One Thing Leads to Another

Hello everyone. I hope you had a happy Easter!

It has been a while since I updated you on my current DIY projects, and after a long and tiring weekend of working around the house I decided to take a few minutes and give you an update.  Just in case you have forgotten, I started off the new year scraping popcorn ceilings, which you can read about HERE.


Well, then life got in the way. I had a birthday, got sick, then had to have an outpatient surgery, and then we had two birthdays and my cousin had her baby, and so on, so my projects were stalled for a few weeks while I took care of "me", and that is why you haven't seen a follow up to any of my DIY posts lately. 


So now that all of that is out of the way, I have been picking back up on things and trying to actually get ONE, just ONE, project completed, and I am proud to say that this weekend was a success, and I couldn't have done it without a little help.


So you're probably wondering why this post is labeled "One Thing Leads to Another". Well, as I was finishing the mudroom, I decided to continue scraping the popcorn ceiling in the stairwell/hallway going upstairs, which of course led to a staircase makeover. While I was wrapping up the mudroom and planning my new project I decided I would take up the bathroom flooring since it bumped up to the floor of the staircase. Easy enough, right?

Well, I asked "man friend" to take out the toilet in my upstairs bathroom so I could get started with the bathroom floor while the ceiling was drying in the stairwell.  

And then I got the surprise. The surprise that NOBODY wants. The dredded leaking toilet. A leaking toilet that has soaked through the plywood but LUCKILY it did not leak down below. SShhheeewww! So even though I wasn't really prepared to rip up the entire bathroom floor, I am not complaining because it could be a lot worse!

 

And I mean really. What round of DIY projects wouldn't be complete without a leaking toilet? I mean, come on. Who doesn't love tackling plumbing projects in the middle of painting and making things pretty?
Sigh.......


So with that being said I have a big reveal for you coming up of the mudroom. The ceilings are done and adorn a new light fixture too, and I can't wait to show you!

Meanwhile, I am on to painting the stairwell and working on the bathroom floor with man friend. He's going to teach me how to replace the floor, so I will have that tutorial coming down the line for you as well.

Now, despite all the distractions that I encountered in February and March, if I can finish all of this by the end of April I will be on track with my plans for the year.
Woot woot!!!!!


Any tips or comments you have on leaking toilets are welcome!


Have a wonderful week!


Jennifer

How to Determie When to Trim your Flowering Shrubs

So if you have flowering bushes in your landscaping you have probably at least once trimmed them back, watered them, babied them, etc. but you didn't get any blooms.

 

After that you quickly learn that there is a right time and a wrong time to cut back your flowering plants.

 

After going through this one time you may be scared to trim them back again so then the plant gets over grown and looks bad.

 

Has any of this ever happened to you?

 

Well today I am going to show you something that will help you  determine when you should trim your flowering bushes.

 

One of the most important thing to know about your plant is whether or not it grows on old wood or new wood.

 

Say what? Old wood? What does that mean?

 

Well, it means some flowering bushes like the Spirea grow off of old wood, or in other words, it grows new buds on last year's stems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an example of my Spirea that is just now starting to bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

Because it grows new growth on old wood, you want to make sure you trim it/cut it back after it has died back in the fall or winter, BEFORE it begins blooming again for the new season.

 

You can see in my pictures that the branches have been trimmed back already. I usually trim mine between November and January, so come late February or early March when things start waking up I don't cut off the flower buds.

 

Also my Spirea doesn't have to spend its energy going all the way up a long stem to create new buds since the limbs have bee trimmed low.

 

 

I help it out by cutting it back so when it starts growing in the Spring, the plant can use its energy to create new flower buds.

 

If you find that your flowering shrubs just aren't flowering very much anymore, they may need to be trimmed to spark new growth.

 

 

 

 

So here it is now at the end of March,

 

 

and by June it will look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year I had my Rose of Sharon trimmed along with my large Elm tree.

 

Remember when I mentioned above that if you're bushes are not producing a lot of flowers that it might need to be trimmed...welllll.........I know this from experience.

 

My Rose of Sharon bushes taught me this lesson.

 

Here they are WAY over grown-touching the power lines and in dire need of a trim:

 

 

 

So here they are trimmed down to about 5-6 feet.

 

 These were trimmed last  year but this winter I took them down another foot! Man they grow fast!

 

 

But as you can see, there are buds all over these things, but they are not blooming at the top of the bush on a new stem, no, they are blooming on the OLD wood from last year.

 

 

Here are a couple pictures of blooms on the large center branches:

 

 

And here is how they will look in full bloom later this Summer.

 

 

So in order to know the best time to trim or cut back your flowering bushes, you first need to know how it grows.

 

 

Here is your rule of thumb:

 

If it flowers in spring prune after flowering; if it flowers later in the year prune in February

 

 

 

So before you start trimming your flowers this Spring, remember that If it grows on OLD WOOD (last year's stems) then you need to trim your plant BEFORE it begins growing for the new season, and if its too late this year, no problem

 

Just trim it AFTER it blooms.

 

This will keep your plant healthy and ensure more flowers!

 
To see pictures of the rest of my yard click HERE

Happy Spring!

Jennifer

 

Linking Up To:



 

 

Side Table Gets a Spring Update

Today I decided to give my side table a makeover.

 

You may remember it from last Summer when I painted it with chalk paint.

The new color really gave this table a different look and I love decorating it with the seasons.

 

So after making over my Spring mantel, I decided to refresh the rest of my front room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a green heritage Ball jar and added some dried hydrangeas from my yard, a little bud vase with a peony, and then I grouped together a bunch of pictures I had in random frames to create a collage on the bottom shelf of the table.

 

 

 

Its little changes like this that freshen up your home for Spring.

 

It doesn't take a lot of money, and in fact you can use items you already have by just moving them to a new location and grouping like items together.

 

I love how my table looks now and I think it will stay this way for a while!

 

 

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

 

Linking Up To These Great Parties: