2021 Outdoor Projects on our To Do List

This winter I spent an obscene amount of time curled up in a cozy chair drafting an epic list of 2021 Outdoor Projects. While some people find satisfaction in checking completed items off a to-do list, I find satisfaction in having a legitimate reason to never start that list in the first place. Three feet of snow covering the ground as far as the eye can see seems like an excellent excuse to procrastinate.

Alas, the snow finally melted and I’m now 99.367% certain it is safe to leave my cozy chair and start working on these outdoor projects. While it might be safe to start outside work, one of the side effects of a seemingly never-ending winter includes an over-estimation of one’s ability to accomplish everything on this epic list and forgetfulness regarding how much hard work is required to complete those outdoor projects.

*sigh*

After I share this list of 2021 Outdoor Projects with you this list will spontaneously combust so that I can’t ever be held accountable for what we did not accomplish.

Here’s the list:

2021 Outdoor Projects: Paint the Carriage House

I’m most excited about painting the Carriage House. That’s the building shown in the photo at the top of this post. All the maintenance projects on our outdoor to-do list are important, but this project will be a huge bang for our buck in improving the overall look of our property.

To make the buildings on our property feel more cohesive, I’d like to paint the Carriage House the same color as the main house. (That sentence sounded so pretentious, but I don’t know how else to distinguish between the two buildings.)

We have no clue what color our main house was painted, but that’s an easily solved problem!

Just kidding. As it turns out, that isn’t an easily solved problem because this old house always gets the last laugh.

Last fall I had a paint chip from the back of the main house color matched, but it didn’t match the color on the front of the house. Was our house painted two different colors of white? Was it just a bad color match? Nothing would surprise me.

Bottom line, I’ll be picking a color for the Carriage House that is sure to tie me up in knots because do you know how many shades of white there are? Too many.

2021 Outdoor Projects: Deck Touch Up

New Jersey received more snow and ice this winter than in several past winters. Yay?

Now that the snow has melted I’ve been able to assess how well our newly refinished deck fared.

My assessment is mainly positive, but it is clear the aggressive snow shoveling was a wee bit hard on a few areas. There are some scratches on the deck boards, but those will be easy to fix.

Decks are notorious for needing regular maintenance, but maybe next year we should only use the plastic snow shovel on the deck. Just an idea…

2021 Outdoor Projects: Repaint Front Porch

Our house used to have a wood front porch and the previous owner switched it to concrete. The concrete is painted and after almost two years of living here, it could use a refresh. It’s not the worst I’ve ever seen, but the porch will look less tired looking with a fresh coat of paint.

Plus, when we leveled the flowerbeds last year, it exposed areas of concrete on that front porch that had never been painted. It was as if our front porch had a farmer’s tan and when its shirt came off you could see all the areas the sun, or in this case the paint, never touched. Woah.

2021 Outdoor Projects: Add Front Yard Plants

Intellectually, I know our front yard would benefit from the addition of some plants. My dirty little secret is I really don’t mind keeping the front yard landscaping a little sparse. It appeals to the minimalist in me.

However, because I’m not a complete Spartan, I would like to add some lavender plants to our front yard landscaping. They make me happy and might help me hide the fake rock covering our well head.

I have no plan after adding lavender. Let’s just see if I get that planted first. Baby steps.

2021 Outdoor Projects: Clear Brush

Clearing brush is a never-ending task around here. The situation is a lot better, but our progress was derailed last year after Handy Husband was bit by a tick. Lyme Disease is no joke. Timely antibiotics are awesome. A vaccine would be even better.

There’s still enough brush that needs to be cleared and removed around our property that Handy Husband wants to buy a wood chipper.

We’ll see…

2021 Outdoor Projects: Refresh the Pool Area

We do want to extend the concrete area of our pool deck, but I don’t know how far we will get on that project. Concrete is Handy Husband’s area of expertise, not mine.

I plan to tackle painting the chainlink fence. I know a green chainlink fence is supposed to blend into the natural surroundings, but this particular fence just looks dated to me.

I’ve never painted chainlink fencing. I’ve read some tutorials though. What could go wrong?

2021 Outdoor Projects: Fix the Mailbox Already

This outdoor project list has been delightfully ambitious, but perhaps the first thing we should do is fix the one thing that everyone and the mailman see on a daily basis: the mailbox that was damaged by the snowplow.

Unless I can convince you that bungee cords and exposed screws are farmhouse chic these days?