Normandy Park Restoration

Playing with the toy I've deferred for a while.

Got the far side of the patio cleaned up.  That section uses some pavers rather than concrete, and they are poorly placed, but at least it's clean now.  I also pulled out a large bush that, while pretty, was overgrowing the stairs way too much.

Today is trash day, so I was able to get rid of the yard waste bags and clean up a little.  Obviously I still need to clean up a lot more, but at least it looks more usable now.

Also picked up a new bed frame this weekend.  Wasn't really happy with the old one.  The under-storage never worked out well.  Found a bed frame and tall chest for $200.  Much better setup.  There was a mirror in the headboard, but I never put it in.  I might see if I can get some artwork in there. Wired it up with LED lights, and fit an air tunes receiver and amp in there so I have wireless audio plugged into the whole house server.  Haven't finished the drywall under the window, once that's done the last piece of window trim will go in.

Ran out of crushed rock, which I figured I would, but the stump hole is done.  Here it is leveled, with a weed barrier installed. And with the rock in I sprayed it with the hose to keep the dust down and let it settle a little.  Here is a shot from the inside. Not sure if I'll fill it with more crushed rock, or go with some river rock, but I'll probably leave it alone for a while so I can concentrate on other stuff.

Took a lot of elbow grease, but I was able to get the stump out without a grinder. I put a few pieces of scrap plywood against the wall to protect the windows, just in case. Here are the bits I was able to split it into 3 pieces, and it was rotten enough that the roots were soft, so I was able to dig, cut, and leverage the pieces out. Tomorrow I'll dig the extraneous bits out, as well as the extra dirt, and start filling it with the 5/8" crushed rock.

Busy digging out the stump in the back yard.  Managed to remove several of it's big roots with the little electric chainsaw and some elbow grease.  But the final push is going to take a sump grinder.  I will probably work on finishing the egress window well before finishing this, but we'll see.  Here is what it looks like now. Turns out there's a lot more dirt in there than I expected.  Here is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago. And here is what it looked like when I moved in Once the stump is removed I'll just fill it with rock for now, as eventually all of the patio will need new concrete.

Started cleaning up the back yard.  Removed a few bushes to expose the ferns, then realized that it looked really good, so I ended up pulling out a lot of plants to leave the ferns alone.  I've also stacked the beams that are going to be cut to make the egress window well, and since I plan to use those beams as well for the rear retaining wall, I took a picture, as this gives some idea of what the rear patio will look like when I'm done. I've pruned some of the dead fern fronds, but haven't finished cleaned up yet.  The ferns are thin right now because they were buried in all the other brush before I pulled it out.