I plan on spending the next two weeks readying the outside of my house for winter. Looking at everything I did this past summer, I’m pretty satisfied. I got a late start putting in my garden, but I did get tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers planted. My neighbor really appreciates it because whatever grows on her side of the fence, she takes full advantage of. I also started growing more things in containers. And that is going to be my strategy for the coming years. 

I extended my patio using paver bricks. It’s amazing what a quote of $2,000 to concrete a 3-by-20-foot area can inspire a lazy homeowner to do. And even though I have a typical bungalow backyard, Mother Nature knows she does her work diligently. I spent an hour the other day just pulling weeds. I also had a lot of morning glory vines that, if you don’t keep up with them, can completely take over a yard.

I am most proud of the front of my house. A friend recommended a winter fertilizer to put down. It will help to control the weeds as well as feed my grass as it goes into a more dormant state. I also got a nice lawn mower at an estate sale. It has an electric start which means no more pulling that cord. It also self-propels a bit, which makes cutting the grass even easier.

After admiring a lot of houses that have decorations on the front, I’ve been slowly acquiring different items only when I find them at a deep discount. I prefer to find the majority of my things at estate sales, but I’ve lucked up at garage sales. I found a gorgeous Buddha statue for 50 cents. Why so cheap? Because it was broken in pieces. The head alone was in at least six parts. As I began to repair it, it gave off an essence of Frankenstein. But with diligent epoxying and sanding, she came together real well. I even painted her by hand. I’m going to hold off placing her outdoors until next year so the paint can cure under normal temperatures.

Finally got my front window box installed. I haven’t had one for over 15 years. The original one, which I built, had rotted out. So when I found one at a demolition auction sale that was a little longer/wider than I needed, I grabbed it anyway because the man only wanted $40 bucks for it. I couldn’t even begin to buy the wood to build one for that price. I got a 12-by-10-inch piece of lumber and anchored it to the exterior portion of my bungalow bricks because my corbels are only 8 inches and the flower box was 10 inches. Surprisingly, once we put the window box up on the board, I didn’t have to do anything else. I did put a number of screws in the flower box to stabilize it to the wood board.

I found a number of ceramic angels, which I’ve placed outside. My goal is to wrap them in a blanket and cover them with a tarp and they’ll be fine for the winter. 

Now to concentrate on the interior.