Kitty Outhouse

Cat outhouse sign

So we have two new additions to the family, Marbles & Oreo, our pound rescue cats.  We already had two dogs, Lady & Merlin, so we now officially have a zoo.  We wanted to create an "attractive" covered litter box for our two new babies, and this is what we did.  We assembled a dog house bought at PetSmart, and  I hand painted a sign to make it more special.  The roof lifts off to clean the litter.  What do you think?

Kitty "outhouse", made from a dog house.

My backyard plan goes from my head to paper!

Lunch-time blog...my work gang ran errands at lunch, so here's a quick blog post at lunch.

I broke out my house survey and drew out the design for my backyard.  It is certainly not to scale, but it puts on paper the crazy ideas in my head.  Moving clockwise from 11 o'clock, it includes the side yard with a bamboo-shaded walkway and sweet potato vine ground cover, a lime tree, the garden shed, a vintage door trellis, a firepit, a hot tub (searching craigs list for this!), carport-turned pergola (inspiration picture below), patio table made of 2 vintage doors, wall-mounted buffet, bamboo living room furniture, headboard bench (as seen on the blog Confessions of a Curbside Shopaholic), magnolia tree, and new circular driveway with pergola in the current street-side yard.

Please excuse the crude drawing!  I'm obviously no artist with crayons!

The Plan for our Dream Backyard



Pergola Inspiration (from Lowes Home Magazine)



Chic Birdhouses

I painted some birdhouses for friends and family last year, and I think I'll incorporate a few painted birdhouses into my Chic Yard Makeover.  

Gardening Shed Birdhouse

Gardening Shed birdhouse (back)

Coffeehouse birdhouse for a friend

 

Beach Cottage Birdhouse for Father-in-law

Bait & Tackle Birdhouse for a fisher-friend

Wine Shop Birdhouse for a friend - this is actually the side view
of the Bait-Tackle Birdhouse above.
(My Wine-loving friend is married to my fisher-friend :-)

Never thought I'd be a Blogger, but here goes! Step One of my Salvage-Chic Backyard Makeover!

I have to admit, I never thought I'd be a blogger, but here I am with my first post...who knew?  I've become addicted to Confessions of a Curbside Shopaholic.  I eagerly await each new fabulous project she takes on and absolutely love the outdoor kitchen.  She has become my inspiration to create the Salvage-Chic Backyard of my Dreams!  My goal is to create an outdoor dining room for entertaining guests, and to create a great outdoor living area complete with chic salvage garden landscaping.  I'm a new blogger, so be kind!

The first step in the Dream Backyard is a Shed Makeover, because my shed was the eye-sore of my back yard - a a hideous old white aluminum.  Below is the before/after of the paint job.  I'm planning to add a vintage window with a shelf to the side, and hang some fun salvage chic decor.

Shed Before Paint - So Ugly!

Shed After Paint

Vintage Windows bought on Craigs List - one will go on the side of my shed.  Lots of options for using the rest!

Vintage Doors from Craigs List - Make a table? Make a Garden Trellis?  So many options!