All the Right Curves In All the Right Places

No, I’m not talking about me.. LOL… (although I do have lots of curves.. just not necessarily where I’d like them…) I’m talking CONCRETE, babeeeee!

It’s been rather quiet around the blog because we’ve been up to our hips in house projects.  That seems to happen around here a lot.  It seems that when we get the itch to move we do a project and then we’re ok for a while.   Yah, we’ve decided not to move just yet.  We’ve invested a lot in our home and have made it a place we love to be (even though it’s far from work) and the market is really not so hot right now so since we don’t HAVE to move, we’re choosing to wait a while.

For the past several years we’ve been procrastinating replacing our front steps, sidewalk and a portion (1/4) of the driveway.  A couple of Saturdays ago a contractor was driving through our neighborhood on the way home from a job and stopped at our door to ask us if we’d like him to bid the concrete work.  But yes!  It felt like a “sign” to get going on this project.. you know, that swift kick you need to make a decision?  Well, his bid came in a lot less than we’d been saving up for and we felt like maybe God was giving us that opportunity to get it done and save some money.  So we signed a contract and prepared for the project.  Over the next week it all came together…. concrete out, new sidewalk design painted in the grass and dirt, framed up and poured. 

Here are some pics from this latest adventure. {Click photos for larger views.)

Sidewalk before:
You can see that the sidewalk and top left portion of the driveway have sunk several inches. We always had to warn people to watch their step and I tripped on the concrete numerous times. It was such a pain to shovel... shovel, shovel, CLUNK! (ouch!) The steps were falling off the porch (about 1” gap from the porch) and a corner of the driveway was also cracked and crumbling or we would have had it just lifted and filled.
        
Brent cutting out the grass after we laid out the hose to get the shape we wanted and my poor flowers that got covered in concrete dust.  They got a bath later that night and we rinsed off the ick.  Only lost about 4 impatiens to trampling of contractor feet.


 
Hello Framing!  We’re all framed in and ready to go.  Concrete was coming in the morning!  We waited for the contractor to leave and then tweaked the curves a little better in the sidewalk.  Later he told Brent, “she’s got an eye for this..” LOL!  I did tell him I worked for a landscaper.  It’s what we do. (We just don’t actually DO the concrete part of it.) LOL!




We were up with the sunrise waiting for the concrete truck the next morning.  I can’t remember the last time I was up this early.. .oh wait, I think it was when I flew to WA for Creative University and only because I had to fix my hair before I caught the plane.

I love this photo of Brent and Sadie… Sadie’s just chillin’ with her Dad.  She wanted to sit next to Brent and snuggle.  You can’t tell from the photo, but she’s actually leaning onto him. So CUTE!


 

The concrete guy went to the wrong address, so we waited for what seemed like forever. LOL! I think even Sadie was getting impatient.  Here she is chillaxin’ on the porch while the sun is popping up over the mountains and peaks of the houses to the east of us.  I love my girl. She’s so pretty and her fur is velvety soft, perfect for snuggling with!

Ahhh finally, the concrete truck arrived and we began the pour!



After a few hours of tweaking and getting the concrete just right our home had a whole new outlook on life.  I love, love, love my new sidewalk and steps (which are about 2” deeper, nicer for big feet).   We will bring in some new topsoil to bring the sod up to the sidewalk level and fill in the flowerbed.  Then the flower bed will get replanted in a few weeks and I will transplant the flowers to the front of the flowerbed.  I may even move the daylilies (next to the driveway) around, too. 
 
Thanks for stopping by and humoring me in my excitement! LOL!
~Inky Smiles!