Before and After: Group one

This is the start of the before and after photo's of our barn work we've done. This is the before shot of the back. Tons of concrete, random stuff previous owners have left, old fence....

This is after! I still have a lot of flowers to plant in there, we just planted carrots and peas for the hopes of a winter crop, and most of the remaining flowers I plant will be transplanted from the other yard (that needs to be thinned anyway), so that needs to wait until late fall. I got the bricks off of craigslist- LOVE them! I have the guy's contact info if anyone is interested....

Before shot of between the barn and chicken house. .. more concrete...

After! I already need to mow the lawn! This sod was a crazy endevor! I had no idea what I was in for. I thought it would be easier than seed as far as prep goes, but really it isn't. I had to get it all laid (photo's only show about 1/3 of what actually went down) in one day and I didn't realize how well the ground had to be prepped... So after laying it all out (It comes in rolls) in place the one day, I had to also haul 5 yards of soil to put underneath it all... not to mention 3 yards of sand for the bricks... and the bricks...And in the mix of it all I was wanting a little "instant appeal" and got some flowers to plant and put them in and then was putting in the T-posts for the fencing and hit a water line!!! It wouldn't have been that big of deal (I just turned the shut off switch to all the outside water and it stopped pouring up from the ground) but I had JUST laid all the sod that day and it has to be watered 2x a day or more to keep it from dying, so I had to fix it right away. That sort of thing sort of intimidates me, but I got it figured out... I even got to use a torch...(no one could believe I don't own a hair dryer! I guess that would have worked just as well... I figured I'd buy the torch, they cost about the same and I figured I'd get more future use out of the torch than a hair dryer.) I was exhausted at the "end" of this little project, to say the least... But I think it turned out well for such an amature! (If I do say so myself!)

This is a bed swing (ropes attach to the rafters above) I made for the little outside area from mostly scrap wood. I had a twin mattress I didn't have anything else to do with and thought this would be fun for the kids. They love it... and I must say, I do too!

This is the before shot of the outside area just off the barn....

This is after! Elle has a little art area and table to eat at. (Gotta love IKEA!)

All of their toys are out here and just a fun space for them to enjoy.

And this is a little random, but this is the bathroom... LOVE it- not bad for the space! I don't really have a "before" photo... but let's just say this space is where we housed our baby chicks last year...Used our milled cedar for the floor... and the claw foot cast iron tub from out in the pasture (that took A LOT of scrubbing... and I just spray painted the outside and feet with white spray paint, since they were just metal/rust color). I bucket out the bath water to water the lawn... we use the minimal ammount of water here. I haven't gotten the shower curtain deal done yet. I am going to make it from galvanized pipes... a "real" one for a tub like this (since it has to go all the way around) costs over $150!

More pictures of the inside soon. My computer is broke (again!) and it appears I need a new screen ($200! It's only a $450 laptop as it is!)... I have to hold in the top corner to keep the screen from going white... so this one handed typing is no fun.... But I am LOVING our little space. The kids are too and we just got our dog and cat back yesturday and they are just making themselves right at home. I am so excited to have "farm" classes here and share the "charm" of all our hard work! The kids and I have been picking blackberries almost daily, anticipating many winter smoothies, making jam, pies and ice cream! Yum!