found the idea on Pinterest and watched videos on YouTube to guide me. Stacks of cinderblocks are glued together with construction adhesive and spray painted, before placing 4-by-4 wood planks through the openings. I added these two peacock pillows that…

Handy women at Friedman’s

With the help of a couple very handy women at our local hardware store, my outdoor home storage project is progressing nicely. I created a mini model and drew up my color-coded plans, which we used as a cutting guide. Camren and Stacy went above and beyond — helping me saw all NINE pipes into…

De-stressing in the garden

Today I planted Mama’s red Abutilon plant outside her window, along with several herbs and these pretty Petunias! It felt good to release stress through gardening and breathing fresh air. The colorful, covered patio (on the right) is outside our kitchen window. That’s an old laundry platform that we converted into a love seat. Mama and…

Executing my design

I designed a unique shade solution for our backyard oasis last year; and though it worked wonderfully, the stainless steel cable frayed and had to be replaced. I improved last year’s design by using slightly thicker cable, coated in vinyl. Also, rather than wrapping one long cable back and forth between the garage and shed,…

Evolution of a model

After consulting with my local hardware store manager on my project design, I made some changes to the outdoor storage rack I’m creating from PVC pipes. I drew my new design first, and then calculated the various lengths needed for my project. Tonight I constructed a new mini model, once again using plastic drinking straws,…

A mini model

I try to improve our backyard living space each spring/summer, learning from what worked and didn’t the previous year. February is when I begin my planning. This time around, I’m designing an outdoor storage unit out of inexpensive PVC pipes. I’m really enjoying this project because it reminds me of the fun I had with…

DIY custom planner stickers

I’ve been working on making my own custom stickers for my organizer ever since I fell back in love with sticker collecting recently. I wanted weekly stickers that would help me track my daily Vitamin B12 injections as well as my daily blog posts. I designed the stickers using Pages, but I was going to…