Friday, July 20, 2012

Finally, a few de-witched pictures

Okay, so we've lived in the witch's hut for a little over a year now and I've been hard at work.

As a reminder, here's one of the *minor* de-witching projects I completed already.

What the pictures won't show properly is that our entire acre is covered in knee-deep ivy and 4' tall grass. And under all of that, a thick patch of persistent and noxious weeds.

So, lately I've been talking about working on the patio/pool. If you want to re-watch the funny video of deer eating birdseed on our witchy patio, it's here, but just to show the pure, untainted witchiness of this place when we moved in, here's the patio before any work was done:

(you can click on the pictures to view at full size)
Actually, I lied. I took this picture after I'd already cut down a bunch of ivy that was crawling all over the patio. What you can't see in the picture is that there was about 6 pieces of random furniture on the patio where I was standing that had been left to rot for... probably 5+ years. And no, I have never tried to start that lawnmower. See that brown stuff on the cement? That's moss. Nearly 2" deep in parts.

Can you see that grey, squarish lump on the upper patio? That *was* the chimney for an outdoor fireplace which was 4'x4'x18". The chimney was solid cement, 7" thick with rebar in it which required 2 solid days of whacking at it with a sledgehammer and using wire cutters on the rebar. Here's a picture when I was about half done.


I don't have a picture of the pool full, but I have one I took while I was draining it (before I chipped off all the blue/green tiles, but after I removed all the heavy cement cap stones from around the rim).

Disgusting, eh?

I used hoses to drain most of the water, then used a broom, shovel & wheelbarrow to haul out all that gunk. I think I unloaded close to 35 wheelbarrow loads of gunk. Note all the brown moss around the pool... on the left side I had already used a flat headed shovel to scrape away the majority of it before power washing. I also took down a hideous clap-board fence from the end of the pool which was built with the odds-and-ends of about a dozen different kinds of scrap wood. There's another fence you can see a bit of behind the grey pump house which is also down now. A motivated five-year-old could have kicked that thing down.

In the background you can also see the big shed I spent last week re-roofing.

Now, here's what this backyard is starting to look like:

Better? I'm having someone come out to remove the chain-link fence in August.

Also, our front yard used to look like this (after a tree was cut down, which had our entire front yard and house in shade, so even this is better than it was):

Do you like the classy patch of sand? Yeah, there were renters in here when we bought it who used to sit out on the lawn and throw beer cans into the garden and smoke. That pit of sand was his giant ashtray. That was marvellous fun digging out.

Now the front yard is looking more like this:

So, was I right in referring to this place as "the witch's hut" all this time? My next project will be to re-do that grey pump house by the pond/pool. The entire wooden top needs to come right off, I'm going to build something lower/nicer with a roof that either slides on castors or lifts in sections (I haven't decided on the design yet), and the electrical in there needs to be completely re-done.

Some of you probably think I'm crazy right about now... to enjoy tackling projects like this, but really, I find this stuff fun and satisfying because I can see a physical result/change for my hard work.

Things never feel quite like they're *mine* unless I've left my mark on them, and this witchy-hut is finally starting to feel a little bit like home...

18 comments:

  1. WOW! I'm scared to own a home because it looks like so much work... but I bet it's totally worth it and will look BEAUTIFUL when you are done.

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    1. Well, this is the... fourth? place I'm re-doing. Condos are much easier than an entire house, but I grew up on a big piece of property, so it's what I'm used to.

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  2. Wow, what a project! My parents do a lot of this sort of thing, too, but the pool would have been a no-go for them! Yuck!
    Well done. It'll be fun to see more pictures!

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    1. the pool was almost a no-go for me too, but I was adequately covered including a mask (not just for particles, but for noxious stuff like paint/etc) so I wouldn't breathe in any of the gunk.

      ...and as soon as there were fish in the pond, I said to the husband, "Okay, that's it, I'm not moving anymore. This is home now."

      The pond is a very home-like thing for me and I get quickly attached to koi since they're so personable/funny.

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  3. Looks like a great project. Yes you should be proud. Looking good already.

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    1. Thanks! We're having about 60 people over in August for the husband's birthday, so I've been concentrating my efforts on the entertaining areas :)

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  4. the thing is you don't hire the work out but do it yourself --to me that's totally awesome

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    1. Yep ;) I truly do enjoy learning something new/challenging myself.

      We still haven't decided if we want to reno the witch's hut, or knock it down. If we reno, I don't think I'll do it all this time. I'm getting tired of plumbing, drywalling, and all that other messy/dirty stuff.

      ...but we'll see ;)

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  5. that looks like a ton of work! You should be proud of all the hard work you put in. Your property is beautiful.

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    1. Thank you :) ...we wouldn't even invite people over last year 'cause it was so embarrassingly witchy ;)

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  6. I have to applaud your bravery and strong stomach. That gunky pool alone would have had me turning and running for the hills.

    So yeah, you were definitely right to call it "the witch's hut". The title takes on so much more depth now.

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    1. Ha, yup, that pool nearly did me in. Don't think I ever want to do that again...

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  7. A home is one's castle. You're working so hard to make this a home. It's awesome you're doing the work. I'd like to be more handy around the house.

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    1. I try to just tackle one small job at a time. If you try to learn too many new things at once, and take on too many projects, it just becomes overwhelming and that's when trouble begins.

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  8. What a huge project... but will be worth it once complete.

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  9. I think projects like this are very satisfying, especially after you start to see what the after is going to look like.

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    1. Yes, I very much agree. I try to take before/after pictures at all stages so I can look back and fully appreciate the changes :)

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