Off to a good start

Well, I feel like this new year is off to a good start.  Zac and I have been keeping pretty every weekend. I am pretty excited that we have finally got things going on our back patio!  Zac told me once the garage was done we would work on it. Well the garage is done and its time to work on the patio! We originally thought we were just put up a pergola but then decided on doing a covered patio to make it a more usable space. We talked about it on Friday night and on Saturday we started building, today is Sunday and its done! Well just the covered portion not the whole thing….we aren't THAT good.

 Getting everything into place

 Hubby design

 We decided on a metal corrugated roof

Zac set up the BBQ and my "bar" so we could see how it will look….and of course Hudson was a lot of help.  Cindy and Steve bought me those wine barrels and the redwood slab for my birthday last year and they have been sitting in storage just waiting to be used! I am so happy that I will be able to use them soon.

So our next project for the patio will be placing bricks.  When we moved into our house there were a ton of bricks in the back yard that had been from the previous fireplace.  I thought the best way to reuse them would be to make a patio out of them…so they have been sitting in our backyard since we moved in.  Finally we will get to put them to use.  Tomorrow we will be looking for a fire pit.  Zac wants to make it himself (big surprise) so we need to find some materials that will work.  Originally I wanted a wood fire pit, which I admit I still kind of want one but with the covered patio it just makes more sense to have a gas one.  If we did the wood fire pit we would either have to move it outside the roof OR build some type of a chimney. So a gas fire pit is the way to go.  We also might start the form boards for the sand (what the bricks will be placed on). We'll see how it goes. 

Once we get those things checked off our list we will need to work on fences.  The original fence that we placed is not only about 4 feet tall because of the amount of dirt we had to bring in for the garage.  So that means we need to build a retaining wall and lift the fence up a bit.  Also, the area behind the "bar" is going to be Zacs storage area so we will be needing to hide that. We plan to do some horizontal fencing which I think will look very nice.  Once that is all done it will be ready to decorate and enjoy! I can't wait to sit out there on warm summer nights and enjoy the fire and the smell of the BBQ!

We still have a whole other area to deal with on the house side.  Originally Zac and I thought we would make it a deck. However, we did a little more chatting and decided that we would LOVE for it to be a little vineyard! I mean we live in Sonoma county so why not? I think we would really enjoy trying to make our own wine and I love the look of vineyards so I think it would be a great way to use the space.  Its weird that we have added all these large things to our property: a 24 x 40 garage, a 24 x 70 driveway, 1500 sqft of lawn and a 20 x 20 patio area and it makes it feel BIGGER? How does that work?

Anyways, its a big difference from what we started out with. Ill have to do some updated before and after pictures.  This house just keeps getting better and better. 

These warm days have been getting me excited for summer! When Zac and I aren't working on the house we have been going on hikes, wine tasting and bike rides.  I have also been working on updating our master bathroom. That is on pause now that the patio area is full steam ahead but I will get back to it soon enough. Hopefully I can get a little better at my blogging as well because I feel like Im getting behind and I know Ill regret it.  It is so much fun to look back at all my old posts and see what I was doing years ago. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!