Tuesday, June 30, 2009

 

It's Done! (almost)

At least the outside that faces the street. The frosted glass in the door is actually plexiglass with privacy film applied to keep the wait down and safety up.

With the holiday weekend coming up I think I'll have a chance to work on the irrigation, grading, and low-voltage wiring.


Monday, June 22, 2009

 

Lots of Work

So it's been a pretty big weekend. I got a lot of work done. I also experimented with the video mode on camera....which resulted in the video below. I've always been fascinated the art of hanging doors, so I was somewhat surprised mine worked right n the first try.

New Fence Gate from Stephen Meade on Vimeo.


I thought I'd take a picture of the whole door assembly, painted. I stuck some plexiglass in just as a mockup. The bottom piece has a crack and the top one still has the plastic protective films. Ironically, I really like the blurred / frosted look of the protective film, but it's not durable enough. I'm current looking for a film to put over the plexiglass as Home Depot only carries clear plexiglass.
I also thought I'd do a photo from the street, now that the old fence has been removed, too. Unfortunately, I think it's apparent I've got a bit of landscaping to do.

Oh yeah, I'm also left with quite a bit of a mess in the courtyard...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

 

Success!

Well, I can now say I've made my first door. It's not perfect, but I think it will work out just fine. I still need to get some glass or plexiglass and paint it. I'm also working on the jamb. Making a door with a knob is a lot harder than a simple gate with a latch.


Sunday, June 14, 2009

 

The Word of the Day is Infrastructure

I don't know why, but I somehow had this notion that once the wall was done, everything would look awesome.

Well, the wall looks awesome...and everything else look like crap. I think, deep down, I've known that the courtyard was going to be a, more or less, start over type of deal. That's really got me thinking about infrastructure. Where will I need water, power (12V and 120V). Will I want lighting? Where do I put the sprinkler and lighting timers?

I really want to spend a little time designing this to allow not only what I envision today, but things I might want tomorrow. I'm trying to think of all the shortcomings of the existing courtyard space and what things I need to do to correct those shortcomings. To be quite honest, it's all bit overwhelming as the courtyard has never been anywhere close to the way I've wanted it. This is just a quick tweak, but a real rethinking.


Friday, June 12, 2009

 

95% Complete

Almost there. Just need to fill with concrete and set the cap.


Thursday, June 11, 2009

 

Starting to look like a wall...

Okay, maybe I'm way too excited about this, providing daily updates. BUT, I've been waiting for years for this wall. One thing I'm discovering is there are a ton of projects that I've relegated to the back burner under the guise of "not until the wall is done."


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

 

More Progress

Work continues. If you've never watched a wall be constructed, it's actually quite interesting.


Tuesday, June 09, 2009

 

Progress

We've got rebar. And from the looks of it, this wall will never come down:


Sunday, June 07, 2009

 

It begins!




It feels like I've been waiting eons but in reality it's only been 4 years. One thing you find with landscaping projects is that they are often interrelated. Something as basic as a wall provides a solid foundation for so many other things. Plus, it's a fairly intrusive so it's important to complete it before you do plantings and anything else near the wall. As you can see...I really needed to do this.

THE NEED:

THE START:

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