Saturday Shots 4.3

Signs of Spring








Every year about this time I get the notion into my head that I'm a stone mason. Sometimes it's a stone wall, sometimes it's a brick walk. This year I tackled that outdoor kitchen.

Okay, so it's not what you'd normally imagine an outdoor kitchen to be, but when you're on a budget that allows for $0 to be spent and you've got more rocks on hand than you could possibly ever use you do what you can.

The goal is to build the wall up to the grill's side ledge height and cap it off with a countertop of some kind. Eventually water and a sink would be great but that'll be another year's project.

And look at me go green with that recycled dog food bag acting as weed deterrent in there. I've found that it's the best thing ever invented for weed control and we have more of those than we could possibly use, too.

18 comments:

Flea said...

Way cool! Dog food bags can be used as weed deterrent? And the raccoons don't tear them up when they smell them? I'd be afraid of wildlife tearing it up. Good to know that works!

Oh, pretty wall!

Anonymous said...

I'm just trying to get past the HUGE swingset. Your kids are Luh-key!

Don Mills Diva said...

Look how big and lovely your back yard is - the kids must love it.

Deanne said...

I love your handy work! It looks great! Look out Gore, here comes Karen 'cause she's goin' green! :)

pb&j in a bowl said...

Nice. Wanna come over and build one for me?

Andrea said...

I wish I had some of those rocks laying around here!! It looks great!!

Unknown said...

I'm so jealous that you just have rocks like this laying around your property. Flat rocks like that, suitable for a wall, cost a lot! Are you putting anything in between the rocks to keep them from falling down? Great job, BTW!
TTYS - Sniz

caramama said...

Don't you love outdoor projects?!?! It looks like spring at your house. Good luck with the outdoor kitchen!

Maria said...

Karen, an outdoor kitchen sounds great! Don't give up on the idea. Just work on it a little at a time and show pics of it when you're done:)

Burgh Baby said...

Really? Dog food bags? I'm totally returning the weed block I bought earlier this week for our hillside. It'll take me no time to collect enough dog/cat food bags to cover the whole thing.

The wall looks great and yay! for daffodils!

Cynthia said...

Wow, a back yard! We just have a small patio in The Big City, but I love it!

Laski said...

All that on a $0 budget??? You need your own HGTV show!

imbeingheldhostage said...

I dunno-- I might be tempted to just build my house around that grill. It's far lovelier than the cooker the military has loaned us. I could grill all my dinners...

Tootsie Farklepants said...

Hey, at least you're building it! We just talk about doing it. Although, talking about it works with that $0 budget thing.

Look at all of that land!

Cecily R said...

I want to come play in your yard!!! And roll down that hill!

Your stone wall building skills are impressive!!!

Wineplz said...

looks like you've got a really good start on it! I'm a wee-bit jealous as I don't have huge slabs of rocks hanging around. Instead I have random chunks buried in my yard and I find them whenever I create a new gardening project. I don't even have enough to edge my front flower beds.

And who knew about the dog food bags? :) In a pinch, a wayward grill cover kills most vegetation under it after like 3 days.

Debbie @ Three Weddings said...

I love that idea. I'd like to get one of those fancy kitchen grills, but it's not in our budget. I like how it block the grill off except for the front. I get nervous the kids will get hurt when we are grilling and they are outside playing!

Tanya said...

I have some of those pretty daffodils too! They were a total surprise, because I didn't live here last spring. They made me happy. I love this warm weather.