new front porch! done done and done again! i can't even explain via words or pictures how great it is. we finished a little late to cash in on the heat wave, but next summer will be one of porch lounging and mint julep sipping. i probably won't be able to wait that long...hot chocolate on a winter porch sounds pretty nice, too.we added just a nudge of extra space when we rebuilt but it feels worlds larger. we also swapped out the scary mini-pole that was holding up the roof for a heftier more substantial 6x6.
the floor of the porch is super shiny with a fresh coat of rosewood oil in these photos. it darkened the redwood boards and brought out all of the grain and knots. it's supposed to keep the wood from "graying" with the weather. i really love how it shows off the different colors in the boards.
oh, and of course a few Elli shots just because she's so darn happy.
upcoming projects include some planting in the front yard. we've already planted a small madagascar jasmine plant and a red bougainvillea. our yard and garden have been severely neglected over the past few weeks as we worked on the porch. hopefully we'll have some time to work in the yard in the next few weeks.

hm, weeks later and the promised post has failed to materialize. it's been a busy summer.

about that promised surprise under our new front porch....here's a hint (look close):
in the meantime, we ripped up the rotten boards, knocked down a wall, cleaned out the dirt and put in a foundation.under the porch we now have a 300 gallon food-grade container that formally held kosher cooking oil. we hooked it up to our gutters and the new drains on the front porch and will use the collected water to keep our front yard nice and lush. FYI, in a recent summer rainstorm (before we had our gutters hooked up to the tank) we collected 5 gallons of water in about 10 minutes. we're thinking we need a few more of those containers for the backyard...

since then we've finished the front porch (still need to seal the wood, but that's next weekend's project), installed gutters and given one coat of fresh paint to the front of the house. i've also rekindled a dormant distaste for prep work. oh, and C built platform on the top of our hill.

this summer is almost over and i can hardly remember when it began. i've been lazy with posting, mainly because it's been kind of busy around these parts. i'll try to post some more photos this week. we're pretty darn excited about all of the work...

remember way back when we bought all of that redwood off of craigslist?

we deemed august the month for using up that wood and we (well C, at least) have certainly lived up to that promise.

we knew that we would be using a good portion of the wood to rebuild our rotten front porch. what we didn't expect was that we would not be doing the work ourselves. after ripping up the all of the wood porch, we took one look at the non-existent foundation and the one rotten loose 4x4 that was holding up THE ENTIRE house and knew that we needed some professional help.

first a few pictures of the porch before: we interviewed a few people and picked the one who seemed least frightened by our floating house and most willing to put up with our constant questions. now we have a beautiful concrete seismically-sound foundation and a water-proof basement.

to save ourselves some money, we opted to finish off all of the non-structural work ourselves. at this point, the porch is still unfinished and waiting for the redwood decking and railing.

we saved the siding (it was all redwood!) when the guys tore down the wall and asked them to reuse as much as possible when they rebuilt the front. we just spent 3 days patching old holes and cracks, caulking gaps and sanding the surfaces so when we repaint the house it won't look so frankensteinian.

i won't bore you guys with gobs of construction photos (just a few dozen), but i do think it's pretty darn exciting...

also, there's one very cool secret hidden under the new porch that i'll share with you later this week.

first, something awesome:
my new kitchenaid (a big thanks to my aunt, uncle and favorite backyard helpers) (making a batch of meringues...yum.)

and then something seemingly awesome until closer inspection:this whole backyard vegetable gardening adventure has been a tough one...
first there were the mushrooms, then we had a minor infestation of cucumber beetles and now, finally as all of the fruit is starting to ripen, i think my poor tomato plants are suffering from late blight. do i really have to pull the plants immediately or can i wait until we're done harvesting???

time for another backyard tour:

you probably recognize this area that C cleared and leveled out a few months back:instead of it leading into the great abyss of overgrown poison oak for any longer, C decided to open up the backyard even more and built some stairs. the massive acacia trunk that blocked off our backyard from the canyon became a set of steps leading down to the canyon and to the path up the hill.the trail follows along the path of the redwoods that we planted a while back and then up to the next set of stairs that C built.it's pretty steep, but manageable (if you're not lugging 80lb bags of concrete up and down). the poison oak is happily growing back but it's avoidable for now. we also discovered a large walnut tree hanging out on that hill. as soon as we figure out how to harvest the nuts without climbing through the poison oak, i'll be making vin de noix.the view at the top of the stairs looking up to the hill. that little oasis there is home to at least one almond tree. more almond trees all over the hill.
we planted our magnolia tree on the right side of the hill, amongst the blackberry bushes.and at long last, the deck. i was away this past weekend but C was home with elli working away. i haven't climbed up to check out the latest progress but this is where it was last week:this is the view we'll have from the deck:when it's clear you can actually see the red of the golden gate bridge.
and then there's the enormous eucalyptus tree that stands next to the deck:

the announcements that i made:

oak tree, redwood, california poppies from our yard. the 3 birds represent the redtail hawks that have nested in the eucalyptus tree. i printed these on brown cardstock on my gocco. though it was a bit of a hassle (i ran out of gocco ink and had to improvise with other ink and had to figure how to register the print), i'm pretty darn pleased with how they turned out!

on sunday C spotted a nest at the very tip of a branch on one of the oak trees in our backyard. we watched the momma bird bring her babies food as they peeked their little heads up over the edge.

yesterday morning i found this little guy hopping across the yard. i watched him for a while to make sure that he wasn't injured and then let him be. i hope he figured out how to get back home!