HFM

Now that the failing concrete wall is gone, and the kitchen is as done as it can get until the weather warms up (the finishing touches involve paint & stain), we have turned our attention to the yard. A few weeks ago, we took some time to plan out the space -- roughly what will go where & when. We had planned to put in a brick path at the entrance to the yard today, but another rain storm has come in, so that's out. Only one thing to do: plan the vegetable garden! Now that we have the area along the wall to work with, we can expand from about 20 square feet to about 40. I'm spending the morning looking at seed packets and notes from previous years, trying to remember what did well in various parts of the yard, and researching dwarf lemon trees. First planting on March 4! In related news, even though I didn't officially plant anything last year, I had some random carrots come up in the carrot box. We ate them every now and then, but mostly we left them for Pickles --...

Over the past several weeks, I've been (slowly) building the final pieces of furniture we need to finish the kitchen. Everything is, of course, made from...wait for it...recycled materials from other projects. Dog stuff area: Table top and legs are materials from The Big Project, shelves are made from pieces of the original kitchen cabinets. Thing for towels and the dish drain: The top is a spare part from an Ikea cabinet, the bottom is one of the old kitchen cabinets (I'll paint it when the weather gets nicer). Silverware and utensil drawers: Chest of drawers is a nice piece of furniture AJ found on the sidewalk. I built the stand it's sitting on out of pieces of the original kitchen cabinets. Main cooking area: I built the table on the left from materials left over from The Big Project. The cutting board on top of the wheeled cart on the right was actually part of the original kitchen cabinets -- I just refinished it and attached a collar to make it sit snugly on top of t...