My old house
I live in an older neighborhood (from the 50’s), close to 290 and the 610 loop. Few original owners are left and for a long time there were lots of renters, which is never a good thing. The kids of the original owners finally became tired of being landlords for crappy tenants and sold the homes (a good thing for the most part). I have persevered. The house is close to family and I have put in a lot of work to the house. Since I’m pretty handy, I have done a bunch of the work myself, but I’m looking for some one to do some sheet rock work (which I hate) in the fall…if you know anyone good, let me know.
For a long time, my neighbors probably thought “She does what?” for a living, I never did anything with the yard. I’ve done a lot of yard work in the last 3 years. I had a new chain link fence installed and planted a bunch of different vines along it, something is always blooming. We built a fire pit and 200 square feet of vegetable beds. Planted citrus trees and shrubs. I had the driveway widened and ramped up to the front door. I edged the drive with Gray Dove stone and back filled to level the lawn. Learned a lesson…do not use landscape mix to level the lawn…it is too soft and keeps on sinking…but damn, it makes the grass grow like crazy.
One thing that kept bugging me was the side gate. Since I am a “frugal” person and didn’t want to pay for a new gate, I left the old 4 foot gate in place. I figured I would either live with it, find one cheap (or free) or come up with another solution. Well, it was another solution. After some thought, I figured that an old wooden door would be cool, but that would mean hinges. I tried to figure out how to make hinges work on the metal post. Nothing, I came up with, was going to work. I needed inspiration. I went to one of my favorite places to shop for “frugal” fixer-upper projects, Habitat for Humanity Restore. https://www.habitatnwhc.org/restore/restore You never know what you’ll find, sometimes it’s nothing, but shopping there supports a great cause and things are priced for the “frugal” minded person. If you are into recycling this is a great place. You can donate things you’re replacing (doors, trim, kitchens, baths, furniture, fixtures, windows , etc) or “junk” from your shed (1/2 boxes of nails, extra tiles, odd bricks, etc). You can hire people for your plumbing project from here! If you’re doing a major over haul, they will come do the tear out for you (what a neat tax write off!). I found a great door from the 30’s that I loved, but it was way over my $50.00 budget for the project. For junk removal services, hire EZ Staten Island Junk Removal | EZSIJR from here. So, I poked around some more and found a set of louvered, bifold doors for $20.00. It was the perfect size, in great shape and fit in my car. I decided to bolt it straight to the frame of the old gate and not have to deal with the hinge issue at all. I picked up 3 cans of spray paint and bolts at my other favorite do-it yourself place, Turner Hardware. https://www.turnerhardware.com/ If you want an old-fashioned hardware store that has everything, this is the place. It ain’t fancy and the prices are great considering the service you get. Lots of contractors shop there, so you know the price is right. My buddy, Phil, always has the solution to my problem. At this point, I had spent less than $40 bucks on this project. Here is what it looked like before and after.
I think I will paint the post to match the siding. I’ll start looking for something that I can add as a “knob” to make this “door” really pop. Send us some pics of your “frugal” solutions, so we can share them. mary@rcwnurseries.com My next project is an outdoor shower…now, what can I use as a non splintering deck…cheap…