The view from my window

This is a story that reminds me of one of Joseph's favorite picture books . . .If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  Once the mouse gets a cookie, then he will want some milk to go with it, and then he will want . . . and it goes on and on. That's how home projects are.  They start with one thing, and then snowball into more projects.  This is the story of our backyard renovation over the past year.

It all began with the view from my kitchen window.

No, let me back up further.  It all began with the blinds on the windows in the family room and kitchen.  There are a lot of pretty big windows in those rooms, and when we bought this house they were covered by heavy faux wood blinds.  I don't mind faux wood blinds, but I always thought I would love to remove them and install shades which could be raised up easily to let in more light (especially during the dark and rainy winter months).  I thought that it would be great to bring in the outside more so we could enjoy the green Pacific Northwest outside our windows.

Not surprisingly, I can't find any pictures showing the entire windows with the blinds, but here are some peekaboo shots that give you an idea about what the windows with the wood blinds looked like.

Here are Mom and Dad helping the cook Thanksgiving Dinner in 2010.  And a picture that Bailey is going to be really thrilled that I found and posted. Notice that you can't really see much outside the kitchen windows.

 The windows in the family room are really long - floor to ceiling.

 And then there's three windows in the eating area.

So, in the summer of 2011 I priced out, saved for, and finally purchased new textured blinds which can be pulled all the way up if we want.  And I like the look of them when they are down, too.

So, I loved the new blinds and was really enjoying my new view of the back yard UNTIL . . .

I was really bugged by the fact that now what I could see outside my kitchen window (where I spend far too long every day doing dishes) was an ugly utility shed.

So, the new blinds led to . . . . moving the shed to a far flung spot in the yard, where it is very happy and out of my view.

Then, since I could out my windows so well, I noticed that there was an opportunity to add something pretty to the view outside the kitchen window.  And, I realized that we needed to do something about the dilapidated stacked stone wall that spanned much of the back yard.  It had built built by a former homeowner and was literally leaning over and falling apart.  It just wasn't restful to look out the window at this sad sight.

 

 

So, that was the next project, to rebuild and redesign the rock wall.  Here are some before and after shots:

The falling down rock wall before

 and after:

The spot where the shed used to be, right outside the kitchen window.  Before:

And after:
 
 
This was our small garden box, next to the falling down stone wall.

And this is the after shot, before we planted the garden.  When we rebuilt the wall we wrapped it around to include and expand the garden area. We added lots more dirt to the beds and put in drip irrigation and micro-sprayer sprinklers throughout the beds.

 We put two large trellises on the left side of the garden area and planted clematis vines, which will be visible outside the kitchen windows:

In the garden area we planted a large number of raspberry plants, which grew beautifully this summer and provided us with lots of delicious home grown raspberries!  And we got lots of tomatoes as well. But, not one of our zucchini plants grew. How is that possible . . . how can someone not grow zucchini??  I have no idea.  I've done everything I can think to do, but zucchini just will not grow for me here in the Pacific NW.

We left an open spot in the rock wall for a future water feature, but now we are rethinking this idea.  We're deciding that water features are expensive and a pain to maintain.  So, we're not sure what to do with that open spot in the wall.  Midway through the summer we put a big flower pot in the open area, and that worked for this year.

  We widened that planting bed below and added some perennials and annuals.

 
And, our backyard has been much more enjoyable.  For playing:

and hosting parties:

 And now this is the view outside my kitchen window:

I love it!

I would like to say that we are all done with projects, but that's just not the case.  We have some unfinished projects outside, including possibly ripping out the deck and creating a stamped concrete patio area.  And, inside the house I want to refinish the cabinets (darker), repaint the walls a little lighter, and sew some new (redder) curtains for the family room.  But, don't tell Dan. He thinks we're all done with projects (hee hee).