The House on the Hill Blog

A long time ago, I played with the idea of naming my Friday post “The Weekender” but not too long after, a much more well known blog that I love started doing it and I didn’t want to look like I was copying them. But ya know what? It’s okay. It’s just a post title and I have very few readers and even fewer that read other home improvement blogs so I’m going to start using it. So here is my first Friday post in a while filled with random thoughts or things going on in our lives and it’s a long one!

You know what I love most about the One Room Challenge? It forces me to post every week. When it’s over I always slack on posting whether I finished my space or not. Spoiler alert: we didn’t finish our outdoor living space and now it’s too cold to use anyway so we’ll hold off until Spring. We’ve had a much rainier fall than normal and so even if we had finished we wouldn’t have been able to use it much. We did pour the last two pavers (and have left the forms on for over a week…whoops!) and Kyle made some progress on the arbor. We’re setting that project aside until warmer weather comes back in the Spring but we have plenty of stuff inside to focus on.

OG is 11 months old as of today and I just am not emotionally ready for the 1st birthday. I’ve already been planning and ordering decorations but it’s starting to feel too real now. This year has absolutely flown by and it’s so bittersweet. I love watching her grow and change but I already miss some of those newborn and young infant characteristics.

Here’s a little sneak peak of the direction her party is going – yes, that is a pink sequin table cloth. I have also ordered approximately 1,204,813,057,395,372 balloons and I’ve cleared the Target Dollar Spot of all of their rose gold bottle brush trees every time they’ve stocked them so we’ll see what I end up doing with all of those.

Since we are hosting her (or more honestly, our) party at our house, there are some things downstairs we need to at least temporarily take care of. You might remember that a while back I talked about taking up some of the tile between the kitchen and foyer. Well, I took the tile up but we haven’t touched it since which means we currently have 3 layers of flooring exposed.

Our weekends in December are already busy so we won’t be able to completely fix it before the party but we are going to temporarily lay down some flooring just to cover the gap. We also need to put a bullnose flooring piece down where you step down into the front room from the foyer and we need to finish painting at least the dining room and if we have time, the family room. We’re also missing loads of trim but since we need to flip the flooring around downstairs it doesn’t make much sense to install baseboards and door trim just to take it all back out a week later to finish the floors so we’ll just need to make sure no nails or staples are sticking out since there will be kids running around.

Can you guys believe there are less than 3 weeks until Christmas?! I usually have my shopping done by now but I still have a few things left to buy and one present to go pick up. Luckily the ones left to buy are all gift cards but half of them will need to be mailed and we need to ship some of the other gifts. Ahhhh. We’ve been slowly decorating and have the inside pretty much taken care of but all we have outside is a tree and a polar bear on our porch. There are still pumpkins in our front yard that need to be moved and we at least need to set up our cheater lights that project onto the house.

A few years ago vs. this year:

I think 2019 is going to be a major budget year for us as far as house projects go but once I have a list of what we’re thinking about tackling I’ll be sure to share it here. I also need to take a look back at what we had hoped to get done this year and compare it to what we actually got done. My guess is we didn’t check off most of the list but we already knew that would be a major possibility so I’m not too bummed about it.

Happy weekend!

Reveal day is here! Yay!

Buuuuuut I don’t have a reveal for you. Boo!

Saturday I raked the area next to the walkway a bit more and started spreading gravel around the finished pavers, Kyle got the last two concrete forms set, and he leveled the two sides of the arbor to each other. OG was sick again over the weekend and then Sunday (aka the day we were going to pour the last two pavers and finish building the arbor) I woke up sick and Kyle hurt his back. I was able to spread a little more gravel but other than that Sunday was 100% unproductive.

Then of course this week we’ve been recovering and working at our actual jobs and it’s too dark after work to get anything done outside plus the weather has been uncooperative. I’m bummed we weren’t able to finish our space but it should just take us one more good weekend of work and then hopefully we’ll still have time to enjoy it before it gets too cold!

While I don’t have a full on reveal, I do have some before and “in progress” photos that show how far both spaces have come.

Let’s start with the walkway. Here’s what it looked like before:

And here’s what it looks like now!

We cleared all the junk, tackled some DIY 4×4 concrete pavers (first time ever working with concrete), and started filling in around the pavers with gravel. We are still planning on doing some planters along the walkway and hanging cafe lights but we need to do a bunch of leveling work to the right of the pavers first and we’ll likely also build a small retaining wall. We should be able to completely finish off the pavers on Saturday and then after they cure a couple of days we can pop the forms off and finish spreading the gravel.

We also decided that instead of figuring out how to route the downspout away from the house, we’re going to get a rain barrel instead. We’ve talked about getting one for a while and now is a good time for us to do it instead of routing and burying a drain around the pavers. Originally we were going to keep our big green trash and yard bins here and build a privacy screen but I’m glad we decided to move those inside the garage instead.

Our pavers definitely aren’t perfect but I think they turned out pretty good considering it was our first time working with concrete. They still need a good cleaning but I’m really happy with how they turned out!

Of course now that we have this area starting to come together all we can think about is how great it would look next to white brick instead of our orange brick.

Now let’s take a look back at the patio. Before it was just dirt, weeds, junk, and dog poop.

We cleared all the crap (literally), spread a bunch of gravel, and built (part of) an arbor. Here’s what it looks like now-ish:

We can actually use it! Just imagine it with a finished arbor, cushions on the furniture, cafe lights, and no baby jail or stray adirondack chair, We’ve already sat out here once and it’ll be a great area to host people once it’s finished. Once I get the planters on the arbor trimmed out, I plan on grabbing some end of season mums to fill them in.

We just got Odessa’s baby swing yesterday which we’ll hang from the center supports of the arbor when it’s finished. Once the pressure treated lumber dries out we’ll be staining the arbor the same color as our fence.

We still need to hang our string lights and I want to build a table to go along the brick wall that we can use for drinks and s’mores for fire pit nights.

I wish I could have had a better post for you guys today but things happen! I’m still happy with the progress we made over the last 6 weeks and I’m excited to get everything finished.

Make sure you go check out all of the other (finished) spaces right here! And if you want to see our spaces actually finished be sure to check back in soon.

Holy smokes week five already?! And November at that. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I felt so confident about finishing on time and then last week when I was a little less sure? Well, I’m even less sure this week. Uh oh.

Even with my uncertainty about meeting the deadline, we did make some good progress this week! But we really only have 1 day to work this weekend (maybe 1.5) and we still have a lot to do. Here’s what we got done this week:

Started building the arbor.

Saturday we plopped OG in her baby jail outside and fed her puffs to keep her distracted while we put the planters together and started to build the arbor. It still has a ways to go but we’re planning on finishing it off Saturday morning. We just need to make the cuts for the tops pieces and get them bolted on and I need to trim out the planters and add ya know, plants. I won’t be able to stain it yet (at least the arbor pieces) because we used pressure treated lumber which needs to dry out for several weeks before finishing. Once the arbor is finished we can hang our lights!

Poured more pavers and started cleaning up the area around the walkway.

My mom came over on Sunday to help watch OG so that Kyle and I could both get some work done for a few hours. While Kyle built and leveled forms, I started to rake and pull weeds and monkey grass. The pavers are taking us a long time because we’re only able to mix 1-2 bags of concrete at a time and each paver takes 5+ bags of concrete. We did talk about renting a small concrete mixer but decided it wasn’t worth it. We wised up when we were on our last paver (for that day) and started mixing in an extra baby pool we had laying around which was a little better than our seen-better-days wheelbarrow. We were able to get 3 more pavers done for a total of 4 and we have 2 more to do. My hope is to get the two forms built and leveled Saturday at the very least and either pour and float the pavers that day or Sunday afternoon if we are able to.

I tried to intentionally leave more texture in these pavers but it was surprisingly difficult. I also may have had a duh moment and accidentally gotten some over spray from the hose on a somewhat freshly poured paver. Whoops. I’ll be popping the forms off later this afternoon if the rain holds off. I had planned on taking them off late Tuesday but they didn’t look quite set enough so I left them and then didn’t have time after work on Wednesday before trick or treating started.

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That’s really all we got done over the weekend but those were big items to check off or at least partially check off. The other biggest task is pressure washing but after realizing we were running out of time and with no clue how we’d be able to tackle the upper parts of our house we decided to hire this out. We have a guy coming today to take care of pressure washing and cleaning our gutters which means I’ll be able to mark it off the list. We probably also won’t be cleaning up the foliage around the walkway quite as much as I had wanted but that will be a good task to do later this Fall or early winter when everything has died off.

On another note, I started to play around with furniture placement on the patio and in the end I think the modular sofa we have and the adirondacks are just too much so we’re just going to store the adirondacks in the garage for now and use them somewhere else or just pull them out when we need extra seating. Bonus: this means I don’t have to stain them right now so I can take that off the list, too.

Here’s our updated to do list!

PATIO

Clean out junk
–Clear ground – pull weeds and small trees, move large stones, rake out area
-Dig out next to bricks to allow space for gravel
-Weed current brick walkway 
-Lay extra bricks to complete existing brick walkway
-Order gravel to have delivered
-Lay weed fabric
-Spread gravel
-Pressure wash siding and brick – Hired out and happening any minute now
–Build adirondack kits
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional 
-Build/stain outdoor console table (Planning on scrambling to do this next week before reveal day)
-Hang cafe lights (hopefully this weekend after we finish the arbor)
-Decorate/Style space
-Build arbor/baby swing stand – In Progress

WALKWAY

-Clear junk
-Rake out/remove existing mulch
-Remove weeds
-Remove monkey grass that has regrown – In Progress
-Transplant plum trees (not enough light in current location)
-Clean up/remove surrounding foliage – In Progress
-Pressure wash – Hired out and happening any minute now
-DIY large concrete pavers – In progress (2 left!)
-Hang cafe lights
-Fill in with gravel
-Build planters – In Progress

As always, make sure you check out what everyone else is up to right here.

Ah, the dreaded Week Four of the One Room Challenge. If you remember, last week I was feeling pretty good about the 6 week time line. This week, not so much.

As predicted, weren’t able to knock off much of anything from this week’s ambitious to-do list. Here’s what I had hoped to get done:

-Weed brick border
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional
-Build/stain adirondacks
-Start building planters/arbor
-Pour concrete pavers
-Build/stain privacy screen

The weather wasn’t great for exterior work for half of the weekend (we knew weather would be a factor when we chose to do an exterior “room” but it’s still a bummer) and we had a little gremlin in the form of a teething baby who needed to be on one of us at all times.

So here’s what we did get done: I weeded the brick border little by little throughout the week, I scrubbed the rust off of the sectional and got it sprayed with rust proof spray paint, both adirondack chairs are assembled (not stained), and both planters for the arbor are mostly put together-ish. We decided against the privacy screen for our trash and yard waste bins because we’d really rather they live in the garage anyway so we’re just going to have to clear a spot for them and that item can come off the to-do list. So I guess we actually got more done than I thought.

The big thing I wanted to get done was the concrete pavers but ultimately we were only able to get one done. We have never worked with concrete before and there’s definitely a learning curve. I had a lot of trouble getting a completely smooth surface which could be from my technique or I may have been working the wrong size float so instead the paver we finished is pretty textured with my float arcs but we kind of dig it so I’ll be intentionally creating texture on the tops of the other five (FIVE!) pavers. I’m not really sure what happened with the color but it could have been that I over worked it or there was too much water or both. Clearly not a professional job but I’m pretty pleased with it for our first concrete project ever other than setting fence and deck posts.

That’s really all I have today! It’s supposed to rain again part of this weekend but I’m hoping with my mom’s help wrangling the baby we’ll be able to get a lot done. Here’s my next overly ambitious to-do list for the coming week:

-Leaf blow patio area
-Stain adirondacks
-Build arbor
-Pour remaining pavers
-Hang cafe lights over patio
-Pressure wash siding and brick around patio and walkway
-Start building planters for walkway

It’s gotten cold early here so I’m a little nervous we may have missed patio season this year but holding out hope for warmer days ahead (but not too warm).

Here’s an updated to-do list for both spaces:

PATIO

Clean out junk
–Clear ground – pull weeds and small trees, move large stones, rake out area
-Dig out next to bricks to allow space for gravel
-Weed current brick walkway 
-Lay extra bricks to complete existing brick walkway
-Order gravel to have delivered
-Lay weed fabric
-Spread gravel
-Pressure wash siding and brick
–Build/Stain adirondack kits (purchased at Home Depot during End of Season clearance) – In Progress
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional 
-Build/stain outdoor console table (Not even started – potentially on the chopping block)
-Hang cafe lights
-Decorate/Style space
-Build arbor/baby swing stand – In Progress

WALKWAY

-Clear junk
-Rake out/remove existing mulch
-Remove weeds
-Remove monkey grass that has regrown
-Transplant plum trees (not enough light in current location)
-Clean up/remove surrounding foilage
-Pressure wash
-DIY large concrete pavers – In progress
-Hang cafe lights? (Might look nice to have some here, too)
-Fill in with gravel
-Build planters

Make sure you check out the other guest participants right here!

Week three and things are starting to take shape! We made lots of progress this weekend/week and I’m feeling pretty good about finishing in the 6 weeks this time.

PATIO

Friday our bulk gravel was delivered. The delivery driver dumped it in the driveway for us which was the most convenient place we could get it. For local readers, we used Southern Mulch and they were so nice to work with. Both the person who took my order over the phone and the delivery guy were so nice and helpful. 10/10 definitely recommend. Originally we had looked at buying bagged stone from Home Depot but we needed to cover almost 400sqft just for the patio area and it ended up being much cheaper to go the bulk route.

I was so excited when it got delivered but I also felt like the pile looked so much smaller than I thought it would and I kind of questioned if I had done my order right. Spoiler alert: I did. Kyle had to inch worm my car out of the garage Sunday to get around the pile so I’d be able to go to the office on Monday.

Saturday morning we were both able to get out and clear the patio area again. We’ve had a lot of rain and wind so there were a lot of leaves and limbs down that needed to be picked up and we had to dig next to a few of the bricks where the dirt had piled up again. We were able to rake everything out pretty quickly and cover the area with landscaping fabric to help keep weeds from coming up through the gravel.

And then OG woke up from her first <20 minute nap of the day (sick infants are fun!) and Kyle was on his own to load up and spread wheelbarrows full of gravel.

He was able to get the entire area spread and even moved the sectional, fire pit, and torches to the space just to see how everything was looking. I still need to scrape the rust off of the sectional frame and touch up with some rust proof spray paint which will probably happen this weekend. I might also spray a couple of coats of high heat black paint on the torches since they are a bit faded from the sun.

And in case you’ve forgotten the before (as if you could ever get this image out of your brain):

Anyway, the real trick over here has been trying to keep the dogs from using it as their pee pit. They have an entire yard to run around in and pee but they’ve been loving using the bathroom over here (another reason we wanted to put some rock down). We’re having mixed results right now and it’s like potty training puppies all over again.

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I was going to stain the adirondack kits that we picked up on end of season clearance at Home Depot and then build them this weekend but last minute I decided to order a sprayer to make my life so much easier. It should get here Friday so I’ll probably go ahead and build them this week and stain them this weekend.

I am already itching to sit around the fire pit and the weather is perfect for it! We might have to start sitting out there after OG goes to bed to enjoy it.

The next big project for this part of the yard is to build the baby swing arbor along the yard side of the patio. We’ve been wanting to get a swing for OG but there aren’t really any good branches for us to use because all of our trees are so tall and there aren’t many low branches. The arbor will be pretty simple and I plan on building it with planters on either side that we can plant seasonally. Here’s a very a professional sketch of what I’m thinking:

I actually started building the first planter yesterday but then I snapped my pilot bit in two places and gave up.

Here’s our updated to-do list for the patio:

-Clean out junk
–Clear ground – pull weeds and small trees, move large stones, rake out area
-Dig out next to bricks to allow space for gravel
-Weed current brick walkway – In Progress
-Lay extra bricks to complete existing brick walkway
-Order gravel to have delivered
-Lay weed fabric
-Spread gravel
-Pressure wash siding and brick
-Build/Stain adirondack kits (purchased at Home Depot during End of Season clearance) – In Progress
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional – In Progress
-Build/stain outdoor console table
-Hang cafe lights
-Finish existing privacy screen? (Decided against this)
-Decorate/Style space
-Build arbor/baby swing stand – In Progress

WALKWAY

We didn’t do much in the walkway area because the patio needed to be filled in first. Plus, Sunday was pretty chilly and dreary for the first half of the day. We are holding on filling the walkway with gravel because we need to pour our pavers first. Kyle was able to put together 2 of the 5 concrete forms from lumber we already had in our garage.

We are hoping to get the forms set in place and pour the pavers this weekend as long as the weather cooperates and once those have cured we can remove the forms and spread gravel. I’m hoping we have enough gravel left over to widen the walkway area so that my planters aren’t sitting on dirt but we’ll see.

Our to-do list remains unchanged for the walkway but we’re hoping to knock out several items this weekend and then I think the hardest parts will be over!

-Clear junk
-Rake out/remove existing mulch
-Remove weeds
-Remove monkey grass that has regrown
-Transplant plum trees (not enough light in current location)
-Clean up/remove surrounding foilage
-Pressure wash
-DIY large concrete pavers
-DIY concrete pad for trash/yard waste containers
-Build/Stain privacy screen for trash/yard waste containers
-Hang cafe lights? (Might look nice to have some here, too)
-Fill in with gravel
-Build planters

This is what I’m hoping to get done before next week’s post but I think it’s supposed to rain Saturday which is normally our big work day:

-Weed brick border
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional
-Build/stain adirondacks
-Start building planters/arbor
-Pour concrete pavers
-Build/stain privacy screen

Make sure you check out the rest of the guest participants right here!

Today is Thursday which means it’s Week Two of the One Room Challenge!

We did not get a lot done this week but we already knew that going in. We had a crazy weekend and I wasn’t even in town most of Sunday so the fact that anything got done is a miracle and it’s all thanks to Kyle’s parents. They came over on Sunday while I was gone to help watch OG and work on clearing out the walkway.

Here’s how the walkway looked prior to last weekend:

And here’s how it looked after Kyle and his dad cleared it out:

They were able to clear out the junk (which still needs to go to the dump), rake out the mulch, and transplant the two still living plum trees to an area on the other side of the house that gets more sun.

We still have a really long way to go but having both areas mostly cleared out gives us a blank slate and this weekend we should see huge progress assuming the weather cooperates! Our gravel is being delivered on Friday so our plan is to get started early Saturday laying weed fabric down in the patio area and then covering that with the gravel.

Oh and because we don’t have enough to do, I’ve already added at least 2 more projects to our list so I’m hoping I might be able to get to those too but I have a feeling moving loads of gravel to the backyard is going to take most of the weekend and all of our energy. I might have to start taking advantage of the little bit of evening I have after OG goes to bed but we’ll see.

Here’s our updated to-do list including the new projects:

Patio:
-Clean out junk
–Clear ground – pull weeds and small trees, move large stones, rake out area
-Dig out next to bricks to allow space for gravel
-Weed current brick walkway – In Progress
-Lay extra bricks to complete existing brick walkway
-Order gravel to have delivered
-Pressure wash siding and brick
-Build/Stain adirondack kits (purchased at Home Depot during End of Season clearance)
-Remove rust from outdoor sectional
-Build/stain outdoor console table
-Hang cafe lights
-Finish existing privacy screen? (Not sure on this one)
-Decorate/Style space
-Build arbor/baby swing stand – NEW!

Walkway
-Clear junk
-Rake out/remove existing mulch
-Remove weeds
-Remove monkey grass that has regrown
-Transplant plum trees (not enough light in current location)
-Clean up/remove surrounding foilage
-Pressure wash
-DIY large concrete pavers
-DIY concrete pad for trash/yard waste containers
-Build/Stain privacy screen for trash/yard waste containers
-Hang cafe lights? (Might look nice to have some here, too)
-Fill in with gravel
-Build planters – NEW!

This was a weird week. It felt really fast and really slow all at the same time. Part of me thinks “FINALLY the weekend” and another part of me thinks “Friday already?!”

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I said in my last Friday post that I was going to decorate for Fall this week but that hasn’t happened yet other than the 3 heirloom pumpkins sitting on the porch that I bought from Publix the other day. I think this heat and humidity is making me a curmudgeon about Fall even though I’m normally all over it. I’ve also been insanely busy at work for the last several months so when I’m at home I like to just not do much of anything.

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I also said I was hoping to get a post up about our bedroom but I didn’t do that either. Next week, I promise! I want to make sure I have pictures but our room (and entire house) is a disaster zone. Yes, I realize this has never stopped me before but ya know the times they are a changing, I guess. There’s a to-do list down at the bottom of this post if you’re interested.

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Last weekend we went up to Autumn at Oz in Beech Mountain with friends. Kyle and I went up to Beech for the first time earlier this summer and fell in love. It’s a small ski town in North Carolina and something about it is super charming. The views are incredible and the weather has been gorgeous both times we went. The airbnb we stayed in this time could have been better – there were a few issues we either didn’t pay enough attention to in the listing (our fault) or weren’t made aware of (host’s fault). We’re thinking about making it an annual thing although next year I think we want to check out nearby Banner Elk which also looks cute. If you follow me on Instagram (or if you check out my sidebar here) you got to see a couple of snaps from our visit to the Yellow Brick Road at the Land of Oz.

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I am 6 weeks away from my 10k and have been slacking super hard on training. I need to get off my butt and get back to running. Right now I’m maxed out on 3 miles and I haven’t gone on a run in a week or two.

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We’re also just a few weeks out from the Fall One Room Challenge and we have officially decided on our space which means I really, really need to finish up our bedroom. Off the top of my head here is what needs to get done:

• Move sconces
• Move rug from foyer
• Finish closet tv nook
• Paint doors
• Touch up paint walls
• Hang art
• Move over-sized mirror out of room (it just doesn’t fit now that we’ve moved the bed)

It’s really not a long list it’s just buckling down and getting it done!

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Hope you all enjoy your weekend and stay safe if you’re in Florence’s path!

I feel like I should come up with a clever title for these posts but my brain is basically mush these days so for now “Friday” stays.

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We’ve got exciting weekend plans but I’m not going to go into those until next week. I’m sure you’ll all be on the edge of your seats until my next post, right?

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We rearranged our master bedroom last week to try to see if that sparked any desire or motivation to get the room done and while we still have a lot to do (and we’ve even added a project or two to our list), I definitely think the new furniture layout feels better. I didn’t think it made any sense when I thought about it but now that we’ve lived with it for almost a week it definitely feels more natural. Hoping to have a progress post on that next week!

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I can’t believe we’re already a week into September! OG is 8 months today and we should be right around the corner from the Fall One Room Challenge. I have a space in mind for this year but it’s a space I kind of want to have done before the challenge even starts so I don’t know, we’ll just have to see what happens! If we don’t finish the bedroom soon we won’t have time to work on it until the challenge anyway so it might be a moot (moo?) point.

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Football is back which means our Sundays are pretty much all planned out for the next several months. It also means fantasy football has started back up and I cut down to two leagues this year so we’ll see how well I do at managing them.

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I’m going to start decorating for Fall around the house next week and I’m so excited! I normally start September 1st (I know Fall starts on the 22nd but whatever) but I just haven’t had a chance or the energy. Just a few more weeks until we pull out the Halloween decorations!

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Hope you guys have a great weekend!