Monday, August 30, 2010

Chez Emerson

Great weekend right? Weather here was lovely and windy. Couldn't have my umbrellas open on the deck. Grr and arg!  It's been windy all summer. I love a nice breeze, but sheesh!

Pup worked like a wild-man all weekend on the hot tub patio. It's looking so lovely! He feels badly that it's taking so long, but I said to him, "Babe, you're a CPA, you do not lay brick for a living." He's rockin' the blockin' IMHO.

I worked on the front steps. My personal hell I like to call them. First of all, they had CARPET on them. Lots of peeps in my neighborhood like to CARPET their steps.

In the name of all that is holy why? WHY WHY WHY??

First we peeled it off, then we goobered on this DANGEROUS shit to get the glue gone. So pleasant! Then Pup cut off these things that were poking out of the cement. The old railing was hooked onto them. I'm really hoping having a railing isn't code or something. Everyone else has one. Ooops! Too bad! I don't want one right now.

Over the weekend I sanded off the crispy stuff on the steps and painted them so they look like this:

Holy crapinoli they are fugly. FUGLY! I beelined it over to my home-away-from-home, The Home Depot, and bought new paint. After looking online for a million hours for ideas, I'm idea-free. This front facade is killing me. The house is brown, the shutters are green. What to do???

I was thinking black front steps, but I chickened out and bought a dark, forest green. We'll see how that turns out. {sigh} Really, could this look any worse? And yes, I'm STILL trying to clear out that garden on the right. That sucker is bigger than it looks. Well, not really, but it sure has a shit-ton of ROCK in it. People! No rock in gardens! No carpet on steps! Obey me!

Ha!

My little garden by the hot tub is mostly in ruins thanks to George the ball-obsessed soon-to-be-dead dog. Love you George.

When Pup and I are IN the hot tub, George shows us his ball by sticking his enormous noggin over the edge of the pool, then tosses his goobery ball into the water. If we ignore him he roots around the pool, looking for ways to annoy us. He has crushed my zukes in this fashion. Grr and arg!

But those tomatoes are rockin'! Millions more are coming. The garden will do better next year when there isn't a major project going on by it and I'll have sewn George's lips together by then so there will be no ball-obsessing. Believe me?

Sorry so cranky George! You'll get used to drinking out of a straw.

 

7 comments:

Heff said...

Good luck with the Hot Tub ! (I hope it's not an LG !)

I'd go with a standard "concrete gray" for the steps, but that's just me.

raydenzel1 said...

Think railings for winter time or when it is raining. One fall and you will not use that entrance.

T said...

As for the steps, if the dark green doesn't work out, my first thought would have been a dark taupe shade, keeping it neutral.

Looking in that family of taupes and/or dark khakis, you'll see that they either have a beige hue, green hue, yellow hue, or pinkish hue on each strip of color.

I'd suggest going with a dark taupe with a green hue to it, so that looking at it, your eyes see a neutral, a dark taupe, but the green hue will complement the green shutters of the house.

Just a thought...:)

T said...

As for the steps, if the dark green doesn't work out, my first thought would have been a dark taupe shade, keeping it neutral.

Looking in that family of taupes and/or dark khakis, you'll see that they either have a beige hue, green hue, yellow hue, or pinkish hue on each strip of color.

I'd suggest going with a dark taupe with a green hue to it, so that looking at it, your eyes see a neutral, a dark taupe, but the green hue will complement the green shutters of the house.

Just a thought...:)

Marnie said...

I understand your problem completely. When I moved into my house, the previous owners painted the front door purple. They also had chosen a red (rusty colored) roof. The front door was a no brainer...easily fixed, but the roof was another story. The roof tiles clashed with the brick...

I like what T had to say.

Sandra said...

Fugly steps or not, it sounds to me like you have a little island paradise going on back there in your back yard! Sounds decadent!

Deborah said...

Heff - that really was my first thought, but Pup didn't think it would work. Who knew it would be this hard??

T - Exactly! I'll post the afters when I finally get out there to finish this job.

Marnie - What did you wind up doing?

Sandra - The hottub is my favorite place. Super relaxing and really weird being out there in the winter when it's snowing. Really fun.