Teeny, Tiny House: Shed (Part 1)

Continuing with the theme of getting outdoor projects completed, we have decided it is time to tear down that old, rickety, disgusting eye sore of a shed. Before we can do that, however, we have to find a place to store the items it contains. Hubs did a great job of weeding out what we needed and should keep and getting rid of the excess (including a bunch of stuff from the previous owners). The garage is already pretty well full, so we needed an alternative.

Since it was the 4th of July holiday, Home Depot had a good deal on a prefabricated 7 ft. X 7 ft. Rubbermaid shed. So we picked that up along with 64 (12x12) pavers and within two days -- voila -- the new shed was erected and the old one empty.

The new shed and its contents are located behind the house, instead of in front and within our chainlink fence for extra added security.

Next step is renting a dumpster and than demolition! I can't wait!

Teeny, Tiny House: Front Porch Deck

Since summer is officially upon us, Hubs has been working hard to get some outdoor projects done around the house while the rain is on sabbatical. 

It is hard to see in the first picture (from the original house listing) but there is what is supposed to be a planter space right below the kitchen window (the right hand window on the front of the house). The previous owners filled it with lava rock -- that should have been an indicator, in hindsight. Two summers ago, I excavated the planter and removed all the rock, thinking that we would actually use it as a planter but as I dug I just kept discovering more and more junk. It was like the previous owners used it as a trash heap of unwanted masonry and building materials. I found bricks and concrete, nails, pottery and river rock. It was just a mess, seemingly endless and truly not worth the time to dig it all out and try to start over.

The planter sat empty for over a year while we debated what to do with it and during that time Trudy developed dementia. More times than not, we would find her shivering and cowering in "the hole" because she couldn't figure out how to get out. Absolutely heartbreaking. So Hubs came up with a genius plan, to build a small deck which we could utilize and enjoy but also keep Trudy out of the hole.

The tiny deck only took one afternoon to build and solved a world of problems for us. We like it so much that we are thinking about making a similar one on the other side to match. It would take removing the Japanese Maple tree but I don't really like it's placement in the yard anyway, so it wouldn't be a huge loss.

Now I am on the hunt for an adorable, affordable patio set that is small enough to fit on our miniature deck!