Courtyard and Shed Progress

We have been working on the outside, hubs in his heavy equipment and me on my sewing machine. 

Making new Sunbrella pillows and a special tent that will be revealed later...Oh, and I have been doing some woodworking too with shingling and more.  Hubs on the excavator and building his amazing walls~our worlds have combined to create a really nice space outside. To refresh~ the courtyard was expanded to gain six more feet and it has made a huge difference in how it feels out here. The old space was very narrow due to the rose hedge that confined the space. 

Rose Hedges along the Courtyard last Fall
The roses were killed off during the winter.  So with the roses now gone, Justin suggested we just extend the pea gravel to the edge of the new wall that hubs built. I was thinking I would have some kind of border, a cutting garden or boxwood or hydrangeas, but this idea has proved to be wonderful. 

 If you look beyond the mess activity, you can see the new wall, as well as our saw table and "juice" lines leading up to the shed where we are busy rehabbing the thing.  Hubs has straightened it out, and Justin and I started to shingle it and now are almost done.  Shingling after a quick YouTube video and we did a pretty good job.  Its not that hard, and for most things you can find out how to do them by watching videos, why not?  Yesterday I tackled the right side and then the back of the shed, installing the trim boards as well as the shingles all by myself. Look how proudly it stands up on the ledge.

This is the shocking BEFORE pic of the "ramshackle shed". 

 Hahahah!!! OMG, I mean would you think it could be salvaged? 

 I thought it was worth a try.

We used all the inner boards but did replace the two side walls with new plywood.

Then we used the least expensive white cedar shingles at Home Depot to do the siding.

We will install the screen door I found at Brimfield last year, but never used.

For now the courtyard remains a work zone, but we hope to make great progress

during this weekend of the Fourth, as we have a "staycation" at home.

I also love the feeling of being under the umbrellas when outside, so I searched and 

found another matching white ten foot market umbrella.  The old blue umbrella offered shade

to us when we used the saw and I loved how it felt.

 Two umbrellas feels more festive and kind of like a resort!

I was lucky to find the same umbrella at the Christmas Tree shop, and at a great price too.

The ten foot umbrellas can be very pricey, but this one is a reasonable $69.95.

 The flags and buntings have come out to honor our nation's birthday. 

We will be firing up the grill for burgers and steaks, but rest assured we will

 be hammering it out on the old shed, so I can put the saw away and reclaim 

the space for the rest of the summer.

Happy Fourth of July everybody! 

I will be catching some Wimbledon action in addition to the grilling 

and the shingling~ makes for a great American holiday!

 An old sketch I drew up years ago of an imagined outbuilding is a bit 

grander than what I am rehabbing and creating now.  But it just inspires me

that I have been able to take such a crappy building and breathe life into it

to create the little garden shed I have always wanted.

Yeah, it was bad.

 And now its looking soooo good!

Don't you agree?