We were busy bees this weekend. And as some of you noticed in yesterday’s post, in the picture where John was playing the role of the deck, we had already started to clear out the liriope/weeds/bushes that were going on in our future-deck spot.
You might remember that we started with this:
The first step was to call Miss Utility to make sure digging things up and building a deck wouldn’t endanger ourselves (or our house) by potentially hitting an electrical line or a water pipe or any other booby trap that might be lurking below the dirt. Thankfully we got the all clear. So we transplanted that big bush (seen above hugging the side of the house) to a spot in desperate need of some greenery: the left side of our house. It looks kinda lonely by itself, but right now we’re filing this under “it’s better than nothing.” Someday we’ll get him a line of friends (the same bushes – called Gold Dust- grow along the bedroom addition and look great, so we have high hopes that this spot works for them too).
Next up, digging up liriope. Our favorite thing! Not. But at least we had our favorite thing to cheer us on: Burger. Here he is giving the “glad I’m not the one who has to dig up all that liriope” look.
I think it took a little over an hour of digging (with Clara inside napping with her monitor on blast by the door) for the space to go from this…
…to this.
We dumped the dug-up monkey grass on our side yard in hopes that some of it will survive and fill in (that stuff is crazy-hardy). Also, under the balcony are pallets that we’ll get rid of when we demo that thing out.
Unfortunately the clearing task didn’t end there. We also had to take care of this weird assortment of bricks, weeds, and lawn ornaments that we lovingly call “the AC shrine.”
We can’t quite figure out what its purpose was – besides maybe putting some leftover bricks to use. They were arranged kind of like some permanent four-square game, with the stone pagoda in the middle. It earned the name “the AC shrine” because between the mini-temple and unusual layout we decided it must have some greater, cosmic meaning while being located right in front of – you guessed it – the AC.
In digging it up we didn’t find sacrificial animal bones, but we did discover that the bricks were laid two levels deep. Awesome. It gave us flashbacks of this and this. Yes, we’ve done our fair share of brick-digging-up around here.
Around 160 bricks later, we had everything dug up. Oh yeah, don’t mind the pile of paver stones in the background. Those were leftovers from the patio project. Guess now you know where we’ve been hiding them for the past 12 months. But we’ve got plans for them someday…
Several sweat-inducing wheelbarrow loads later, to take them to our brick stockpile next to our carport – future use still unknown (but possibly for when we convert the carport into a garage), the area was officially clear. Well, clear of bricks at least.
A bit more digging later, and it was also mostly clear of weeds.
We still have to move our paver collection, demo the existing balcony, and get rid of the pallets it’s shielding – but the area is much more ready for a deck than it was last weekend.
Now we just have to:
- continue weighing the pros and cons of different decking materials (we’ll share a lot more on that when we make a final decision)
- get some estimates for our materials
- get that dang permit thing taken care of
Oh yes, and then we have to actually:
- build a deck
Haha. You know we’ll keep you posted! Oh and speaking of keeping you posted, we called our power company to make sure those electrical meters on the side of the house won’t sabotage our deck plans (we have heard in some places they have to be at a certain height so people reading them don’t have to crouch – which would mean no deck) but thankfully our meter readers are happy to crouch, so there’s no issue with them! Wahoo! One of them is actually not active anymore (the extra low one) and the other one will be about 2.5′ above the bottom of the deck (and since they do most of their reading remotely now, it just needs to be accessed to be serviced, which they say is no problem at that height). Whew. And we’ll paint it to blend in like we did at our first house.
Have you guys been clearing things or digging up any areas around the house? Did you find anything cool while digging? We once found an old milk bottle cap at our first house…
… and actually hung it up on our gallery wall to commemorate it.
Someone tell me they found a box full of money or gold bars or something. Or a dinosaur bone.
Psst- In one of our quickest giveaways in history, we hit 10,000 entries within six hours of posting it, so we’ve already announced this week’s winner here.
katie says
not a dinosaur bone, but when my parents converted our gravel driveway to pavement when i was about 7 or 8, i found a fossil amongst all the tossed-out gravel — a rock with the imprint of something that looked a lot like a nautilus shell. it was the COOLEST thing ever…and i have no idea what happened to it. =/
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds awesome!
xo,
s
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
It looks much better now. I can’t wait to see the deck there. It’s going to be awesome. We also dug up bricks and lots of boulders in our backyard. The previous owners brought them from Pennslyvania and we are told wanted to do something with them and over time they just some how were under the dirt in the backyard instead. You can check that out here: http://www.thedecorscene.blogspot.com/2011/05/outdoor-series-clean-up-begins.html
We used some in our own gardens and the rest we Free Cycled to a friend that was making a water feature in their yard. those things were heavy. Some over 50 lbs.
I’ll let you have a good laugh with all of the things {plus plenty of beer cans/bottles} we have found in our yard while cleaning up or digging over the last 4 years. We just found another toy 2 weekends ago while digging a hole for a plant. The kids that used to live in our house must have been treasure hunters and never found their treasures. LOL.
http://www.thedecorscene.blogspot.com/2011/06/outdoor-series-splish-splash.html
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, too funny.
xo,
s
Colleen in MA says
If you guys ever write an autobiography, I think you now have a title: “Digging up Liriope … The Early Years” :p
YoungHouseLove says
Hahahahahahhahahahah. Comment of the day goes to Colleen.
Ain’t that the truth.
xo,
s
Jenny says
This doesn’t entail any yard work but it was a great find for my son……apparently our back yard make a great buffet for rabbits because there is at least 4 at any given time which makes letting the dog out quite difficult. My 13 y/o son forgot to check before letting her out and she got quite a romp chasing the rabbits. She chased one under the shed and while getting the dog out from under there he found a $100 bill! No idea where it came from or how long it had been there but he was ecstatic! Wish I had that much luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s awesome! Also, I think you must have magic bunny catnip buried in your yard or something! Haha.
xo,
s
Dinka says
We found an old set of keys last weekend when we were rebuilding our condo fence, buuuuut…
…my parents’ house is one of the oldest houses in the county, built in the late 1800’s. It’s since been refurbished so it is nigh unrecognizeable from the original structure, but it also came with a HUGE expanse of property that originally had other structures on it. When I was a kid, we would dig stuff up ALL the time: coins, bones, toys…we EVEN dug up an ICE CREAM CART from the 30’s or 40’s (in terrible shape…it was probably sunk into the ground for filler)! That, by far, was probably my favorite find ever.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s unbelievable! Love all the stories everyone!
xo,
s
Chris says
While removing some old linoleum we found a newspaper from 1938, commenorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. We saved it, but we’re not quite sure what to do with such an old brittle piece of newsprint….
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! Maybe you can have it framed with archival paper?
xo,
s
Amy @ a new old house says
Looking good back there!
We’ve been finding some little stuff… recently a bunch of old marbles, fake cameo pin (broken) and a mercury dime!
And previously various metal pieces (horseshoes, door locks)which I posted about a while ago here (I really should update it!) http://new1790house.blogspot.com/2011/12/lost-found.html
YoungHouseLove says
So much fun!
xo,
s
Sara says
We found tons of stuff when we gutted out house- old toys, newpaper clipings, store buttons, letters, etc. We actually have two shadow boxes that we use to display them. Noting “valuable” but I love looking at them and thinking of their history!
Erin H. says
All we ever find is old beer caps… ahh the joys of living in a college town!
carrie says
We moved into our 1924 craftsman a year and a half ago. When my boyfriend was digging up an old stump in the back yard, tangled in the roots were a set of skeleton keys. It turns out they open some of the door knobs to the bedrooms in the house. How cool is that? I keep thinking we must have treasure buried somewhere else out there.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s amazing!
xo
s
raeann says
if you want to read an amazing story about finding something awesome when digging up old foliage, read the heart mender by andy andrews. it’s a true story, and you’ll be shocked that we never read about it in our history books.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds so good! Will add it to my book list!
xo,
s
Dave says
I see you have your utility meter and another utlitly box of some sort on the wall of the home. looks you may have to get crafty to be able to access the smaller box if required like a hidden hatch door depending what it is.
Have you checked with the authorities having jurisdiction in your areas regarding covering up boxes and working around utilities. Guess some of that will come when they check for buried services.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, check out the bottom of this post! So relieved it’s all good!
xo,
s
April says
Saw a beautiful deck project in May’s issue of BHG page 104 showing a narrow space between brick homes….some great ideas for inspiration perhaps. Hope you check it out:)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! I am a subscriber but for some reason that issue either didn’t come or Clara snatched it and hid it! Will have to check it out!
xo,
s
Erika says
I grew up in a 200 year old house in WV and my brother and I used to dig up civil war minie ball bullets in our backyard. We had no idea what they even were until recently. Turns out that there was a small battle in our town and our home (which was close to a river) was probably a campsite!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so cool!
xo
s
Michelle says
Our 1950’s ranch is also surrounded by the most random brick piles, brick rows, brick flowerbeds, shrines made of brick, brick walkways… Each and every time we touch a new part of our property we find a brick or 20. I’d love to know why.
My grandma & grandpa were upholsters. They built their own upholstery shop behind their home in the 50’s. When they broke ground, they found an odd assortment of things {come to find out, the previous owner/original owner of their home was known as the local “mad scientist”!}. My aunts & uncles say they remember finding strange instruments that they couldn’t identify & bones inside of jars. TOTALLY CREEPY CRAZY, huh!?!?!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- so creepy crazy!
xo,
s
Jenn C. says
The folks who built and owned our house for it’s first 30 years were a bit on the eccentric side. Hidden in the eaves of the garage my hubby found lots of gin and old letters. Our neighbor is always telling us we need to take a metal detector under our house to look for buried treasure. Apparently the previous owners were very distrustful of banks and hid their money!! It’s always interesting finding things someone left behind!
Danny says
While landscaping in our backyard in south Florida, we’ve found MANY circa-1970’s budweiser cans scattered throughout the yard 1-2 ft down. The house was built in ’77 so I wonder if it would’ve been common for the construction crew to just pop a few cold ones and day-drink while building houses…kind of scary actually.
Love your blog!
Merideth says
Our prior homeowners didn’t leave us anything hidden, but they did leave a bunch of chili peppers strung up in the furnace room. Every time it catches the corner of my eye, I think it’s a tribal mask! Not sure why we haven’t taken it down yet :).
Sarah says
We found an old local milk bottle, totally unbroken, buried by the side of our house. I’m using it as a vase now!
YoungHouseLove says
Cool!
xo,
s
Kristen says
Hey guys,
We used this great website to create a deck design for our permit and supply list:
http://tools.diyonline.com/servlet/GIB_Base/usp_startpage.html
It’s awesome because it calculated loads, figured out where posts should go based on the length/width/height, and created a plan set that we submitted for our permit (and got approved!). It even has details such as grills, tables, chairs, planters to play around with! We are finishing up the last few touches this weekend (rail post caps, lattice) and will be sure to send you photos!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow – thanks so much!
xo,
s
C.A. @ How To Be A Heroine says
Evidently they used to burn garbage in the backyard a long time ago (Our house was built in 1918), and when digging to install a patio we found all these molton chunks of glass – some of them were really beautiful! I’m an avid sea glass hunter, and this was something new for me – “yard glass!” :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny!
xo,
s
Emily says
Over the weekend I dug up some ivy on the back of my house and found a patio! It’s the second one I’ve found. The other one had japanese honeysuckle growing through it. When we chopped it all down there was a patio! That one wasn’t in good shape though so we tossed most of the broken concrete though there is still a lot of gravel back there.
YoungHouseLove says
What a funny thing to find!
xo,
s
Ted says
Re: meter accessibility
A suggestion for the meters. When you build your deck, you might want to make a “cutout” section of the deck about the size of a shipping palette, right around the meters. Put it so that it drops in (like the top of your homemade sofa table). If the utility needs to come out and service your meters, or replace them (in our neighborhood they’ve replaced several meters with newer digital style ones), then you can access the meters by lifting out the cutout section. Then when the work is done, drop it back in. Since you’re likely to be DIYing your desk, you can design this feature in.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Ted!
xo,
s
Jenny says
We renovated a house that was built in 1890 and we found old newspaper from the 20s (real estate section) in the walls, an old glass pepsi bottle in a chimney, a perfectly preserved bird skeleton in the chimney (sort of freaky but sort of interesting,)and some VERY STRANGE wallpaper samples that consisted of weird sketches (sort of like you would see in a Roald Dahl book, but of a lady taking a shower in a claw foot tub?!!!) There was also a name sticker on one of the bedroom doors, and it said “Jay”. Then I met someone that had a friend named Jay that lived in our house in the early 80’s. Can’t believe subsequent owners didn’t take the sticker down!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny!
xo
s
Jennifer says
Found your blog today (as I am home sick with a virus, day number 4 UGH!) and I love it!!!! Love your simple, BUDGET FRIENDLY, elbow grease transformations. Keep up the great work!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Jennifer! Hope you feel better soon!
xo,
s
caitlin says
While digging this weekend, I found what felt like a gold bar, but was actually an ingot! It looked like one of these: http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/steveb3006/For%20Blogs/WWingots.jpg
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s so cool!
xo,
s
jae says
About the ac shrine…it’s quite possible the bricks were there to camouflage a damp/soggy area caused by the ac condensate. If that’s the case, you’ll know soon enough. High temps here are already hitting 90.
As for buried treasure, when we replaced the sewer line in my childhood home we found several old bottles (intact) & a number ceramic ball jar lids. The real prize was an old flue cover with a sweet garden scene painted on it which was amazingly well preserved.
YoungHouseLove says
Such a cool thing to find! As for AC condensate, we haven’t noticed any moisture (even while digging those bricks up on a hot day when it kicked on and off) but we’ll have to keep an eye out! Great tip!
xo,
s
Diana says
A friend of mine was digging up his yard in Yorkshire, England, and found a Roman legionnaire!
YoungHouseLove says
So cool!
xo
s
Amy G says
I wish this story was mine, but:
My coworker’s father-in-law passed away, and the man had always been known for being a penny pincher. When he passed, the family went over the banking records, and while they did find a decent amount in the man’s accounts, it was quite modest for a man who never spent his money.
My coworker had a thought. “That old-timer; I bet you dollars to donuts he buried the money.” Now, this was a big idea, considering the house had been listed for sale and the closing date was fast-approaching!
Four days and six exhausted family members later, they had dug up the enter backyard vegetable garden, behind the tool shed, and around the house. They had found, I kid you not, $40,000 in cash.
They’re fairly certain they didn’t even find all of the money he’d stashed!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow! That’s so crazy! I’m glad they found so much of it!
xo,
s
Mary says
My husband and I are rebuilding our deck. Since we have two dogs that like to sun themselves on the on the deck I wanted something without chemicals. We are using IPE decking not cheap but no chemicals. Looking forward to find out what decking you are going to use. We will be rebuilding the deck ourselves. Good luck on the deck.
Jay says
Just make sure that you clear it with the local power company that it is okay to paint the power meter. In our municipality it is NOT permitted – anyone who paints their meter has their power turned off until they pay to have the meter replaced.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, great tip! We linked to our original post about painting ours where we called to be sure before painting them! Sometimes they’re owned by the power company and sometimes you pay for them and own them (which is what it’s like in our town, which means you can paint them).
xo,
s
molly says
I only find snakes in my yard :/.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha.
xo,
s
Kirsten says
Are ya’ll aiming to finish up your yard-makeover by summer? I remember summers in VA and Richmond in particular. I don’t think many folks would want to be shlepping lumber and wheelbarrows around in that heat!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we’d love to! We try not to put deadlines on things like the yard though, since it’s huge and our first one took us 4.5 years! Haha. So we’ll likely work until it gets too hot and then pick up in the fall again!
xo,
s
Laura James says
Friends of the family found close to $5,000 (of pounds and pennies – we have dollars now here in Australia!) up a chimney in the house they were renovating. The currency was changed back in 1910, so that was a lot of money back then. Don’t know what they did with it or if they contacted anyone about it. How awesome would that be though!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s so cool!
xo
s
Nikki Kelly says
I think this deck/outdoor dining space will be perfect! It’s like a cute little treasure tucked away from everything else. My boyfriend actually uncovered a little keepsake during some demo at our house. First up was a rancid bottle of malt vinegar in some cabinets we didn’t want. We didn’t notice a smell until we were carrying them out to the garage, but oh man was it awful. The other thing was a picture of triplets that had been raised in our home. It was printed on to some white acrylic and then placed under this strange little corner built in entertainment center. Let’s just say it didn’t really co with our style and was The First Thing to go. (you can see it on our home tour page http://theambitiousprocrastinator.blogspot.com/p/tour-our-home.html)
I am so excited to see this outdoor dining room come together, so get to it!
Nikki
YoungHouseLove says
So cool that triplets were raised in your home!
xo,
s
L says
Isn’t it just so satisfying to look back at all of the work you’ve done? Kind of like vacuuming, only outside… can’t wait to see the actual deck and how it will open up the flow to the outside.
A year or two ago, when digging out weeds in my backyard hosta bed, I found a bronze Chinese coin. It’s very old, possibly really old, and I can’t figure out how it might have ended up in my back yard of all places – my best guess is it was a WWII souvenir brought back by a soldier to his 1941 house in the city, in the middle of the US. I like to think of it as a good luck charm and a little sign from the universe that all is well as my hubby and I wait for our adoption of a little girl from China. I incorporated it into a little bracelet I made with my and my hubby’s names – reminds me to be patient and hopeful.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, how sweet! I got goosebumps when you mentioned your adoption of a little girl from China! It’s totally a sign. I love it!
xo,
s
Kathleen says
I found some old shoe polish from the Civil War in my backyard.(We live on battle grounds in GA).
I love how you always make sure to say that you had the monitor on when you’re outside working. Do people really ask you about leaving Clara inside when you work? I do it all the time. Sometimes without the monitor!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, actually no one says anything maliciously – it’s more like “how do you get so much done with a toddler?!” – so we just explain that we do a lot while she naps or when she’s in bed for the night. So just tossing in there that we tackled this during the weekend while she napped seems to be helpful for others who might try to tackle the same thing while their kiddos nap.
xo,
s
Katherine says
Ya’ll make me tired sometimes… Glad to live vicariously through others’ hard work:)
Carra says
So, I check your site about 4 times a day. I love it so much. I was cleaning and organizing yesterday after work and totally missed my window to enter the La-z-boy giveaway! So bummed.
I adore your blog, you guys are amazing, and so super cute. Love Burger, I know that he and my black & tan chichi Gizmo would be good friends if they had the chance. Thank you for motivating me and so many others, and for always making me laugh. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Carra! You’re so cute.
xo,
s
Rhonda says
I am excited to see what you do! But aren’t you kinda worried about the noise of the AC? You probably have a plan for that too, but just curious..
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, scroll back for that info (it’s not very loud and not usually on when we’d be out there- and if it is we’ll just flip it off for that hour or so).
xo,
s
Nora says
My parents built their compost heap where the previous owners had a personal dump site in their backyard. We’ve found marbles, half of a toy gun, glass bottles, a toy race car, and more over the years. I think those people may have had a vendetta against toys…
Paige says
My dad restored Victorian houses in my town for a living, and on one, they dug up a bunch of bottles of whisky that had been buried there during prohibition. Each crew member got a few bottles, as did the homeowner. I hate whisky, but my dad said it was fantastic stuff. There were also tons of newspapers lining the walls in the basement from the day the Titanic sank.
Captain Micah says
We found a crack pipe in our bushes as we were redoing the landscaping. Creepy, huh?
Don’t know if it still works…
Paula in MN says
*TODAY* My husband just called to tell me while digging at work (for cable lines) his crew found 2 black plastic bags, with protruding bones. My husband is a hunter, and said the bones are not dog or deer. He poked the bag with a shovel and goo started coming out of the bag. The police just left the scene and are taking the bones to a forensic lab for identification.
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY!!
xo,
s
Sophie says
Our old kitchen was GROSS. Like SUPER GROSS. Thing super shiny plastic-looking laminated dark red/light brown/terracotta cabinet doors. Like UGLY. SO UGLY.
When we tore it out about 7/8 years ago, we were just glad to be rid of the thing, but behind one of the cabinets we found the invoice for the original installation. We not only found out it was original from the 50’s, but also from Italy and worth a TON.
If only we’d known before we destroyed the cabinets ripping them out :P
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, bummers.
xo,
s
Dlichten says
I found a horse shoe and tons of marbles digging up my back yard. I put the horse shoe over my door for luck.
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!!
xo
s
Cassandra says
We found a bone the size of a human femur buried in the cement of our pool steps when we were demolishing it at our old house. We had to call the cops and the sent it to an anthropologist in Boston to see if it was human. Lucky for us it wasn’t or else our house would have been seized. Best guess is that it was a cow or horse bone. Why it was in the cement of our pool no one knows.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s crazy!
xo,
s
Georgia says
I’ve found a bunch of old horse shoes in various gardens where I’ve lived. When opening up walls I always hope I’ll find some kind of “treasure”. My daughter is making a time capsule about our family and how we bought our house and what’s going on in the world etc that we are going to put in a tin with a lid and hide in the wall where we are closing up an old doorway. Who know? It might make someone’s day some day. BTW loving the plans you have for your deck. We plan at some stage to build a deck off the back of our house, so can’t wait to watch you go through the process.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so cute! We had fun leaving a time capsule in our old house and hiding one under the new counters in our new one!
xo,
s
Heather G. says
That is starting to look great! Bet you guys cant wait to get that deck up!!
My family lives near Antietam battlefield and they have found tons of old bullets, a tool to make musket balls, farm tools and the coolest thing was a bayonet from an old rifle.
I cant wait to steal their metal detector when we move to see if I can find anything on my property!!
Summer says
We recently found an old wooden drawer in the basement of our 1870 home. On the back there was a handwritten label that reads, “Helen Furbush is a good girl. He said she wasn’t.”. I was really worried that a naughty Helen Furbush had been locked in our basement and left to die, so I Googled her name. She was born in my neighborhood in 1890 and thankfully grew up and married a local farmer. There were pictures online too. Mysterious finds are fun!
http://ourlittlebabywl.blogspot.com/2012/04/mysterious-drawer-from-basement.html
YoungHouseLove says
So much fun!
xo
s