Backyard Putting Green!

All the menfolk in my house share a deep and abiding obsession with golf.  Like, as an infant, the Kiddo would happily flip through my husband's golf magazines for long, quiet stretches.  The Mr. has an official handicap.  My dad has probably read every word Mr. Pelz has ever published. It's pretty serious around here.  

So when my big mouth, once again, just couldn't contain a big crazy idea, needless to say they were all on board.  

Backyard Putting Green.  Yeassssss.

We started with a jungle of patchy grass, where the shady soil never fully dries out.

 Then, using a flat (square headed) shovel, we took just the very top layer off.  Because our soil has thick clay so close to the surface, the plant roots are all shallow, and get taken off in this step.

 After a lot of sweat, we were left with some fairly level dirt.

 But it's always good to double check.  Plus, we wanted to make sure we still had a good drainage slope, away from the house.

Then, we packed down our soil base.

Next, we put down the first base layer for the green.

 Evenly distribute it with a flat metal rake.

Then, we rented a plate compactor from our local Home Depot, to save our arms and make sure the compaction was a little better than the hand tamper we'd been using.

 We made a bunch of passes over the whole area.  The compactor is really good at going in straight lines, but difficult to turn.

 We had some wet spots, which left us with some muddy patches.

 Then, we repeated the dump-distribute-compactor with the next layer - sand.

Nice and smooth.

Then, it rained for so long, I thought our next project would need to be an ark.  So we tarped over all our hard work and waited for sunnier skies.

While it rained and rained and rained, we did a little indoor work cutting the PVC for the holes.

 Hand cutting is not recommended.

Compound miter saws make these cuts much easier.

We set some caps in to make a clean base for the cups.

 And drilled some drainage holes in the bottoms.

 Then, we dug out the holes for the cups, being careful not to disturb the nice smooth surface surrounding it.

I left just a little bit of room around the PVC.

 And made sure the top of the cup was relatively even with the ground.

Then, we set them in concrete, post-hole style.  Adding dry concrete mix in the gap...

 Then wetting the mix.  It sets up nice and strong.

Then, we had to turn our attention to the fancy artificial turf we special ordered.  This is a lot nicer (and pricier) than the stuff on the back wall with the carpet at the home supply store, so we really wanted to make sure we measured 5 times, cut once.

 We had to move every piece of furniture in our biggest room to roll this baby out to cut it.

 And even then, we used some taped-together cheapy shower curtains to make sure we'd measured everything correctly before we cut the turf.

As with all carpets, this one was way easier to cut from the back.  A white crayon came in very handy in marking our cut lines.

 Sharp utility knife blades are MUCH easier to cut with.  Just a little FYI for you.

 Then we took our turf outside for the initial fitting.

Once we were happy with the placement, it was time to break out the glue.  And read the directions carefully.

 We laid down some of the plastic scraps to keep our to-be-glued surfaces clean while we fitted them. Then, ran 4 beads of glue down the seam tape, like our instructions told us.

Once the seams were nice and tight, we hammered in some seam pins to keep it from wiggling while the glue set long enough to be rolled.  We kept these in for about a day to give the glue plenty of time to cure, then removed them.

 There's probably a better roller for this job, but sometimes you go with what you've got on hand to finish the job.

After the seams were rolled, I made the final edge cuts with a utility knife.

 And hammered in the edging landscape pins every few inches.  These will stay in as long as the green does.

We put some of the seam pins in to mark the hole locations.  And played the worst game of horseshoes ever.

Then, cut an X over the hole, and trimmed the excess away.

 I ran superglue around the top of the PVC and pressed the edge of the turf to the cup.

Finally, we had to decide how to edge the green.  With the gray stone of the patio, we found the closest shade of small rock at Lowes.

 And ran it around the edges.

 

 Now, all we need are some pin flags, and we're all set!

If it ever stops raining...

We're in the middle of installing an artificial turf putting green over the bits of our backyard that are otherwise icky mud puddles.  As soon as these summer storms stop, I'll have an actual exciting update for you here.  Stay tuned, friends, I haven't abandoned you!

How to get, and stay, organized (even when you have a small person living in your house)

A very dear friend came over with her 2 girls the other day, and asked me how we keep our house so organized.  I looked around, wondering whose house she was looking at, but realized we are pretty organized, if you just don't peek into some easily ignored corners...  So, here are my rules for keeping all our stuff from overwhelming our house.

Rule 1 - Have a PLACE for EVERYTHING
The still-messy bits of my house are the places that don't have a real, proper place in my home.  Random piles of credit card offers that need to be shredded are the bane of my personal existence, but I'm sure you have some blind spots, too.  Find them and figure out a better place for them (like the trash, perhaps).

Rule 2 - Make sure EVERYONE knows where that place is

so that you can enact

Rule 3 - EVERYONE is expected to help keep things tidy
Everyone lives here, so everyone helps out.  We don't do a chore-reward system for the Kiddo, but have always expected him to help clean up his stuff (with age/ability appropriate expectations, naturally).  When he was small, he could do big motor-skill things like put his own books back onto the shelf; now he's older and likes to help by doing the wood cleaning, and is absolutely expected to put his action figures in a drawer and pick up his legos so they don't get sucked up by the vacuum. VERY MONTESSORI. MUCH INDEPENDENCE. RESPONSIBILITY LIFE SKILLS WOW.  If a chore chart works for your family, keep it up!  I'll just be over here, envious of your ability to keep up with that...

Rule 4 - Motivation is KEY

Nothing motivates me to clean everything up (and keep it that way) like visitors.  If you're like me, it's a win-win-win scenario - you get to hang out with your favorite people, at your own house so you don't even have to drive, and your house stays lovely.

Rule 5 - Start with a CORNER

Like most kids, I had a terrible time keeping my room clean.  I would get overwhelmed really quickly, and want to give up.  My wise mother gave me a bit of advice that works every time my messes (in cleaning and in life) get too out of control: start with a corner.  When that's done, do another corner.  Repeat a few times and you're all set.  Nothing says you have to get everything organized in a day or even a month.  Pick your most frustrating problem area (anyone else stepping on legos?), try something to fix it, and move on.

 Rule 6 - CHANGE is OK
You don't always get it right the first time, and nothing will derail your organization like storage solutions that don't actually fit your storage needs.  We tried a bunch of bins for the kiddo's toys, but anything we ever tried that uses opaque containers just serves to make the kiddo not play with it.  It's out of sight-out of mind for the little one all of us.  So they're not always the prettiest, but we discovered that clear storage solutions are the best choice if we have any hope of keeping toys played with and also put away later.  Even better if they're out completely in the open.

attempt #1, not great

attempt #2, much better

Rule 7 - Know where YOU are
Have some reasonable expectations for organizational levels depending on your own unique living situation.  Are you studying for a big test?  You may want to live with papers everywhere for a little while.  Do you have a newly-mobile toddler?  Toys are going to be everywhere.  (Full disclosure, this rule was added after I spent the afternoon watching videos from the Kiddo's babyhood, when it looked like a tornado hit the toy box, but we were having such a great time).  Sometimes, you really, truly have more important things to do instead of organizing.  Find a good middle road and try to enjoy where you are in the moment.

Anyone else have great ideas to keep chaos at bay?

Superhero Station

Well, that was a winter filled with nonstop illness.  Lets both ignore how long I've been away, and get on with the cuteness, yes?

Like most kids, mine has a healthy imagination and collection of accessories to bring it to life.  What he really needed was a way to keep everything at his fingertips.  You never know when a villain will drop by, after all.

The little wall I never know what to do with between the dining/kitchen and living rooms fit the bill perfectly.

I've already had to patch a million huge holes in this wall after taking down a cute (but ultimately useless) shelf, plus I really wanted the hangers to not be too obvious.  The clear plastic 3M hooks pack with multiple sizes was perfect for hanging all the different weights/sizes/angles. 

Even better, it makes it VERY easy for the little superhero to hang up his cape at the end of the day.  

Out of the (Jewelry) Box

I had a really lovely little jewelry box to hold my sparkles and assorted accessories...except, it worked a little too well - my jewelry spent almost all of its time in the box, and not doing its job making me look (more) beautiful!

Time to bring my modest bauble collection into the light - or, at least, into my sight line.

I started with a cheap little picture ledge and some cup hooks.

I flipped it bottoms-up, and marked regular intervals where the hooks should go.

I alternated the hooks front and back row to make it easier to pick the necklaces out...

Then, I drilled tiny pilot holes to give the hooks something to grip.

The treads of these hooks were just barely short enough that they didn't poke through the bottom of the shelf - definitely something to double check next time...

Once all the little hooks were in, I leveled and hung it up just below eyeball height.

While it works great for bracelets and necklaces, I had to staple some leftover cross stitch fabric to a wooden frame to make an earring holder.

 And just like that, I can see what I'm working with!  And as an added bonus, the jewelry the Kiddo has made me over the years is on display, too, which he and I both adore.

One down, one to go (updated)

Remember a million years ago when I dragged 2 stray chairs home?

Well, I've finally finished one of them...

I loved the wooden base, and loved it even more when I realized it detached from the chair body.  While it was loose, I rubbed it down with some beeswax-based wood food/conditioner.

After detaching the base, I set to work removing the existing upholstery.  This took approximately 100 hours, removing all the little staples.

Once everything was off, I noticed the straps were really, really loose.  I probably should have replaced them, but I just pulled them tight and re-stapled.

The arms came off, too, which I thought would make the job really easy.  I sewed some arm covers, and upholstered the back/bottom.  Then I realized there was no way to re-attach the arms at the top, which made the chairs wobbly and also looked terrible.  So I tore out all my stitches and started over.

I also wanted to add a little cush to the arms, where I lean into the sides and corners.  I found an (unopened) egg crate foam mattress pad in our closet, and set to work chopping it up and attaching it to the arms.

I wrapped everything in batting, and made a pattern with some pattern paper by pinning it to the chair.  

After many, many battles with my sewing machine, I finally finished, trimmed that enormous seam allowance, slid it over the chair and stapled it tight along the bottom.

There are no pictures of sewing the cushions, because there was a greater focus on not crying the entire time than I'd anticipated.  But they're done, now (yes, my mom came to the rescue, there).

It is FAR from perfect.  And now I have a very serious appreciation for upholstery professionals.  I totally understand paying $300 + per chair.

Now I just have to do it all over again...


*UPDATE*

HAHAHAHAAA, oh, man, you guys.  After the 5-millionth round of colds/respiratory illnesses that refused to leave my house this winter, I totally gave up on this project.  They were great chairs, but I was very clearly in too far over my little DIY-loving head.  We've got some ikea chairs in their place now, and while they are not quite as comfy or cute as these guys were, have the benefit of not smelling like wet dog and mold.  So, we'll go ahead and chalk this one up as a lesson learned and I'll be planning to take an actual class next time I fall in love with an upholstery project...

Garage Workbench

As my project load has increased, I've been pining for a separate work space.  Fortunately, while our 1-car garage is too small to keep a car, it is the perfect size for a workshop.  Unfortunately, the garage was the dumping ground for stuff that didn't have a proper place in our home.

After an entire day of cleaning out (including a goodwill donation run that included 5 bookshelves...I have a bookshelf obsession, evidently), I was starting to see some potential.

I had previously been trying to use the changing table the Mr. and my dad built as my workbench.  While they built me a phenomenal changing table, it did not translate well from baby station to project center (that green thing covered in tools and mess in the back corner, is it...).

Super old picture, taken while still re-doing dining room chairs!

Clearing out the garage (including saying goodbye to the changing table/workbench) cleared out a long wall for work station goodness.  And let me double my pegboard size and wall storage.

The workbench top is made of 16 2 x 4s, which we glued together (and clamped with some really big clamps until it dried).  I considered a lot of other options (hardboard, hollow core, laminate, plywood, etc...), but ultimately making our own laminate out of lumber was the most cost-effective option for making a really strong workbench.

As leg supports, I used stock cabinets from Lowe's, giving the garage a LOT of small-tool storage.  With the heavy, heavy workbench top, combined with the heavy saw and future heavy tools, I knew the particleboard bodies of the cabinet cases wouldn't be strong enough.  So I added additional 2 x 4 brace supports on either side of each cabinet, and now it will easily stand up to all the abuse it's likely to see.

We still need to address the lighting and electrical issues (the only plug in the garage is over by where the old workbench was), and I'll be spending some time with a planer getting the workbench top smoothed out.  But for now, I've got a great place to work.  The Kiddo has big plans to build his first robot there.  For the first time in a while, I can't wait to get to work out there!