2025 Update — Last spring, my wife and I came up with a dream landscape and hardscape design to complement our in ground swimming pool – and we partnered with a number of local contractors to help bring that vision to life. It was a huge undertaking. In the end, though (photo below), we were […]
Landscaping
DIY Outdoor Playhouse Part 3: Lighting, Decor & Monkey Bars
2025 Update: In the initial installments of my DIY wooden playhouse adventure, we covered the first four steps of building a backyard playhouse from scratch. First, imbue yourself with self-confidence. Then imagine, plan, gather your materials, put on your work pants – and start building. At the end of Step 4, we left the playhouse […]
How to Build a Playhouse, Part 2: Framing, Foundation and Roofing
2025 Update: The first installment of my five-step rookie carpenter’s guide to playhouse building covered Steps 1-3, which guide you through building the confidence you need to pull it off, concocting the playhouse in your imagination, and then putting it all down on paper and gathering your materials and tools. But that’s all the easy […]
A Rookie Carpenter’s Five-Step Guide: How to Build a Playhouse – Part 1
2025 Update: When my daughter Ruby went through her first playhouse stage a few years ago when she was five, I did what I always do: I headed over to Amazon to see what there was to see in that department. Normally, Amazon is a magical repository containing exactly what I need at any given […]
Belgian Block and Pavers – Dressing Up an Asphalt Driveway
2025 Update… My asphalt driveway was assaulted. I was hoping for the best, but we had construction trucks in and out several times during a pretty significant renovation project, and at some point the asphalt started to crack a bit on some edge areas — and then just continued to crumble. It wasn’t pretty. And the […]
Building a Removable Wood Fence Section and Gate
2024 Update – When we enclosed my yard with a cedar fence 11 years ago, it seemed like a good idea to create a removable section using a single (but ultra-sturdy) removable fence post so we could get a truck inside. You never know when you might need to get back there, right? So I […]
My Collapsing Paver Walkway
2024 Update… With each passing week, my paver walkway continued to cave in – and I was frankly getting more than a little frustrated. I was definitely worried about someone tripping and getting hurt because the walkway was becoming less and less stable, and even worse: I had no idea how to make the burrowing […]
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