Evolution of a Back Porch

Looking through my iPhoto albums, I was amused by my early attempts to make my back patio appealing. And by what shithole my house was when I bought it - good thing I saw the diamond (ok, cubic zirconia) in the rough!

Day of walk through in June 2009. I think the stump in the yard was what sold me.

Rake the dirt yard, add some kitchen chairs and a few spikey, colorful flowers and presto-chango!
Still a shithole.

Do the cute flowers distract you from the peeling paint??

Porch 2.0 - removed the front railing and repainted. So happy. November 2010.

Final product, July 2012. New inviting chairs & pillows, more plants and a lawn!!
Now I actually sit out here.

Return of the spikey flowers. I love these things.

Close up of the succulent planter I put together that's on the front of the porch. Plus a peak at what the dirt yard was transformed into.

Laying a Brick Paver Patio

One of the projects I've had on my list for the past year was to put some of my old brick pavers to use (the ones that were pulled up in the backyard when I landscaped) and build a nice, small patio to store my garbage bins on. One of those projects that is boring to everyone else, but has made me so happy ever since I finished it.

Repurposed, used brick pavers make for a cute patio.

Previously, the bins rested on a bed of jagged little landscaping rocks which are not only ugly, but they were difficult to roll the bins on and off of and even worse, so many huge ugly weeds sprout up through the rocks. This is one of the few times, and it turns out the ONLY part of my house, that I don't have a before picture of.

How to Lay Pavers - The Non-Professional's Guide
This is the "I just need it to function" method. If I were serious, I would have made the ground completely level and used string and sticks and levels to make sure. And used something to cut a few bricks to size so my border doesn't have a gap at the back.

Instead, I worked off memory from a 3 part YouTube video I watched over a year ago on how to lay brick pavers and decided to see how it went. Because it was just too hard to spend 5 minutes watching the videos again.

Step 1: Prep Work
I paid my landscaper to dig out about four inches of dirt and rock because he does a good job of eyeballing level. And I learned when I had to dig a hole to bury my cat Boo that I hate digging.


Step 2: Lay Bricks
After I had a level, clear areas to work in, I poured about a quarter inch of landscaping sand (about $3/bag - I needed 6 bags for my roughly 5x7foot area). I didn't do it all at once - I just poured a little bit for the immediate area I was working on b/c it's nicer to work with while it's damp. Yes, it comes out of the bag damp. And yes, I'm just now realizing as I type this that I could have used the hose to re-moisten it if I had poured more.

Next I laid a border with my larger 12x12 pavers, tapping each into place with a rubber mallet.

Then I figured out a simple pattern for the brick sized pavers, again, using the mallet to tap them as close together as possible.

Last, I put a border around the border (see pictures) to try and hold everything in place.

Click to enlarge - left side has sand in
the gaps, right side still needs sand.

Step 3: Add Sand
The final step is pouring sand into all the gaps and using a broom (and my hands) to brush it into the spaces between all the bricks. I did this twice - I noticed after a day that the first round of sanding had settled and I had more gaps again.

Step 4: Curb Appeal
Ok, that wasn't the FINAL step. The final step was putting mulch/tanbark around the border b/c I didn't build all the way to the fence (because my landscaper didn't clear that far).

The final product:

It's done! I really like how the aged and used bricks look.

The brick patio at work - a nice home for all my garbage bins.

Total Cost: About $20 for bags of sand and $11 for a rubber mallet. Materials were free, however if you have to buy new pavers, these are about $.60/each.

Landscaping - 6 Month Check Up

This one will be short on words, heavy on pictures. I've loved driving up to my house since I had the front yard done in December 2011, but since spring arrived, I've loved it even more! The yard has been so vibrant and beautiful with all the plants in bloom. See for yourself:

Front yard - May 2012. Spring has sprung!!
Still waiting for the crepe myrtle to bloom (the tree in the foreground)

Backyard - Install vs. 6 Months Later (click images to enlarge)

Apologies for not taking pictures in the same lighting!

Backyard - January 2012 - right after install

Backyard May 2012 - new chairs! No lemons right now though.

Backyard - January 2012, right after install

Backyard - May 2012. Not a huge difference yet - the backyard gets
less sun so except for the Kangaroo's Paws, things aren't growing quite as fast as the front yard.

Front Yard - Install vs. 6 Months Later

Front riverbed - December 2011

Front yard riverbed - May 2012

Front walkway - December 2011

Front walkway - May 2012

Front walkway - December 2011

Front yard - May 2012, dog walkers' view.

Front yard - December 2011 - right after install

Front yard - May 2012, driveby view.

Read the original post about my backyard makeover
Read the original post about the front yard landscaping

Refinancing My House

I've owned my home for almost three years and I got a decent rate on my home loan at 5.25% for a 30 year fixed rate loan, but it could have been better (rates actually went up the month before I bought and I hadn't locked the rate yet).

In January, I contacted my mortgage specialist and found out what my refinancing options were. I decided to go with a No Cost 30 Year Fixed Rate loan at 4.25% which will lower my monthly payment by about $260 - woo-hoo!

It's called "No Cost" because you accept a slightly higher rate in return for the the closing costs of the loan being paid by the bank. However it's not completely "no cost" - you have to pay for an appraisal ($475) and I temporarily had to deposit $2000 into my new escrow account until my current lender sends me a check for what I currently have in escrow and essentially pays me back.

As mentioned, I had to get an appraisal in order to refinance, so I got that ball rolling in late February. I was a little nervous because appraisals have not been that great lately and many homes are getting appriased below their value. The fact that my house is a short sale and I bought it for cheap (by California standards) made me slightly less nervous because I couldn't imagine them appraising it below what I paid. I don't know why, but I feel weird about writing what I paid for my house online, so sorry folks.

My appraisal came back (eventually...there was some drama and a redo) and it was appraised at $25,000 above what I paid for it which made me happy (I've put about $16k into improvements so I would have liked to see a little higher than that). I think my house is worth more than what that final appraisal is, but I'm not trying to sell right now so I was just stoked it wasn't below what I paid which is what other people are experiencing. But I already told you it was cheap, so I really have nothing to complain about.

Refinance Bonuses
So besides getting a lower mortgage rate and dropping my monthly payment, because of my house being appriased for more than I paid for it, I now officially own enough of my home to not have to pay mortgage insurance every month. Second Woo-hoo of this post! So my monthly payment drops even more. Which means: hello surf trips!!

Both pictures - Cabo San Jose, Mexico - March 2012.

My refi took a few months and finally wrapped up at the end of March. The second bonus of my refi is that I got one month off from mortgage payments! I didn't know what to do with all that extra money so I moved it to my savings account really quick (you know, the Surf Trip Fund) before I was tempted to spend it on things I don't need, like more clothes, shoes, or another surfboard. Although I'm going to use some of it to buy myself a sweet mid century modern arm chair. I just have to wait until I run across the perfect one. I wanted this one, but was two days too late and someone else bought it first - boo.

My dream mid-century modern arm chair.

The next time I post, it will be to give you an update on how awesome my yards are looking now the that plants have matured and spring as sprung and put everything in bloom.