Before, During & After -- Work Days at Wiser Times

Last week, we spent a few days at Wiser Times doing maintenance and improvements.  Here are the pictures to show all that was accomplished in just THREE (very full) days.

First, we decided that these baby trees had to go -- they will soon grow to be so large that they will not be easy to remove and they will also obstruct our view.  So we took it upon ourselves to take them out while they're still manageable. 

After much digging and cutting, and hauling away of plant material.

 A good chunk of these weedy, woody plants are now gone -- we'll do more another time.

Next, the new gazebo needed some landscaping.  Here are the "before" shots. 

Next, I dug out the grass and worked the earth so I could plant some perennials.

Here's the finished product.



Because the plants surrounding the gazebo look kind of bare, I wanted to show that someday they will be nice and full and will look beautiful.  We just have to wait for them to grow.  Here are some before and after shots of the flowers I planted just a few weeks ago.  See how much they grew and now look so beautiful?

Next on the list were the windows.  Here are the ones at the side. 



I scraped, sanded, caulked, washed and painted.  Here's the end result.

Next, was the front bay window.  It was starting to peel and needed paint.

Here's how they look now -- again, after I scraped, sanded, caulked, washed and painted.



The next area was the sliding glass window off the family room.  Here's the "before" shots:

This is a "during shot" -- after I scraped and sanded -- before repainting.

And, again the final product.

I also did the other sliding glass door -- don't have an "after" shot, but here's how it looked "before."

Next, we decided this wicker furniture would look nice if it was painted white.  It would match some other wicker furniture we have in the family room.

So, after many spray cans of white paint, here's what they look like now.

Chuck had fun taking this old wooden box apart.  We used to store our water toys in it. 

Bye, bye box.  We bought a new plastic one to put our float toys in.  (You can see that in one of the previous pictures -- now stored over by the gazebo).

Now that the old box gone, this area looks much better.

Taryn Dyle once rescued this chair for us from someone's trash on the curb in Grosse Pointe.  She painted it white for us but over the last couple of years it started looking sad again. 

So, Chuck reinforced it with additional screws to make it nice and sturdy.

I sanded it and prepped it for a new coat of paint.

Now it's ready for painting.

Here's how it looks now with a nice coat of brown stain.  Just like new!

So, as you can see, we accomplished a lot.  But, it wasn't all work and no play.  We managed to get some kayaking in, too.