In the Chinook Wawa, ‘to return’ & ‘pretty’, i.e., home, the beautiful place I return to.
2.5.22 – Beginning (again)
We all get where we are after a journey. Over the decades, our journey in Olympia has landed us here, in a small house on a small lot, surrounded by great neighbors in a secluded and peaceful little dead-end on the east side of downtown Olympia. After renting for 7 years, we had the opportunity to purchase from the owner. It was one we couldn’t pass up. So now, we make it ours.
The property is small – 150′ x 50′, and the house is small, at two stories and 1300′-ish square feet. It is set far back on the narrow lot, so our east-facing backyard is only 15′ deep. Our north and south side yards are only 10′ deep, but our front yard is seemingly large in comparison at ~60′ x 50′. A dry-shade woodland garden dominated by two massive douglas fir trees anchors the west end and of the front yard and provides a buffer against the street.
When we arrived, the yard had been recently ‘landscaped’ by hired ‘professionals’ placing inappropriately selected shrubs in beds and walking away – Home Depot day labor and sale stressed plants. We had to remove a few things when we first arrived, but for the most part, did not do much. We did put in a bed alongside the driveway on the north side of the front yard to hold the few irises Mike had brought with him. I enjoyed doing some light landscaping under the firs with plants and elements I found laying around. We really didn’t put any money into it, nor apply any serious effort. Just enough to look decent.
The house needed TLC when we moved in, and it still does. The south face leaks during certain windy rainy storms. The back deck needs to be removed. Fencing needs to be replaced. The exterior desperately needs to be repainted. We are eager to bring color to the interior, and I would give my eye teeth to remodel the kitchen. Also, with working from home, we need an extra room, and have plans to convert half the garage to an office.
We signed the papers in June, and closed in July. In August, I began removing trees and shrubs, and haven’t looked back. We had short fences installed across the side yards to close the backyard off, and I am now in the beginning stages of a handful of projects. The weather is beginning to warm, and it occurs to me that a list may be smart. It’s getting hard to keep track of everything.
- Stabilize structural integrity of house
- Fix leaks on south face
- Paint exterior
- Correct multiple flashing and fascia issues
- Secure against and monitor for rodents in crawlspace/insulation
- Improve interior/exterior functions of house
- Build home office in garage
- Select refurbishments (closets and int/ext doors)
- Improve kitchen lighting
- Remove/replace back deck (w/ masonry patio?)
- Replace back exterior stair
- Construct porch roof at back
- Replace NW security light
- Landscape North yard – Utility
- 3′ hardscape exterior path
- Trash/recycling/pots corral
- Potting bench built into fence
- Open gravelled workspace
- Masonry/rock storage
- Shade-loving food crops?
- Compost/worm bin?
- Laundry line
- Landscape East yard – Retreat
- 3′ hardscape exterior path
- Recirc stream/koi pond
- Fountain for birds
- Japanese maples, ferns, moss, rocks
- Re-grade (high to south, low to north)
- Fence needs to allow for removal of weeds on backside
- Takes up half of north yard area
- Landscape South Yard – Production
- 3′ hardscape exterior path
- Raspberry patch, container
- SCROG x 2 or 3, in ground
- Dahlia/cutting garden at LR window in ground, w/ bottomless container
- Vertical strawberry garden
- Landscape West yard – Beauty
- 3′ hardscape exterior path
- Regrade, re-align driveway
- Parking space for two cars abreast
- Short masonry wall E-W along driveway and N-S along front of house
- Cement pad for workspace, kiwi trellis, bamboo screen
- Gravel driveway regraded to even shallow slope
- Route wastewater under sidewalk onto driveway
- Mike’s cottage garden where lawn is now
- Westernmost 5′ of lawn added to woodland dryshade garden
- Madrona grove @ end of south fence
- Dry-stream from madrona grove to driveway
- Circular path in woodland dry-shade, with multiple access paths
- Neighbor access pathway with huckleberries planted alongside
- Hardscaped path along front porch
- Open areas in front of both gates
- Rebuild north flower bed – re-align away from fence, transfer a few feet east to allow vehicular parking
- Solar lights along primary driveway path on south side of driveway