Show us your summer home improvement projects!

[soxfan]

I love summer. I love gardening, landscaping, and making my house look better! Right now we are working on putting in a goldfish pond. I am working on rockscaping today, the waterfall will go in on Saturday and plants next week!!!

 

[tyty333]

Wow Soxfan...you have all the good stuff at your house! Fish, chickens, pool...if I was still a kid I would want to hang out at your place!

 

[soxfan]

Wow Soxfan...you have all the good stuff at your house! Fish, chickens, pool...if I was still a kid I would want to hang out at your place!

Awww thanks! I have a trampoline and zip line too. Come on over!

 

[redwood66]

Awhile back on the backsplash thread I posted a pic of what I was going to do with my kitchen cabinets. Good Lord painting them is a long and arduous process for sure and I am only about 1/3rd done.
This is the beginning of our kitchen remodel as we have only gotten the solid surface countertops done. Not as fancy as some people's kitchens but I am working on at least making it look pretty.

Old pic with the burgundy/cherry color stain. Yuck and yuck.


The cabinets that are finally almost finished. Still have to do the kickplate.

 

[redwood66]

Exciting to have a pond @soxfan!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@soxfan, I want to come live at your house! Your pond will be beautiful.

@redwood66, cabinet painting is a huge PIA but yours look great and I love your floors as well.

 

[tyty333]

Your cabinets are turning out beautiful redwood!

 

[redwood66]

Thank you!

[USER=62411]@redwood66, cabinet painting is a huge PIA but yours look great and I love your floors as well.[/USER]

[QUOTE="tyty333, post: 4333589, member: 35700"]Your cabinets are turning out beautiful redwood![/QUOTE]

 

[TooPatient]

Summer projects are still in the deciding and sequencing phase. Our to do list is way too huge to tackle in the one summer. (Plus I seem to have volunteered to do a patio for my grandparents thinking they wanted garden blocks only to find they decided a cement slab is better.)

So far:

Done:
All new interior doors
Spice rack installed
New gate

Must be done:
Two trees are being removed
Three trees are being pruned
Gutter/roof/window cleaning
Strip and paint (at minimum) one side of house
Replace lower deck
Replace several boards on upper deck (minimum)
Replace two outdoor faucets
Install new water heater (needs new electric circuit)
Build retaining wall in front of house
Seal the new doors
Remove old wood bordering yard (do garden blocks)
Replace thermostat for house systems
Seal decks
Seal fence

Should be done:
Dig out broken sprinkler system and replace
Extend sprinkler system to side yard
Install drip irrigation through selected gardens
Add topsoil to replace yard (see retaining wall...)
New grass in front (where sprinkler system is)
New planking on front porch
New electrical wiring in garage

As we get to it (some in progress already):
Replace remaining door hardware with new style
Build garden box
Add shelves to spare bedroom (library) closet
Empty hall closet, add shelves (new pantry)
Chimney inspection
Replace closet doors

 

[Dancing Fire]

I love summer. I love gardening, landscaping, and making my house look better! Right now we are working on putting in a goldfish pond. I am working on rockscaping today, the waterfall will go in on Saturday and plants next week!!!

Very nice SF!...my pond is bigger than your pond!...

 

[TooPatient]

Forgive the mess! We really are rearranging everything. Surrounded by clutter as we go through everything.

 

[soxfan]

That looks so much better Redwood! What are your countertops? I love them!

Awhile back on the backsplash thread I posted a pic of what I was going to do with my kitchen cabinets. Good Lord painting them is a long and arduous process for sure and I am only about 1/3rd done.
This is the beginning of our kitchen remodel as we have only gotten the solid surface countertops done. Not as fancy as some people's kitchens but I am working on at least making it look pretty.

Old pic with the burgundy/cherry color stain. Yuck and yuck.


The cabinets that are finally almost finished. Still have to do the kickplate.

 

[soxfan]

Summer projects are still in the deciding and sequencing phase. Our to do list is way too huge to tackle in the one summer. (Plus I seem to have volunteered to do a patio for my grandparents thinking they wanted garden blocks only to find they decided a cement slab is better.)

So far:

Done:
All new interior doors
Spice rack installed
New gate

Must be done:
Two trees are being removed
Three trees are being pruned
Gutter/roof/window cleaning
Strip and paint (at minimum) one side of house
Replace lower deck
Replace several boards on upper deck (minimum)
Replace two outdoor faucets
Install new water heater (needs new electric circuit)
Build retaining wall in front of house
Seal the new doors
Remove old wood bordering yard (do garden blocks)
Replace thermostat for house systems
Seal decks
Seal fence

Should be done:
Dig out broken sprinkler system and replace
Extend sprinkler system to side yard
Install drip irrigation through selected gardens
Add topsoil to replace yard (see retaining wall...)
New grass in front (where sprinkler system is)
New planking on front porch
New electrical wiring in garage

As we get to it (some in progress already):
Replace remaining door hardware with new style
Build garden box
Add shelves to spare bedroom (library) closet
Empty hall closet, add shelves (new pantry)
Chimney inspection
Replace closet doors

That sounds like us a few years ago! We still have a master bedroom and bath to gut I feel like it never ends!

 

[soxfan]

Very nice SF!...my pond is bigger than your pond!...

More pics please!!!! I want to see the whole set up!

 

[redwood66]

That looks so much better Redwood! What are your countertops? I love them!

Thank you! They are Corian.

Deciding to paint our stained cabinets was a huge decision because once you start there is no turning back. I had to make sure I was going to love it so I tested it on the end of a section because I could always put beadboard over it and do something else.

 

[tyty333]

Very nice DF! How many koi do you have? Do they have names?

 

[lyra]

Maybe I'll get our "new" hardwood floors done? The wood has been acclimating for 5 years. Too soon? Having the second half (uppers) of the kitchen cabinets painted might be hoping for too much though. And let's not even mention re-tiling the kitchen floors/backsplash. It's kind of depressing when I look at the list.

 

[soxfan]

Bought and planted the pond plants today! I will finish rockscaping and placing plants tomorrow. DH got the waterfall up and running too. Should be adding fish any day....

 

[TooPatient]

Bought and planted the pond plants today! I will finish rockscaping and placing plants tomorrow. DH got the waterfall up and running too. Should be adding fish any day....

Beautiful!!! What a lovely yard. I can imagine sitting out there for hours.

 

[elizabethess]

Bought and planted the pond plants today! I will finish rockscaping and placing plants tomorrow. DH got the waterfall up and running too. Should be adding fish any day....

Looking good! I'm not sure if you do Netflix at all, but your lovely fish pond is reminding me of a British show I recently binged: Big Dreams Small Spaces. Very inspirational lovely 'gardens'! Though I don't believe you have a small space like the British homeowners

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I will post pics when we are done. Enclosing one acre with wood privacy fencing. What. A. Job. Adding wildlife friendly shrubs and dwarf trees. New kitchen counter and window replacement.

 

[DAF]

Love both ponds. DF, yours is TDF! Sooooo roomy, those koi are in heaven.

 

[Matata]

Master bath reno.

 

[Tekate]

@Matata what are you guys doing (other than what I can see).. the whole shebang? are you taking out a jacuzzi style tub (I ask because I am going to renovate my bathroom next year with help from the stock market I Hope)!

I have to follow this reno, reno's are sooo cool after they are done!

 

[Matata]

what are you guys doing (other than what I can see).. the whole shebang? are you taking out a jacuzzi style tub

Total gut job. Jacuzzi tub gone. New everything. Custom made floating vanity with appliance garage and electrical outlets on the inside to keep everything tidy. I'll start a thread when things get farther along. At this point they're framing in the new shower -- had to pour concrete footings and add new floor beams to hold up what will be granite clad walls and the plumber is installing new everything.

Before pics

 

[Matata]

Demo pics

This pic shows the new shower wall. On the side facing out will be a towel warmer.

 

[Tekate]

@Matata big job! thank you for replying! I would love to gut my bathroom but i just spent mucho biggo ridiculouso money on the kitchen the bathroom won't be as big a deal.. May I ask, was the demo REALLY expensive.. I ask because the decorator said it would be really really expensive to pull out.. I have a shower and tub like you so I'd like to just put in a sleek bath tub, one of the bathrooms here already has a bath tub so I would like to take out the tub, but then tere would be that fairly large space with nothing in it... you are moving along I look forward to watching your redo! it's exciting! thank you again!

 

[redwood66]

Oh my gosh how exciting @Matata! You have a huge room to work with now that all the walls and tub are down and out.

 

[Dancing Fire]

More pics please!!!! I want to see the whole set up!

SF...A koi pond is a different setup then a goldfish pond. My pond is 12K gal and is 3ft - 8.5 feet deep of course if I were to built it today I would have it built differently. Building a koi pond is like building a custom home after it is done you'll say to yourself "I should have done this and that instead" .

Here are a few more pics from 10 yrs ago. The waterfall is leaking now and I had to bypass the waterfall. .

The filter system

Inside the filter chamber

Sunscreen above the pond

 

[Dancing Fire]

Very nice DF! How many koi do you have? Do they have names?

I only have 5 koi now. I loss 3 koi last month b/c the autofill system was stuck open and it kept on filling the pond with fresh corine water for approx 36 hrs till I discovered the problem.