It’s NOT Thursday! It’s Friday. BUT … all morning I thought it was Thursday.
Which means its time for #SummerStory15 posts and pictures! I’ve loved scrolling through Instagram and seeing your simple summer moments that are creating your summer story.
But before we get started, I apologize for not announcing the winner of last week’s giveaway on Tuesday. Life is moving at a warping speed and this book deadline is sneaking up on me.
Book update … just crossed over the 35,000 word point! Whoo hoo! #celebrateeverystep
Somedays, somethings just have to give. And I know y’all would not want me to skip feeding my family or sleeping [I’d be SO mean, so mean …] to write a blog post or create a video. Thanks for your grace during this season!
But real quick, the winners are:
Becky from Little Loud Life!
Debbie Williams!
And … from Twitter: @sherritq, Sherri!
I’ll be in touch soon ladies. Thanks everyone for entering!
I thought today for my Summer Story ’15 post, I’d share a project that I feel like we have literally been working a year on. It’s the project that has seemed to never end but it’s made some MAJOR progress.
Our backyard!
When we first looked at buying the Fixer Upper Farm [last summer] I’ll never forget my parents face when we brought them out to see this property. Especially the back yard. They were a little disgusted by the sights AND smells back there.
I gave them the “visionary” tour but still … they were like oh.my.word.what.has.happened.to.our.daughter.
The pool had sat unused for, Lord knows how many years. It was all kinds of nasty. A family of frogs and snakes had taken up residence. Bugs were everywhere. And it was not a place I’d want to sit and take a breather.
Here’s the proof:
We fixed the pool right away, rebuilt the fence and had that building torn down. But the rest of the yard pretty much stayed put until December.
There were several reasons …
1. We didn’t really have the funds to redo the back yard. We needed to have the barn built and that was pretty costly.
2. I had NO idea what to do with this area.
But for Christmas we received some money for the Fixer Upper Farm so we decided to start this massive project. But we had a TINY budget guys … and so we had to be very resourceful.
We started with building the fence around the pool pump area. Trying to come up with something to cover up a pool pump is challenging. Goodness.
So, this was our solution.
Still ugly. So ugly … but progress.
In the spring we started to try and make some plans.
The orange, veranda-patio-whatever-you-want-to-call-it was such an eye sore. And it really doesn’t fit a “farm”. We had talked about painting it, but I wasn’t sure it would look right. We could not afford to put stone over it. And honestly, I just wanted to knock the thing down but Kris was less than thrilled about that idea.
So I searched and searched for ideas on what we could do but nothing seemed to fit.
Then one afternoon, the idea just came! Cover it with BRICKS.
And do we have some bricks out here! Good grief. I think there are thousands spread across the property. So we started to collect them and then began the slowest moving project we’ve ever done.
I really wasn’t sure we’d ever finish it.
But summer rolled in, the weather was nice and my husband had a little more time to work on it.
And then one day, we finally had an after:
It’s not perfect.
And I’m not even sure it’s really all the way done.
But it’s close. And it’s our favorite place to hang out at night.
And this entire project? Less than $500. That includes the lights, (thank you, Costco!) the letters on the fence, (thank you Hobby Lobby 50% off!) and the plants we got for 75% off at Lowes! We reused everything we could around the property … bricks, stones … wood.
We’ve got plans to build an outdoor brick fireplace, but that will come later … much later according to the husband. [wink]
Summer, I love you.
Alright, I can’t wait to read your posts about what’s been happening so far for your summer! Do you have any summer projects in the works?
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8 Comments
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Nicki ~ LOVE LOVE LOVE your writing, speaking, everything. You are a total inspiration to us!!! Thank you for following God’s plan for you, and allowing Him to use you to bless us!!
Thank you,
~Johanna
Nicki I love all you are doing at the farm. Wish I had a brain like yours to write, speak and decorate or could find a friend here in my area to help, but working on it. The pool area looks great. I was just out putting new pillows on the front porch and took some old ones off to see how they would look sitting on a bench by the pool. I’ll wait and ask my daughter and DIL. So excited to be announced a winner. I know just the spot for it. Thank you!
Although I don’t make it over here often, I do see your pictures and updates on FB and Instagram, especially those little piggies you had/have! Thought I’d join in on your summer project this time since I did complete a huge project in my backyard! Blessings to you Nicki!! Cindy xoxo
Wow, love seeing this transformation! I am so not good at that kind of thing so love seeing what others can do with a good space! Love the party light over your patio area! 🙂
Eeek!! I’m so thrilled that I was a winner! How fun — thank you. 🙂 Your backyard is just dreamy….I love it, and seeing pics of the transformation was so neat. What a beautiful vision you brought to life.
We didn’t buy a fixer upper farm, but in 2013 we did buy a home with a pool in need of much work. The house needs work as well, but that’s a comment for another day. This pool also suffered from having been untended for an unknown period of time. It had been covered, but the cover was in the pool in some places. We uncovered it to find the water a dark army green in color. It was made swimmable for our first summer with it, and covered properly at the end of the season so last summer its opening was a breeze. This is the year of real work. It started with having the coping and tiles replaced, and the pool itself recoated. Then the real work began with the removal of the concrete pool deck, to be replaced by hunks of random granite, and a diving area of huge pieces of granite surround by palm trees. The pool deck area will eventually flow to a raised patio along the back of the house. That project began today, and may continue through the summer. But when it’s all done we’ll have a tropical oasis right outside our back door. And hubby will have some new skills, too!
BEAUTIFUL!!! Thank you for sharing.
Great transformation! Well done!!
Before and after photos are always encouraging to see where you’ve come from.
Looks like alot of work, which i’m sure had it’s frustrations at times.
The flowers and pots are a beautiful touch. Love the red geranium too 🙂 (or is it pelargonium?…)
The Lord bless and keep you all.
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