Chair Revival Project: Part 1 Or (Awesome Bones, Dude.)

In my last post I talked about watching the grass NOT grow. Well, that was 2 days ago. Since then, it grew!  It's still too small to really see unless I get down on the ground like I did to take this picture, but it's on its way! I'm probably going to have to reseed though, since it's kind of patchy. But so far, so good. 

Sometime last year, I picked this chair out of the garbage behind my old apartment. This picture really does it no justice, but it's huge..really deep and awesome. It has the perfect "bones" for a flower bed/ moss sculpture thingy. I'm going to be making a moss slurry to "paint" on it to encourage growth as well as get some other shade lover...maybe some sweet potato vine? We'll see..but I'm considering painting it a bright hue so it peeks out from under the moss. 

 A couple nights ago, Chuck happened to be walking down the street at the right time. As I'm sure you've noticed, our back "fence" is basically just lattice and a makeshift gate. The little dog likes to get out so it's a necessity. Luckily, this guy down the street was disassembling his existing fence and Chuck carried this home along with more than enough chain link fabric and the top bar. All we have to do now is get some posts and tension bars and we're all set. We'll also be extending it a bit, which means more space for planting stuff.

I'll post pictures of the whole mossy chair process along with my formula for the moss paint when I do it. And later this week I'll update you on my brick upcycle.

What do you think about the chair? Have you done something like this and have any tips? Let me know in the comment section!

Spring Cleaning

I'm back from my blogger break. It's been gorgeous in NJ the past week, so I've been prepping for the upcoming Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market as well as starting seeds and doing yard work.

Yesterday Chuck and I prepped the ground out back and laid down some grass seed. Apparently, the people that lived here before didn't really know what they were doing and there were bricks, slate, and paving stones all over the yard just under the surface. My arms are killing me today, btw. I feel like I have Popeye forearms. 

who buried all these bricks?

will have a border and creeping thyme between the stones

So we have a huge pile of bricks now, even after setting a little walkway to the back gate, that I'm not really sure what to do with just yet. But, we still have a long way to go. The grass seed is going to be a challenge though with 3 dogs...even if it is that special doggie-proof formula. I'm probably going to look into some ground covering. I'll be posting pictures as things start to take root, but here's a "before" picture; curious pit bull included. 

And I started my vegetables this morning. What I have so far: tomatoes, red bell pepper, and cucumber, plus cilantro, basil, oregano, and chives. I'm still going to get some dill for pickles and yummy tzatsiki too. I'm also going to try onions for the first time. I picked up some sets on my last trip to Home Depot. 

Oh! I almost forgot! We started a compost too! There were already some piles of decaying stuff so we kind of just consolidated it and as I was finding worms, added some of those too. Nothing fancy like some of the things I see on Pinterest, but it'll do. 

So there it is. I'll post a couple more pics this week once the stone path settles a bit more and the grass begins to sprout. but here's some more before shots...and a dog. 

free fire pit from our awesome neighbor. 

grass seed

The yard has doubled in size now. 

Are you doing any yard work yet? Growing your own food or flowers? Do you have any idea what I should do with all those bricks? How about that back gate? Let me know!