A look back...

This is a compilation of two posts from a year ago when I was scrambling to get this project done.  This year I have been so busy with inside projects that my poor yard is really suffering and in need of some serious attention. 

What were you doing last year about this time?


Does anybody watch Rowhouse Showdown or Flipping the Block?  I am hooked.  Basically both shows have teams that are rehab'in a home, each week they are working on a designated room and given a budget, as well as a time frame.  I was explaining the premise to my husband when he started laughing.....

He said, "Oh, so that's what I need to do!  You have four days to finish that wall!"  Oh J, you so funny!

Here's the wall, it's a work in progress.  If only I could set aside four days I could get it done.  Then reality sets in.  Maybe two days one week and two another......  plausible?

I planned a mural of some sort for this wall.... I really am not positive what I'm doing but have some thoughts, we shall see!  I've gotten the trees done with a vertical concrete carving mix and I'll be adding a creek and hopefully some sky and greenery. I don't know why I'm dragging my feet on this one.  (it's not like I have anything else to do or anything... haha)  I need to just bite the bullet and start mixing mortar! 

I began by adding trees with a vertical concrete mix that I use for other carving projects (here's my first retaining wall project with the mix) and I did a scratch coat for some rocks, I changed my mind though on the rocks and never finished them.

I chose slate tile because I love all the color variations, 12 x 12's to save some money and then cut them down into 3" x 12" rectangles to give it a little more of a linear look.  The slate will represent my water.  This was a very slow process.  Normally when I lay tile I figure out where my first full tile starts on the wall and place a board at that spot and tile on the board, giving it some support, then come back and do the bottom row (the one under the board) later.  I didn't want holes in the wall so I just started putting up the lowest row, allowing it to dry a little before adding another tile.  I could only go a couple high and had to move on, sometimes not even that since I didn't have any support underneath.  I did manage to get most of the bottom row done in one day so that on day two I could come back in, finish off the bottom row and really go to town getting the rest of the tile up.

 Once I got the "water" in, I moved on to the greenery for the trees!  I found an inexpensive mosaic glass tile at Home Depot with a variety of green, blue and white tiles.  Perfect!  I cut it into odd shapes, trying to keep it going in a linear fashion and lathered it up, sticking it on the wall sporadically, cleaning up excess mortar as I went.

 I grouted everything and then went back in with a white grout to apply some sky and give it a polished look.  This was really easy, like icing a cake.  The grout allowed you to leave lots of texture and pattern in it, really love how it turned out.  I plan to add some plantings along the wall at the base so I could have just left the bottom but it seemed unfinished so I went in with mortar and gave the area under the "water" a nice, evenly spread finish.

 Here's some close-ups.  I also sealed it.  Don't want water getting in and destroying it.  Eventually, with our freeze/thaw cycles, I'm sure I'll have some problems and when I do, I'll just go in and fix it, makes for an interesting, ever-evolving project.

With that, My Landscaping Adventure Series is complete and we are up to date on all our Landscaping projects around here, so far that is.  This year we are working on a new deck, Our First Project of the Season- 2015 and I have lots of projects to work on in the front flower bed when time allows.