We were busy bees this weekend. And as some of you noticed in yesterday’s post, in the picture where John was playing the role of the deck, we had already started to clear out the liriope/weeds/bushes that were going on in our future-deck spot.
You might remember that we started with this:
The first step was to call Miss Utility to make sure digging things up and building a deck wouldn’t endanger ourselves (or our house) by potentially hitting an electrical line or a water pipe or any other booby trap that might be lurking below the dirt. Thankfully we got the all clear. So we transplanted that big bush (seen above hugging the side of the house) to a spot in desperate need of some greenery: the left side of our house. It looks kinda lonely by itself, but right now we’re filing this under “it’s better than nothing.” Someday we’ll get him a line of friends (the same bushes – called Gold Dust- grow along the bedroom addition and look great, so we have high hopes that this spot works for them too).
Next up, digging up liriope. Our favorite thing! Not. But at least we had our favorite thing to cheer us on: Burger. Here he is giving the “glad I’m not the one who has to dig up all that liriope” look.
I think it took a little over an hour of digging (with Clara inside napping with her monitor on blast by the door) for the space to go from this…
…to this.
We dumped the dug-up monkey grass on our side yard in hopes that some of it will survive and fill in (that stuff is crazy-hardy). Also, under the balcony are pallets that we’ll get rid of when we demo that thing out.
Unfortunately the clearing task didn’t end there. We also had to take care of this weird assortment of bricks, weeds, and lawn ornaments that we lovingly call “the AC shrine.”
We can’t quite figure out what its purpose was – besides maybe putting some leftover bricks to use. They were arranged kind of like some permanent four-square game, with the stone pagoda in the middle. It earned the name “the AC shrine” because between the mini-temple and unusual layout we decided it must have some greater, cosmic meaning while being located right in front of – you guessed it – the AC.
In digging it up we didn’t find sacrificial animal bones, but we did discover that the bricks were laid two levels deep. Awesome. It gave us flashbacks of this and this. Yes, we’ve done our fair share of brick-digging-up around here.
Around 160 bricks later, we had everything dug up. Oh yeah, don’t mind the pile of paver stones in the background. Those were leftovers from the patio project. Guess now you know where we’ve been hiding them for the past 12 months. But we’ve got plans for them someday…
Several sweat-inducing wheelbarrow loads later, to take them to our brick stockpile next to our carport – future use still unknown (but possibly for when we convert the carport into a garage), the area was officially clear. Well, clear of bricks at least.
A bit more digging later, and it was also mostly clear of weeds.
We still have to move our paver collection, demo the existing balcony, and get rid of the pallets it’s shielding – but the area is much more ready for a deck than it was last weekend.
Now we just have to:
- continue weighing the pros and cons of different decking materials (we’ll share a lot more on that when we make a final decision)
- get some estimates for our materials
- get that dang permit thing taken care of
Oh yes, and then we have to actually:
- build a deck
Haha. You know we’ll keep you posted! Oh and speaking of keeping you posted, we called our power company to make sure those electrical meters on the side of the house won’t sabotage our deck plans (we have heard in some places they have to be at a certain height so people reading them don’t have to crouch – which would mean no deck) but thankfully our meter readers are happy to crouch, so there’s no issue with them! Wahoo! One of them is actually not active anymore (the extra low one) and the other one will be about 2.5′ above the bottom of the deck (and since they do most of their reading remotely now, it just needs to be accessed to be serviced, which they say is no problem at that height). Whew. And we’ll paint it to blend in like we did at our first house.
Have you guys been clearing things or digging up any areas around the house? Did you find anything cool while digging? We once found an old milk bottle cap at our first house…
… and actually hung it up on our gallery wall to commemorate it.
Someone tell me they found a box full of money or gold bars or something. Or a dinosaur bone.
Psst- In one of our quickest giveaways in history, we hit 10,000 entries within six hours of posting it, so we’ve already announced this week’s winner here.
Amanda says
Best. Comments. Ever. It was almost as fun reading these comments as it was reading the post! Nicely done Young House Love!
My uncle replaced the old kitchen cabinets in my grandmother’s house in Michigan about 10 years ago and found a diamond engagement ring! Since the house has been in my family for several generations my grandmother took one look at the ring and said, “I remember when your great grandmother lost this ring! She must have lost it when they were hanging these old things!”
I still love going there and knowing that my grandfather grew up in that house and that most of the flowers and trees growing in the yard were planted by my great grandmother herself decades ago. <3
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s so sweet!
xo,
s
Justine says
While not a pile of money, last year while cleaning up this trash magnet ditch in our back yard we found a $10. I mean we had to did through a pile of losing scratch tickets, plastic bags, and McDonalds wrappers but it was quite an exciting reward.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahooo! That’s ten times better than finding a dollar!
xo,
s
Amanda says
Another little story…I grew up on a horse farm and my dad would always give us a dollar for every horse shoe we would find in the pastures. Since we had 24 horses at one time I’m pretty sure there is a gold mine still waiting to be found by the grandkids! lol.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s so much fun.
xo,
s
Anya says
I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and while I have some aspirations to DIY I never quite get around to much of it (as evidenced by my non-garden beds so far this year). But liriope digging is a strong suit of mine as I’ve been slowly digging up those eye-sores and replacing them with peonies and hydrangeas at my house!
I’m wondering what you do with all the dirt/plants/etc. that you have dug up in your yard? We have some raised beds (aka weed breeders) that take up a whole side of our yard and need to take out the railroad ties that is the structure and about 1.5′ of dirt (aka weed-infested combination of bedliners, mulch, and some dirt mixed in) that we have to get rid of. If it was good dirt I’d re-use it in my garden but it’s not and I just have to throw it out. Do you call for a large item pickup or how do you deal with all your DIY-miscellany?
Secondly I have a deck material recommendation: Ipe (aka Ironwood). It’s more expensive than the traditional pressure-treated but it’s so hard that it takes almost no maintenance – a thin oil-coat every 2 years and you’re good to go. It’s HARD so you need to use a wet saw, but it looks stunningly gorgeous when done – here was my inspiration for our deck (which we did not do DIY however…): http://pinterest.com/pin/76279787408080120/
Keep up the fun!
YoungHouseLove says
We have a large lot (almost an acre) so we have some wooded corners in the back where we dump stuff like extra dirt or rocks or old plants that we aren’t sure about- haha. And thanks so much for the Ipe recommendation! Sounds awesome!
xo,
s
Stacy says
I ditch old plants on our property that isn’t being used for anything, but that has come back to bite me in recent years.
I have a lilac bush that decided that it wasn’t ready to die, so it’s now growing over the backside of the fence for the backyard. My fence is 6′ tall and the stupid lilac bush is a good 8′. It blooms every year despite not getting nearly enough sun and the only reason I’ve left it is because I cannot smell the stinky flowers from the house. If I could smell the flowers, I would take a hack saw to it and make sure it was dead.
On the other side of the yard I have yucca plants growing out of composted leaves. We’ve tried DIY compost bins only to find that they are magnets to yellow jackets and the regular compost bin we have don’t compost leaves fast enough, so we dump the leaves in the side yard. Well, yucca plants apparently are not picky about where they take root, so I have 2 of them growing under all the pine, oak and birch trees. Like the lilac bush, the yuccas get hardly any sun but those too bloom every year.
The moral of this story is: If you don’t want to deal with unwanted plants a second time, call your local town or city hall and find out where you can properly dispose them. In my case the plants are not a big deal as they don’t spread, but it is annoying that I went through all the effort to take them out only to have them come back.
Brenda K says
In 2010, we found a newspaper from 1981 still wrapped in delivery plastic under our our overgrown camellia bush. It was in mint condition!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Liz says
Trex decking. Hands down. It lasts for-freaking-ever. And a bonus for us (living in the Pac NW) it was invented by a Washington State University professor :P
Ellen says
I just adore your blog! I love all things renovation & even have a chi named after food (Taco)! I just have to tell you… my family company, Vintage Woodworks, sells AZEK Cellular PVC deck & porch boards. They are not the cheapest option, but they are the BEST option for most projects! Seriously! So low-maintenance, no visible hardware, last forever! I’m not posting this to plug my company… I am just telling you if I were building a deck, this is absolutely what I’d use. My parents (who started this company that I now operate with them) replaced their porch floor with the AZEK Porch Boards, and have it all on video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G57LmPCr6M8. Porch floors are a little different than a deck, and the AZEK Deck Boards are wider than the porch boards, but same basic product. Find out more at http://www.vintagewoodworks.com/azekdeckboards.html. Happy deck building!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the info Ellen! We have definitely gotten a lot of recommendations so we can’t wait to see where we’ll end up!
xo,
s
Missy says
Here’s my theory about the shrine. The AC drips water and makes the ground swampy. So they put bricks around it to stop run off. The sliders used to have steps and there is a path down that way through the monkey grass. When the addition was put on the steps were removed and the balcony put on. The pagoda was a gift the folks didn’t like so they put it where they didn’t see it all the time but if Great Aunt Ethel came over it was there. LOL How’s that for making up stories and starting gossip?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it! It’s actually pretty far in front of the AC (can’t tell from the pics) and while we were digging we didn’t hit any water, so we think it might have just been decorative as opposed to for any runoff. There were other pagotas in random gardens and beds around the house, so I think the previous owners just liked “garden art” and sculptures and stuff!
xo,
s
rebecca says
I’m an archaeologist, so I’ve dug up a lot of exciting things! (honest)
I think my favorite was when I was 9, and my friend and I dug a “play hole” and found a fence from about 50 years prior.
That and when I dug up the remains of someone’s latrine at a state park excavation.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s funny!
xo
s
Marianne says
We found an Indian arrowhead and pelt scraper on the farm I grew up on. My dad kept them and they are in our china cabinet.
Sabrina says
I think it is so funny that you guys were looking for sacrificial animals under there. We were looking for the same thing under our paver/brick mess. Still haven’t finished yet so you never know! *bwahahahaha* (that’s my best scary laugh) There are all these weird hallways and storage rooms in our downstairs that we are knocking down. I am so afraid a body will fall out during demo lol
Hannah says
My parents’ house is Victorian (UK) and when the front garden was dug up to create outside access to the cellar half of a lead toy horse was found! I kept it in a ‘treasure’ box. I’m now thinking, on reflection, perhaps the lead could have been dangerous?! I still love it.
YoungHouseLove says
No way- that’s so cool!
xo,
s
Jessica says
Hey, before you toss those pallets google “pallet garden” and check out some of the images that pop up. They can go vertical and pretty up a narrow space.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, that’s a fun idea! They’ve been outside since the previous owners left them out in the sun/rain for a few years (so sadly they’re all degraded and rotting).
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Last fall my best friend and her husband were doing some landscaping in the backyard of their newly purchased home and he dug up a live grenade! He was VERY lucky that the grenade didn’t detonate, but the police and bomb squad came and evacuated the neighborhood giving them a chance to meet all their new neighbors! Here’s the news story – http://www.9news.com/dontmiss/216744/630/Man-digs-up-live-grenade-in-backyard-
YoungHouseLove says
OH MY GOSH THAT’S SO SCARY! So glad he was ok!
xo,
s
Samantha says
We dug up a bunch of old bushes that were taking over our front porch last year and found an unopened (still in the little yellow delivery bag) Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper chronicling the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky debacle. That thing was in pretty good shape for being 10 years old!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!!
xo
s
Leah Whitford says
A friend was taking down the bee-u-ti-ful balloon valances (1980’s retro?) in her new house and when she went to take the stuffing out (you know- that made it so puffy and pretty), she cound $3,000! Seems the former owners forgot that they hidden their cash there!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- that’s a ton of money to be hiding in curtains!
xo,
s
Tiffany says
When cleaning out our attic we found pictures of the guy who lived here and we sent them to his dauughter. He had passed away (actually died in this home). We also found an old backgammon game and video game system as well!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, it’s so sweet to send them to his daughter!
xo,
s
Dominique says
When we were digging holes for our new fence, my husband hit a “rock” with the post hole digger….he whacked at it a few times and then reached in to dig it out by hand. It turned out to be a beer bottle from Baltimore from around 1850, and not a chip in it from the digger! Now it resides in our cabinet of curiosities…
YoungHouseLove says
No way! That’s amazingly old!
xo,
s
Pamela says
My mom was blessed to receive an Extreme Makeover from ABC on her home in 2004 (Ali Family, Season 2, Episode 6, Original Airdate 10/31/04). Underneath the house, the crew found an old banjo and some other assorted items, like bottles and documents. The discovery actually made it into the show when it was broadcast and I think the designers wanted to incorporate some of the items into the home decor.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow – that’s amazing! I love that!
xo,
s
Selena says
Loving your progress toward building a deck! As others have said, no worries on monkey grass survival- it’s tough! Good luck getting your permits and making the final decisions on materials, etc. We added a front porch (wish I could post a pic) to our 1960 ranch style home a few years back. When the guys tore off the little stoop, they discovered the stoop had been filled in with large rocks off of the chimney from the old home place where my great-grandparents lived on this same property. The rocks were so large and beautifully colored, the brick masons asked if we’d like our two steps built out of those. I’ve been forever grateful that they thought of blending those rock steps with our red common brick porch. It’s just beautiful and a great memory for all my mom’s side of the family when they come to visit. I love reading your blog, John, Sherry, Clara and Burger :)
Andrea says
I’m late to the commenting party on this post. I read this yesterday, then received my monthly copy of Better Homes and Gardens for May last night. They have a great article/feature on a narrow deck and connection to a patio space. I tried to go on there website to find it, no luck. Nothing on Pinterest either. Any chance you get this mag? It was a great layout, furniture space planning, even a planter box like you mentioned, while adding some privacy. Just might give you some ideas. Have a great day!
YoungHouseLove says
I’m totally a subscriber and others have mentioned it by my copy of this month’s mag either never came or is somehow missing (did Clara hide it?) so I’ll have to check it out at Barnes & Noble!
xo,
s
Andrea says
Oh!! I hate when that happens! I love BH&G!! Wish their website had more of the magazine content. Not sure if you are super private about your email address, but I can scan it and email it to you if you want. I have it right here.
P.S… along the lines of what we find in our homes… when I bought my home a few years ago, my new neighbors told me two teenage boys used to live in the house. I was cleaning out the storage building in the back yard, and found a small bag of pot! Guess they forgot about it! :) My neighbors and I just laughed and laughed.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks! Do you mind scanning it and posting it on our Facebook page? Then we can see it and others can check it out too! I’d love to see it! But no worries if that’s too much trouble!
xo,
s
Andrea says
Scanned to FB. It’s a great space. Hope it helps with a few ideas!
Have a great week!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Andrea! It’s awesome!
xo,
s
Megan says
My dad & husband were repairing the front door threshold and found a super old dog tag under in a cavity under our concrete front steps (no dog bones attached, thankfully). The dog’s name was Benjamin and the address on the tag was about a block from our house. We still have it and I love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s sweet!
xo,
s
Alison says
I’m so excited to watch this project underway and to eventually see the finished product. It makes wish we had a house even more. What a great use you are making of the space you have.
shelly says
Sweet area for your deck! Can’t wait to see! We dug up a wooly mammoth shoulder in my parent’s yard in IN. Also, turn in your deck permit application way earlier than you want to build because it takes a while to get ok’d. Ours in IL is extremely picky so we’ve had to re-turn it in twice. *fingers crossed*
Good Luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! So crazy about the wooly mammoth!
xo,
s
Beth says
When we moved into a new house when I was 13 years old, my parents found a stack of Playboys in the attic & some marijuana plants growing in the backyard. They didn’t tell me this story until I was in my 20’s. It seems they didn’t want to explain these things to a 13 year old girl!
Off topic: your blog has been such an inspiration. I have made both a no sew crib skirt and no sew curtains for my baby’s nursery. My next project will be a gallery wall. I have been searching for my collection of all different, but all white, frames at goodwill, salvation army store, and garage sales. Thanks for all you do!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! And thanks for the kind words- you’re so sweet Beth!
xo,
s
JK says
I’m in the middle of cleaning out and remodeling my boyfriend’s parent’s NJ house that we inherited and found a ton of stuff in the crawl space last week. I was giddier about finding that than I would be about magically finding a $500 Crate&Barrel gift card on our front step (my bf doesn’t understand it one bit! haha).
The contents of the old brown bag half covered in dirt: an old green glass Squirt soda bottle, a glass Planters jar, glass Coke bottles, a glass Millstead Farms milk jug, Ball mason jars, a couple glass beer bottles, and next to the bag was an awesome ceramic 3 gallon pickling jug that is going to find new life as a planter!
This almost makes me want to volunteer to “clean” my grandma’s basement/yard in Madison, NJ (about 10 minutes from where Sherry grew up if I remember correctly!) to see what I can find in her 100+ year home!
PS – We didn’t find a box of cash buried outside, but we did find 50k hidden in his mom’s closet!
YoungHouseLove says
No way! That’s so cool! Say hi to Madison for me!
xo,
s
Firesparx says
We built our house a couple years ago on a 30 acre farm property that’s been in the family for over 100 years. During the construction I found pieces of an old china bowl. I was able to trace it back to the late 1800s thanks to the Internet and the markings on the bottom. Other things we found: square nails (late 1890s), old gears, Orange Crush bottle circa 1950s, shotgun shells and beer cans representing practically every decade. I felt like an archeologist!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!!
xo
s
Christy says
Found a empty piggy bank from the World’s fFair when it was here in the 80s. We found it about 10 years ago. Got it displayed . . .
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so cool!
xo,
s
Maggie says
Strangest thing I’ve found in our garden so far is a 5. One of those numbers that you put on a gatepost. But our home is built on what used to be part of Liverpool Zoo, the previous owners found lots of monkey skeletons! Eeeek! Have to say that I still live in hopes we might find one – would be a fun accessory for Halloween!
YoungHouseLove says
Woah- that’s so crazy!
xo,
s
Jonesypie says
Our dog dug up a 14 karat gold ring! it appears to be a man’s wedding band.
Love your blog, by the way :) My husband and I live in Seattle and bought our first house two and a half years ago. It is a 1914 craftsman and we are DIYing around here as well.
So far we have gutted the living room, built a fence, insulated pipes, and torn up carpet. Next project- dining room!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!
xo
s
DeNacho says
i’m sure you’ve already considered it, but that area seems like a great opportunity for either a white or brightly colored shade sail similar to what The Brick House did: http://www.the-brick-house.com/category/patio/#
YoungHouseLove says
I love that blog – it was a genius solution! We get a good amount of shade from the big trees right behind the fence (and the little guy right next to the patio), but it’s always a fun option to consider!
xo,
s
Emily C. says
We found a woman’s wedding set when we were demo’ing the master closet! No word yet if it’s real (its sitting on my dresser). I feel bad for whoever lost it, that’s why we haven’t done anything with it.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow!
xo,
s
Sammi says
Sorry, I know this post is almost a year old, but I’ve been slowly working my way through your blog from the beginning for inspiration for our first home (my fiancé and I are absolutely enamored with everything you guys do).
I couldn’t help but smile when you found the bottlecap. See, the house I grew up in had this huge berm off to the side of it, so when I was about ten or eleven the neighbor and I decided to dig around in it. I don’t remember what we were doing (we used to build homes for worms so it was probably something like that) and found an old beer bottle. We thought that was the coolest thing (my mom had told us the property had belonged to a farmer, so surely it was from him, right?) and dug away that whole afternoon looking for other cool goodies. Well, eventually we got called in for dinner so we left everything as it was to finish the next day. About halfway through the meal, we heard a huge crash outside and flew out the door, only to find that our neighbor had been trying to mow his lawn and the berm and had gotten his ride-on mower stuck a good foot and a half in our dig site. Boy were we in trouble… After my dad pulled it out with his truck, we had to fill it back in and apologize profusely to the neighbor. Needless to say, that was the end of our archeology careers!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha so funny!
xo,
s