New chairs for the backyard

I decided to ignore all advice to the contrary and go for the wooden Muskoka chairs. I just couldn't bring myself to buy the recycled plastic ones, even though I know they're lower maintenance. There's inherently more charm to the real wood chairs and I don't really care if the stuff in my yard fades and looks kind of dingy well loved.

Plus, I have two boys that I can force to do the restaining for the next decade at least.

Matthew and I were at Costco on Friday and happened across Muskoka chairs, so we picked up a couple of them. Yesterday he helped me unpack them and start the assembly. Unfortunately he lost interest fairly quickly and I was left on my own for much of the process.

The first chair was  bit of a pain to put together, but the second one was a breeze and I had them all assembled within a couple of hours. They're really comfortable to sit in, and I think that they're going to look terrific when I get them stained.

I discovered a patio design flaw yesterday when Alan cut the grass - the mulch that I put down around the hostas flew everywhere when he passed by it with the mower. So I pulled it out and put down some of the river rock that I had stockpiled behind the shed.

I like the look much better and it should be less maintenance than the mulch - a win-win situation.

The garden shed

I spent a long day on Sunday setting the flagstones in the the grass by the shed. It's all done now! I also managed to finish staining the front of the shed last week. The sides and back still aren't done, but we can't actually see them from the yard, so I'm not in a big rush to get them done. I'll let Matthew slowly pick away at them.

My mom was in and helped again on the weekend - she was a good sport and scraped the way-ward paint off of the windows and then cleaned them. They'd never been washed in the 13 years that we've owned this shed. Frightening, I know, but I can barely keep my children clean. Cleaning shed windows isn't even on my radar. The only problem with the clean windows is that I need to re-organize the junk inside the shed as you can see it so clearly now! 

We picked up some geraniums for the window boxes and  planted hostas that I had moved from the garden that used to be near our back patio. The plants really softened the look of the shed. 

It's such an inviting little nook in the yard. I pulled out a couple of plastic Adirondack chairs that we had stowed behind the shed and set them on the patio. I think I'll head out this weekend and pick up some wooden ones - I'd like to paint them bright red to contrast with the grey shed. 

So I have one small region of the yard finished up. Next up is getting some gardens in place adjacent the planned stone patio so I can move the bushes and perennials out of my vegetable gardens. I'd like to get some tomatoes in the ground!