Modern Options for Bathroom Tiles

You might think you know all there is to know about bathroom tiles. But a little research when you’re working on a bathroom remodel reveals rather quickly that there’s a lot to learn. Even those of us with a knack for interior design find new brands to love, new styles to admire, and unique backsplashes to explore all the time!

Today, you have more options than ever before for adding tile to your bathroom remodel. Whether it’s a mosaic on the wall behind the sink and toilet, a set of tiles lining the shower wall, or floor tiles that keep family members safe, we have a bit of information about the most prominent design feature of many bathrooms. For more information, call a local contractor to talk about your remodeling project.

Subway Tile for Walls

This is one of the most popular modern picks for a bathroom wall. Subway tiles gained prominence in prewar homes in urban settings, and they’re making a major comeback (if they ever really went away). This sleek rectangular bathroom and kitchen staple looks unassuming at first. White field tiles are placed side to side, with each layer underneath offset slightly from the previous one.

Typically, the tiles are slightly worn (usually on purpose) and give a rustic, original look to any bathroom. White or off-white subway tile may suffice on its own as a bathroom wall tile, though some homeowners opt to add in the occasional colored tile for a fun, creative twist.

Subway tiles in a recently-remodeled bathroom.

Mosaic Backsplashes

This is all the rage in bathrooms all across the country. Small mosaic tiles come together to form a unique customized pattern. Glass tiles, stone, or even metal may be used and a wide range of shapes and sizes are common. However, we’d venture to say that the most popular mosaic backsplashes are primarily positioned above sinks and on the upper part of showers. They use glass linear tiles of different shades of a similar color.

Shower and Bathroom Wall Tile

If you plan to use tiles on the shower wall, you can use it to make a statement. Black and white checkered tiles are a favorite for many homeowners looking for an enduring stylistic element. Glazed ceramic and porcelain are perhaps the best materials for an area taking on such a high volume of water. You may decide to make your shower wall stand out or blend it in with the tile covering the bathroom walls.

Practical Floor Tiles

Many people are most concerned about the practicality of their bathroom flooring. This is especially true if you have children, or if elderly relatives live in the home. Vinyl is certainly the top choice for this concern, and it’s easy to install. However, linoleum may be the better fit, as it is anti-bacterial, stain resistant, and easier to clean.

And practicality no longer means sacrificing style. Small glass tiles can be slip-resistant and still offer a depth and beauty you won’t find in other tiling options. Besides that, linoleum and vinyl flooring can now be installed in so many colors and shapes that the possibilities are endless.

For licensed and bonded contractors in Los Angeles, CA, call Advanced Builders & Contractors today!

Charlie Turns Six!

Finding an Extra Large Rug I Love… and Can Afford

Timeless Home Decor Trends – Is There Such a Thing?

Today, I’ve got a bit of an unusual post for this blog: a guest contributor!

Over the last 7 years of blogging, I have let maybe 3 or 4 contributors come and share something about themselves on the blog. And it’s not because there aren’t other amazing DIYers out there, or that I wouldn’t love to have a regular contributor or two sharing their cool DIY projects with you guys (I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so more on that later). It’s because working alone on this blog has always been a juggling act — planning and actually doing the projects on my to-do list, writing about them, editing photos, getting the behind-the-blog business to operate smoothly, maintaining the site, managing the finances of it, and of course, dealing with lots of emails — it’s minutes here and minutes there, and then there’s no more time in the day for new stuff (and duh, Charlie needs a walk or two).

And for those of you who aren’t familiar with the behind-the-scenes stuff with blogs, “guest post” requests are WAY TOO OFTEN nothing more than thinly veiled attempts for spamming you guys with marketing content. And since all of us are smarter than that, I got annoyed, frustrated at sorting through them, and just stopped taking guest post requests altogether. But here’s the not-so-fun-part of that: any blogger could easily tell you that my policy has solved nothing, because spammers love to follow up on emails no one wanted to even read the first time. My inbox still stays full, unless I pen a response somewhere along the lines of “to be 100% honest, I would rather eat rusty nails than publish this for you.”

But then, on a very rare day when just the right sunlight comes through the window and I’ve had enough coffee to not hate email, I will find a real post worth sharing. And this is one of those things. A reader-slash-interior-designer named Ruth Stolerman reached out about a recent project she did for a children’s bedroom. She does really fun, custom murals for her clients, and offered to share some of her secrets for a DIY tutorial, for no other reason than you guys might enjoy seeing how they’re made.

And, it got me thinking that I’d love to see more posts like this from readers who are proud of their work. So, I said yes. And she was super nice and sent me everything in a neat little package, and I managed to still get bogged down for months before getting it onto the blog. So I’m finally sharing it (with apologies to Ruth, of course). I hope you guys enjoy! *Affiliate links may be used in this post.*

———————-

An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural

I love painting murals for my clients – they’re great above a bed because lots of people worry about heavy artwork falling on them in their sleep. The key to a successful mural is planning. Before you get started, make sure you have a clear vision in your mind. Even if you would like to freestyle it, look at images that will help formulate an idea. I will walk you through a mural I just finished (see above) where we had a clear vision from the start. This mural is in a children’s bedroom and we decided I would paint a scene from the amazing Roald Dahl book, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

Materials Needed:

• pencil
• paint brushes of various sizes
• a water glass to clean your brushes
• a palette or makeshift palette (plate, etc.)
• a kitchen towel
• cling wrap
• acrylic paint

I like to use acrylic paints because they dry quickly and are water resistant. If you make a mistake before the paint has dried, you can dab it with a damp towel and completely remove the error.

If you’re nervous then I would recommend sketching your ideas on pieces of paper in the size you want, which you can then use as a 1:1 guide. I just dove straight in but I have done quite a lot of these!

When you have finished planning, start off by painting your wall in the color you would like it to be, using the paint brand of your choice. Alternatively, just work with the wall color you’ve got!

Let any paint dry and wipe down the wall thoroughly so that you have a clean surface. If you have to use a little water for this, make sure the walls are dry before you begin. Don’t forget to move any furniture out of your way, or cover anything you might drip paint on.

Now, using a light pencil, mark out the rough area you would like to paint within to make sure your drawing doesn’t get too large or small. If you have done sketches, stick them on the wall using masking tape in the position that you would like them to be in, to make sure you like the layout. Copy or trace them on to the wall.

If you are copying an image, have it in front of you and start drawing. I started this mural in the bottom left hand corner because I wanted to be sure the image sat just above the duvet. Keep stepping back from your drawing throughout to make sure your dimensions are correct and that you are filling the allocated space in the right proportions.

Once you have finished drawing, it’s time to get your paint ready. I like to put kitchen towel on my palette and wet it slightly with water. This means that the acrylic paint doesn’t dry out too quickly and if you want to keep painting the next day you can Clingfilm the palette and it will stay damp. I then work round the edge of the palette with paints, going from light to dark, leaving as much of the palette untouched as possible. This way you can mix colors below easily to get the perfect shade. Don’t have your paints too close to each other or they will inevitably get muddled together as you go. Try to use a good range of colors; I decided I wanted a bit of blue in my painting so instead of using black to make the grey areas, I mixed blue and a little brown with some white.

It’s time to paint! If your image suits an outline, paint it in your color of choice using a thin brush. I like to paint from left to right as I use the wall to steady my painting hand and this avoids smudging.

Now it’s just painting by numbers. Pick one color to start with, I like picking a light color here because if your brushes aren’t 100% clean when you switch colors, there is less contamination going from light to dark. Paint all the areas in your color of choice first.

For your second color, just move to the next darkest color and do the same as you go on. If there are small details in your painting, wait until the paint is dry and add these last.

Keep adding colors one by one until your image is complete. Good luck, and happy painting!

Before

After

———————-

Image credits: www.ruthstolerman.com

Thank you so, so much to Ruth for sharing her amazing work! And if you’d like to follow her, you can check out her work on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

P.S. If you’re a regular reader of this blog and want to show off your work, feel free to email me. I’m a sucker for a good before and after, and I’d be happy to share your story! (but if you spam me… see the rusty nail thing above…)

The post An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/

Today, I’ve got a bit of an unusual post for this blog: a guest contributor!

Over the last 7 years of blogging, I have let maybe 3 or 4 contributors come and share something about themselves on the blog. And it’s not because there aren’t other amazing DIYers out there, or that I wouldn’t love to have a regular contributor or two sharing their cool DIY projects with you guys (I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so more on that later). It’s because working alone on this blog has always been a juggling act — planning and actually doing the projects on my to-do list, writing about them, editing photos, getting the behind-the-blog business to operate smoothly, maintaining the site, managing the finances of it, and of course, dealing with lots of emails — it’s minutes here and minutes there, and then there’s no more time in the day for new stuff (and duh, Charlie needs a walk or two).

And for those of you who aren’t familiar with the behind-the-scenes stuff with blogs, “guest post” requests are WAY TOO OFTEN nothing more than thinly veiled attempts for spamming you guys with marketing content. And since all of us are smarter than that, I got annoyed, frustrated at sorting through them, and just stopped taking guest post requests altogether. But here’s the not-so-fun-part of that: any blogger could easily tell you that my policy has solved nothing, because spammers love to follow up on emails no one wanted to even read the first time. My inbox still stays full, unless I pen a response somewhere along the lines of “to be 100% honest, I would rather eat rusty nails than publish this for you.”

But then, on a very rare day when just the right sunlight comes through the window and I’ve had enough coffee to not hate email, I will find a real post worth sharing. And this is one of those things. A reader-slash-interior-designer named Ruth Stolerman reached out about a recent project she did for a children’s bedroom. She does really fun, custom murals for her clients, and offered to share some of her secrets for a DIY tutorial, for no other reason than you guys might enjoy seeing how they’re made.

And, it got me thinking that I’d love to see more posts like this from readers who are proud of their work. So, I said yes. And she was super nice and sent me everything in a neat little package, and I managed to still get bogged down for months before getting it onto the blog. So I’m finally sharing it (with apologies to Ruth, of course). I hope you guys enjoy! *Affiliate links may be used in this post.*

———————-

An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural

I love painting murals for my clients – they’re great above a bed because lots of people worry about heavy artwork falling on them in their sleep. The key to a successful mural is planning. Before you get started, make sure you have a clear vision in your mind. Even if you would like to freestyle it, look at images that will help formulate an idea. I will walk you through a mural I just finished (see above) where we had a clear vision from the start. This mural is in a children’s bedroom and we decided I would paint a scene from the amazing Roald Dahl book, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

Materials Needed:

• pencil
• paint brushes of various sizes
• a water glass to clean your brushes
• a palette or makeshift palette (plate, etc.)
• a kitchen towel
• cling wrap
• acrylic paint

I like to use acrylic paints because they dry quickly and are water resistant. If you make a mistake before the paint has dried, you can dab it with a damp towel and completely remove the error.

If you’re nervous then I would recommend sketching your ideas on pieces of paper in the size you want, which you can then use as a 1:1 guide. I just dove straight in but I have done quite a lot of these!

When you have finished planning, start off by painting your wall in the color you would like it to be, using the paint brand of your choice. Alternatively, just work with the wall color you’ve got!

Let any paint dry and wipe down the wall thoroughly so that you have a clean surface. If you have to use a little water for this, make sure the walls are dry before you begin. Don’t forget to move any furniture out of your way, or cover anything you might drip paint on.

Now, using a light pencil, mark out the rough area you would like to paint within to make sure your drawing doesn’t get too large or small. If you have done sketches, stick them on the wall using masking tape in the position that you would like them to be in, to make sure you like the layout. Copy or trace them on to the wall.

If you are copying an image, have it in front of you and start drawing. I started this mural in the bottom left hand corner because I wanted to be sure the image sat just above the duvet. Keep stepping back from your drawing throughout to make sure your dimensions are correct and that you are filling the allocated space in the right proportions.

Once you have finished drawing, it’s time to get your paint ready. I like to put kitchen towel on my palette and wet it slightly with water. This means that the acrylic paint doesn’t dry out too quickly and if you want to keep painting the next day you can Clingfilm the palette and it will stay damp. I then work round the edge of the palette with paints, going from light to dark, leaving as much of the palette untouched as possible. This way you can mix colors below easily to get the perfect shade. Don’t have your paints too close to each other or they will inevitably get muddled together as you go. Try to use a good range of colors; I decided I wanted a bit of blue in my painting so instead of using black to make the grey areas, I mixed blue and a little brown with some white.

It’s time to paint! If your image suits an outline, paint it in your color of choice using a thin brush. I like to paint from left to right as I use the wall to steady my painting hand and this avoids smudging.

Now it’s just painting by numbers. Pick one color to start with, I like picking a light color here because if your brushes aren’t 100% clean when you switch colors, there is less contamination going from light to dark. Paint all the areas in your color of choice first.

For your second color, just move to the next darkest color and do the same as you go on. If there are small details in your painting, wait until the paint is dry and add these last.

Keep adding colors one by one until your image is complete. Good luck, and happy painting!

Before

After

———————-

Image credits: www.ruthstolerman.com

Thank you so, so much to Ruth for sharing her amazing work! And if you’d like to follow her, you can check out her work on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

P.S. If you’re a regular reader of this blog and want to show off your work, feel free to email me. I’m a sucker for a good before and after, and I’d be happy to share your story! (but if you spam me… see the rusty nail thing above…)

The post An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/

So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials

I’ve got a quick DIY idea for you guys today: a garden trellis made from a repurposed wooden bed frame!

These photos aren’t taken at my house, but rather when I was visiting a friend. With so many outdoor gardening projects on my to-do list lately, I guess my brain is just wired to look for them (kind of like whenever I work on molding projects; I find myself staring at people’s ceilings and windows to brainstorm!).

I spotted this on the side of the house and asked to take a few quick pics. Honestly, I think it’s pretty clever. I like how it repurposes something that would have likely been heading for a landfill. Clearly these are just getting started, but can you imagine them covered in flowering clematis?

This trellis looked like it was made from parts of a twin-size bed, but I think children’s bed frames would also be a good choice. A simple coat of opaque deck stain (it matches their front porch and rear deck stain) ties it together nicely and protects from the elements (when doing anything that leans against your siding like this, waterproofing is a wise move).

I guess it just goes to prove that I need to take more strolls around my neighborhood (and crash my friends’ places more often, too). Have you ever spied a clever repurpose project while out & about?

P.S. Don’t forget, there’s still a giveaway going on this week. Click here for the latest on my backyard garden and enter with a comment on the post for the chance to score some freebies!

The post So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/

So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials

I’ve got a quick DIY idea for you guys today: a garden trellis made from a repurposed wooden bed frame!

These photos aren’t taken at my house, but rather when I was visiting a friend. With so many outdoor gardening projects on my to-do list lately, I guess my brain is just wired to look for them (kind of like whenever I work on molding projects; I find myself staring at people’s ceilings and windows to brainstorm!).

I spotted this on the side of the house and asked to take a few quick pics. Honestly, I think it’s pretty clever. I like how it repurposes something that would have likely been heading for a landfill. Clearly these are just getting started, but can you imagine them covered in flowering clematis?

This trellis looked like it was made from parts of a twin-size bed, but I think children’s bed frames would also be a good choice. A simple coat of opaque deck stain (it matches their front porch and rear deck stain) ties it together nicely and protects from the elements (when doing anything that leans against your siding like this, waterproofing is a wise move).

I guess it just goes to prove that I need to take more strolls around my neighborhood (and crash my friends’ places more often, too). Have you ever spied a clever repurpose project while out & about?

P.S. Don’t forget, there’s still a giveaway going on this week. Click here for the latest on my backyard garden and enter with a comment on the post for the chance to score some freebies!

The post So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/

Is a Room Addition Right for Your Property?

You’re not stuck with a smaller home forever. You may decide to move someday to get the space you’ve always dreamed of for you and your family. Or, you may go for a less expensive route. There’s nothing like home-sweet-home, but you can make your home even sweeter by making room for more.

Still, it’s a lot to think about. Should you invest in a new room addition now? Or should you save for a larger home later? We’ve got some information so that you can find out whether a new room addition is the best choice for your house.

Finances

We don’t want to underexaggerate the financial investment that goes into a new room addition. You will need to spend money, and you should plan for more than you may think originally. Often, things come up, and trouble with plumbing, electrical, or HVAC work can add to the cost.

Still, we don’t need to point out that it’s considerably cheaper than getting a new larger house. If your family is expanding or if you’re simply at a point financially where you can make these decisions, a room addition will be a better option, and you’ll get to keep the home you already love.

Value

You would not add a new room to a home just to raise the market value. You won’t exactly get a return on investment for this addition, so it’s not worth it if you’re planning to move very soon. However, it’s certainly going to add on to the value of your home, which will only mature with time. If you plan to sell your home in 5 years or more, you’ll get to spend that time enjoying your new room addition, and you’ll get more out of the resale value when you do choose to put your home on the market.

Time

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a new room of your home won’t be either. Planning alone can take several weeks. You’ll need to file for the right permits, hire your team, order supplies, and create a schedule and cost estimate so that the project stays on track. You can count on the job taking several months, or more, so be sure to plan for the time you’ll need. It’s possible you’ll need to make alternate accommodations for your family as well. In some cases, parents of young kids decide to wait until their children are older and can handle the change.

Other Options

Of course, a new room addition may not be your only option if you’re tired of the layout of your home. Perhaps it really is time for new home construction, or maybe you’d like to look into other neighborhoods. Of course, you can always focus on existing parts of the home for a remodel.

If it’s square footage you’re after, rather than an extra room, there may be a better way to add-on. A bump-out addition in a kitchen or bathroom, for example, can give you the space you need without such a major cost investment. Ask your contractor about the options you’re considering for more information.

Licensed and bonded Los Angeles contractors are here to help. Call Advanced Builders & Contractors today!

The Start of a Beautiful Before and After (+ Giveaway)

I’ve had a sad little corner of my back yard for too long. And, it’s time to fix it. I’ve already done a few improvements here and there, like replacing the front side of the chain link fence with a wooden one, but I’ve been working on a new corner garden lately, and I’m finally far enough along to share the first few glimpses with you this week!

It all started with a gift card. Like most DIY budgeters, I can really stretch a dollar when I need to, and an opportunity popped up for me to take care of this little nook thanks to a sponsor who just so happened to be a brand I’ve used in the yard before.

I love it when lucky coincidences like this happen, because it means that I get to do something I was pretty much going to do anyway, only I have an actual timeline that forces me to get my butt in gear as opposed to procrastinating indefinitely. Enter: Endless Summer® Hydrangeas.

If you’re a fan of the blog already, you might have seen me mention them before. I’ve had some of their Original variety in various parts of the house for several years now, and I absolutely love the color they add to both the front and back yard. If you’ve missed those posts where I show them off, here’s just a small sample of their gorgeousness:

*sponsored and affiliate links may be used in this post*

I could say that I get credit for any of that, but I really can’t. They’re just really easy plants for people who are bad at growing things (ahem, me) to build up their gardening confidence. I think my favorite part is that instead of blooming once, Endless Summer® varieties bloom over and over again, on both new growth and old (during the winter, the old stems on typical hydrangeas die off and you trim them back, but with these you can be super lazy like I am and let them be, because after August 1st don’t want to wind up cutting off the new buds that will come the next year). When they bloom and re-bloom through the fall, the color is absolutely stunning and totally different than how it looks in spring and summer:

With the new garden bed I wanted to plant, however, I was after a variety called BloomStruck®. From the images I’ve seen online, these bloom from pink to blue just like the ones I already have, but the color of the looks like they’ll be a deeper, moodier color.

I can’t wait to surround a petite blooming tree with these, with a spot in front for gravel and a small bench. In my head, I’m basically looking at this:

And thinking of a gorgeous little garden nook, with a small white-flowering tree, with just enough room to sit and read on a bench, surrounded by deep, purpley-pink flowers. Plus, as they bloom, they’ll make for excellent bouquets inside (especially when I mix them with their other variety counterparts).

When shopping at the local nursery (you can find a retailer here), I asked the clerk where I could find the BloomStruck® hydrangeas, but I probably didn’t even need to; this brand specifically puts all of their plants in a big blue pot, which is easy to spot when shopping around.

I loaded up a cart and headed for the checkout. To my surprise, they offered me a bag of ladybugs (yes, living ladybugs) to take with me and put in my new garden. Ha!

I loved the novelty of it, but promptly forgot about them*; it was time to plant!

*don’t worry, I later remembered.

With supplies filling the truck I borrowed, it took about a day and a half to get everything into the ground (and I’m still not done!). It’s not that planting them is all that difficult, but the prep and finish work: planning out an entirely new garden, making sure I’ve spaced things correctly, dealing with the frustration that is landscaping fabric, mulching, and cleaning up surrounding areas takes time.

I also want to cover over the chain link with fence panels (thus why you see them here), but with rain interrupting the project for the last few days, this is still on the to-do list. To be honest, one of the fence panels fell over and almost squashed all of the progress I’d made (thankfully the hydrangeas bounced back quickly), so I’m safely storing them away from the new garden until the shrubs have a chance to get established, and then I’ll go back in with the fence upgrade.

Planting the hydrangeas themselves was far easier; all I had to do was space them evenly, dig a hole (you can get planting soil if you’re starting a new bed, but the soil quality in my yard is pretty good on its own right now), and plop it in. I like to rub on the root ball a little to get it loose so that it takes to the new soil quickly, and then I put a little fertilizer on top once they’re in (Osmocote is my go-to for all of my plants, but I’ll talk more about color-changing fertilizer for hydrangeas in a future post).

For garden beds that I change up a lot, I don’t like to use landscaping fabric. It’s pricey per square foot and figuring out where the holes are each year is annoying, so I tend to use a thick layer of newspaper for beds like the mailbox and front garden because it breaks down over the season. But since I plan to let these BloomStruck® hydrangeas be the sole star of the corner garden, landscaping fabric is an excellent weed blocker to cover over all of the other areas (unfortunately, my back yard has weeds in abundance).

Next, I surrounded the new tree (it’s a tea olive, which is a shrub, but you can trim it to be like a tree as it grows bigger) with some leftover edging from another spot in the yard, and filled in the entire area with a thick layer of mulch. Good thing I did, too — the temps have been fluctuating a lot in the last couple of weeks because of rain, so the new beds have been kept very happy until I have a few more dry days to take next steps. But, as summer rolls on, I’m hopeful that this will be one stunning before and after!

One side of the house already has a few Original varieties in place, so I bought a few more with the gift card I was provided to help balance out both sides of the patio. Doing so will give a nice variety of color, even though they are the same plant (which is nice, because then it’s the same in terms of care).

As you can see from the growth on the biggest one that I planted a few years ago, they need lots of space to fan out as they mature. Even though they haven’t really taken up much time for me in the past, I really want all of the new ones to grow in as quickly as possible, so I’ll need to keep them fertilized in a timely manner (FYI, it turns out there’s a text program — text ENDLESSSUMMER to 73095 — that is designed to provide timely reminders to make sure I’m doing the upkeep correctly).

I’m not quite done yet, but this area is already looking incredible for spring! I’ll have more posts to share during the summer as I give this area more updates, and you can already see that I have some plans for the fence too. I honestly think this is going to be one of my favorite spots in the entire yard once it’s all finished.

And as you might have seen from the title of this post: there’s a giveaway for you, too! Here are all of the details:

Endless Summer® Bloomstruck Hydrangeas Giveaway!

• Prize: One (1) pair of Endless Summer branded gardening gloves and one (1) Picnic Time ‘Gardener’ 5-Piece Garden Tool Set With Tote And Folding Seat
• Number of winners: one
• Giveaway ends: Friday, May 19th at 11:59pm
• Geographical restrictions: U.S. only
• To enter:Leave a comment on this post answering the giveaway question below. Yes, you have to leave a comment. Or don’t, but if you don’t, you probably won’t win. I check them because I’d much rather reward a regular reader (usually giveaway jumpers don’t stop to leave a comment, so that seems to help your chances!).
• Please update the Rafflecopter widget to confirm you’ve left a comment. Winner will be chosen at random via the widget auto-generator.
• Giveaway question to answer (many of you know how this goes): Have you ever gotten a weird gift with purchase? What was it?

Ready, and… GO! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Endless Summer® Hydrangeas Social Channels:

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Pinterest

Youtube

The post The Start of a Beautiful Before and After (+ Giveaway) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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The Start of a Beautiful Before and After (+ Giveaway) published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/

Where the Green Grass Grows (Finally!)

Houston, we have grass!

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It’s been kind of a slow process, but thanks to some help from a cute guy I know (is it a thing that guys want to take on grass-growing projects or something?? My friends and I had a frank discussion about it the other day, and they were all chiming in with their husbands and SO’s about how the guys took on the grass-growing and fertilizing tasks), I have a lot more green growing in the yard. Well, thanks to him, an efficient timer, and the sprinkler system he set up.

Solid truth: if you’re a lazy grower like I am, you need to have something that waters the yard for you. New grass is a needy baby, and I am not a diligent enough DIYer to do this as often as needed.

You might recall that less than two months ago, it still largely looked like the giant dirt pile that it was when I first filled in the deeper spots and evened out the most difficult areas with a backhoe (click for parts 1, 2, and 3 of that saga). I hired some help for prepping the dirt and spreading new seed, but the results were very disappointing. There were lots of factors considered (Charlie, the weather, foot traffic, birds eating the seed, etc.), but it wasn’t until I started using a sprinkler system that I realized that I was probably the biggest contributor to its first failure.

In a recent storm, a piece of my neighbor’s fence (the one you see above and below) was uprooted from a dead tree, which pretty much created a giant hole directly on the other side of my fence line. After all of the work I’ve done on this yard, the last thing I want to happen is for it to be ruined through erosion that I can’t do much about (since it’s also not on my property where the water is draining). So, keeping the dirt in the yard via plant roots and a thick layer of grass became even more important. The first step was putting in the new hedge, but the other was growing grass asap. Basically: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… and put in a better watering system. It soon became very obvious where I’m getting too much water, and where the sprinkler is missing its target.

Granted, it may not completely prevent erosion long-term (and I have a dog), but doing everything I can now is for the best. Some of the new growth has been a quick-grow rye seed (that will eventually die off after a season or two), but it allows time for the fescue to grow in. For several weeks, I kept all dogs away and limited foot traffic to prevent undoing most of the progress, but I’m about to hit the first milestone: the first mowing. Woo hoo!

I’ll have many more seasons of applications, weeding, etc. before it’s a nice, thick lawn like my landscaper-neighbor has in his yard, but I’m one (much greener) step closer! And to be honest, I am really grateful that I got to keep my hands off of this project while I was busy working on the others (that I’m revealing in just a week or two… stay tuned!).

(P.S. My happy, furry blur-ball approves.)

What have you been working on lately?

The post Where the Green Grass Grows (Finally!) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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