A couple of weeks ago we started our landscaping project by first removing all of the old and overgrown bushes. Pictures from that strenuous day can be seen here. From there we then fixed up the beds, moved some heavy slabs of rock for the walkways, and finally yesterday planted eight small plants: five Winter Gem Boxwood (Buxus microphylla) and three Emerald ‘n Gold Euonymus (Euonymus fortunei). I still need to add some mulch, but things are definitely looking better than before we started.

Within an hour or getting the plants in the ground a crazy storm came through. It was nice because I didn’t have to water anything, but I could have done without the hail and the excessive rain. We had a little flooding which may have washed away some grass seed that I put down a few days ago. Time will tell, I guess. I have some before and after photos along with some pictures of the hail. Check them out.

I took advantage of Kim being out of town to fix up my office. I’ve always liked the color blue, but the light blue color in the office wasn’t my favorite. Plus it’s the same color as one of the bedrooms upstairs, so I felt that there was a need for a change. So, I was lucky enough to find a can of paint in the basement that looked better to me, a nice gray color. Once the paint dried I realized that this very well could be the same color as our bedroom upstairs. Oh well, I like the color more than the light blue.

Once everything was completely painted, I started hanging up my posters and other office goods. I used Google Sketchup to draw the room and then layout where I wanted everything to go. I was then able to visualize how everything would look, and make adjustments, before putting a single screw into the walls. The colors make look similar in these photos, but they really are different. Check out this photo gallery to see pictures of the entire process.

Our first major project that we hired out is now complete, we have new windows! We started the search months ago and finally decided to go with the Toyota of the group. If that analogy doesn’t make sense, click the link above to refresh your memory. We no longer have any 100+ year old windows in our house (well at least not ones to the outside, there are a couple between the dining area and sunroom)!

Colorado Window Source installed six Amerimax windows for us and I couldn’t be happier. Their pricing was very fair and they even offered things that the other companies didn’t. I also couldn’t have asked for a better team of installers. The same guy who took the measurements for the windows installed them and already knew most of what I wanted. We had a couple of the older windows wrapped just like the ones that they were installing, some of which was done for no charge. I would highly recommend this company to anyone else in the area, and we may use them again for other projects.

Here is an picture of the front of the house before, and here is one after. Additional pictures can be found from around the house in this photo album.

What started off as cutting the grass and doing some weed eating quickly turned into a full day of work on Sunday. Once the yard was looking good again, we decided to start working on our landscaping. There were some huge bushes on the front of the house that were completely overgrown and appeared to never be properly cared for. We tried trimming them down but they looked worse than before. With no options left we decided to take them out. After lots of hard work including blisters, scratches, and one broken shovel, we had successfully removed 3 large bushes. We also transplanted a couple of tree like plants that were taking over the front of the house.

I’m guessing that this weekend, if not earlier, we will get started on landscaping the front of the house. I would like to make the planting beds a little more defined and possibly make them a little bigger. I have no idea what sort of plants we should get, but I’d like for them to stay small or grow slowly if possible. Feel free to leave any suggestions or send an email with ideas. Whatever we do I’m sure it is going to look much better than before. See for yourself by viewing the pictures I’ve added to the gallery from before and after…

Along with the basement project, we have other projects in mind for the house. First we are trying to get the remaining six original windows replaced, and hopefully the front door as well. We’ve had a few companies visit for a free estimate and price quote. I had no idea windows were so expensive! And to make it worse, the prices range between companies more than I would have thought. It’s the equivalent of choosing between Toyota, Lexus, and Bentley. I hope that analogy works. Anyway, feel free to leave any tips or tricks in the comments.

I am seriously flirting with the idea of finishing off the basement, and even attempting to do most of the work myself. I figure it can’t be that hard, and it’s probably about time I start learning to do some handy things. The first step in this adventure was downloading a copy of Google SketchUp. I’ve known about this program for along time, but never played with it until my dad showed me some plans of his for an expansion on their house. Now, armed with my own copy of the software, I just needed a few measurements to get started. Once I had those, I quickly began laying out the foundation of the basement. I still need to get some more measurements, but this is what I have so far…

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on this little project.

I doubt that I have to tell you this, but we have still been very busy with the house. We have made great progress in the last week and I think we have about 80 or 90 percent of the boxes emptied. One big thing left to do is get our closets and clothes organized. It will take some work, but hopefully we can get through that by the end of the week.

I ran into one very funky problem over the weekend. We were trying to replace the locks so that the same key would work for the front and back door. Unfortunately this was not the case when we moved in. In fact, we weren’t even given a key that worked for the front door at all! The problem I faced was the lock on the front door had some one way screws on it. These are the screws that go in just like normal, but cannot be removed (at least not easily). After messing with it for an hour and searching for advice from my dad along with the Internet, I stumbled upon a suggestion to use a center punch and a hammer to tap it loose. This method worked brilliantly and we now have matching locks on our doors.

Finally, a little commentary on the weather. It appears to be warming up a little bit, and I can see signs of grass for the first time since we moved to Denver. That’s right, over two weeks without a grass spotting! Just look at how much snow was still on the ground over the weekend. Despite the heat wave, we successfully built our first fire last night. I think Kim is addicted because she is already planning to build another one tonight.

Just a quick update on the house, before I return there to wait for the cable guy. We spent most of last night organizing the kitchen and taking all of the cups, utensils, pots, pans, etc. out of the boxes and putting them into drawers and cabinets. Things are really starting to come together, at least in the kitchen. I’m sure we’ll be spending a bunch more time this weekend organizing other rooms of the house. Hopefully we can have the majority of the boxes emptied by this time next week.

I’ve posted some additional pictures on flickr, and I hope to add more after the weekend.

Friday night was a relaxing night. We made spaghetti and watched some of Kim’s Sex And The City DVD. It actually isn’t a terrible show like I was expecting. We were a little tired from the night before, so didn’t stay up too late. We also needed to rest up for a big Saturday…

Saturday was our shop till you drop day, and I think I dropped a couple times. We got just about everything done though, so at least we won’t have to go back out. We started before noon and were still out at 7 or 8. Later that night we had Kim’s friend through work Amanda and her boyfriend Joel over to our place for some cards and drinks. It was a very fun night, hopefully we can do it again soon…

Sunday we finished up a couple more shopping things that we needed to do and I got my Christmas present from my parents, new tires for the car. Later on my hockey team beat the previously undefeated team in our league. The game ended in a shootout, which we dominated. I had a couple beers with the guys afterwards, and then that was the end of the weekend…

Oh yeah, I almost forgot and I’m not sure how. Kim and I checked out a two bedroom apartment in our building and fell in love with it. I think they want $825 a month for the two bedrooms, but we told her $700. She is supposed to get back with us, hopefully sometime soon. I’m ready to move into it now, it has everything we have now and even more. There is a dishwasher as well as a washer and dryer. Also has a security system, but I’m not sure if that is something you have to pay for or what, I’m not familiar with them. The kitchen in this unit is amazing, there is even a bar built in! The storage space is definitely more than we have, and with an extra room we can have our own office. I’m already sold on it no matter what price they say, I’m just trying to get it as low as possible. :)