Chihuly

Carrie, Ginny, Gina and I went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  It was really cool.  If you ever have the chance to see his work...GO!  This served two purposes:  one, to see the glass and two, to get some ideas on how to landscape our backyard.  Here are a few more pictures of my favorite parts of the show.  

                                                                    How cool is this...how would you like that hanging over

                                                                     your dinner table?  For a mere 4 million dollars :-)

The Backyard

Corey thought that we needed to perk up the backyard a little.  So here he is in the bobcat.  I swear all he did for weeks was move dirt from one side of the yard to the other, just so he could operate the bobcat.  But as you will soon see he really did have a purpose.  

I think that this picture says it all!  For a couple of weeks we lived with a barren wasteland as a back yard.  And a couple of days of heavy rain and we had a huge mud puddle (good thing it is not mosquito season).   But after a while I got used to the fact that I was going to have to live with it, but something happened...I came home from school one day and there was a wall (you will see the begins of that soon).  

Guest Bathroom

Okay, so I know most of you have seen the bathroom, but for those of you who have not...here it is!  I painted the walls a metallic purple and the vanity went from a hideous dark wood to a crisp white.  I actually really like this bathroom!

Man Land

This is Man Land. I am super impressed with Corey's carpentry skills. As he would say not bad for an electrician. I am sure that with football season upon us Corey, Dad and Uncle Tom will get a ton of use out of the bar. Why you ask because Corey hooked up a TV, cable, and a fridge.

Corey printed plans from the internet, bought an air compressor and built this the base in a weekend, not bad for an electrician. Uncle Tom came over and helped install the tile top.

Now the true test, November 22, 2008, Ohio State v. Michagan Game! We are planning on doing our housewarming party that day too. Everyone is invited and welcome, we will stock the bar and have a ton of food. Oh! I almost forgot, here is what the bar looks like now that it is almost done. Corey had to restain becasue the poly bubbled the first time. Corey is planning on hanging some lights and a fan...in time for the big game, I hope.

The Pond

I wanted to have a small water feature in the back near the patio and I got way more than a small fountain. The pond took weeks to complete, mostly becasue this is our (and by our I mean Corey's) second pond. Just in case anyone wants to build their own small water feature, I am posting insturctions...

Step One: Dig a gigantic hole in the ground.

Step 2: Fill hole with liner and rocks.

The liner was huge, but then again so was the hole.

Step 3: Add water and build a water fall. Looks good huh? We have added more plants both inside the pond and around...you'll see!

Step 4: Add fish. We have one Koi, who we call Master Koi and 10 goldfish. They started out small, but they have grown a lot!

One more project done...

This is the sitting portion of the patio. On the other side there is a bar (I'm working on that post today too) I stripped the paint off the floor, and Corey and I are going to stain the concrete. I will let you all know how that goes.

The Kitchen

Our first project was the kitchen. I don't have a before picture becasue I started working on it the day we moved in. I just couldn't live with dark wood cabinets and appliences that were older than Dad.

Corey and Andy took out the dishwasher, so that Mom and I could paint the cabinets.

I'm Sure you can see why I wanted to

get the kitchen done first...yuck, and you

haven't even seen the doors or the hardware!

With the appliences in, the cabinets & walls painted (Corey's paint choice)...Corey could finally put in some recessed lighting. With a little help from Saber of course.

Finally Done...with the kitchen anyway

Here is what the kitchen looks like today, we are really happy with the way it turned out.

The House on Hot Street

Here it is, the front of our house...it looks a bit like a jungle right now, but we are working on it.