Spring has sprung in Chicago! We hope you had a wonderful winter... it's been a while since we last posted! We are just coming out of our groggy post-winter haze... and ready to be treating the palmer house to some TLC!
So far we have been laying the groundwork for the year's big project... the backyard. To recap, it was a big pad of concrete when we bought the house, and at the end of last summer we cut two openings for planters. The plan this year is to turn those openings into raised brick planter beds and the enclose the backyard with a new fence.
We also need to replace the sad door on our garage. It is a conventional garage door right now, but since we can't actually use it to park a car (we can't fit a car back there -- automobiles must have been smaller back when the house was built in 1890) we are going to put french doors up instead! The door is in bad shape --- it pretty much has fallen off the tracks and won't really open or close anymore. We ordered a new door already, and this past week we (meaning Ben) have been prepping the area for its installation -- removing the old door, its frame, and repairing areas around the opening that had become rotted / worn. This weekend Ben and Ryan also poured a new concrete base for the door to rest on that is level. Take a look:
And we FINALLY installed security bars on the basement windows which were missing bars when we moved in. Don't those spikes looks scary?
We'll keep you posted as the backyard progresses. Thanks for stopping by!