I love a good riding lawnmower for a big property. I used to have a Toro when I had a house with a half acre of the property covered with lawn. But it took some effort to get the land level enough to have a lawn. The previous owners had logged off the land, pulled the stumps but the ground was not even close to being smooth enough of a surface to be able to use a mower on it. I rented a tractor and roto-tilled it then hired a guy to blade it and put a layer of sand over everything to smooth it all out. Sand was a lot cheaper than topsoil. It all worked out and the grass grew in just fine. No soggy wet spots in the yard. I should go and take a photo of that place, the people who bought it won't mind that.
Day before yesterday I took a photo of the house I used to own in Poulsbo. It was a very small and homely rental property with no landscaping when we bought the place. Along with my ex I renovated it to have the look of an older Craftsman bungalow by adding a big front porch and lots of details such as shingles, brackets, stone columns. I terraced the yard and planted tons of plants and trees. The back corner has a pond with a waterfall. I also designed and had a company frame up a big garage with an attic truss system, that was my workshop space downstairs and the upstairs was the office space for our architectural illustration business. There was another small building on the property, seen next to the big workshop space that also got renovated. The original owners of the place were a Norwegian couple and that third building was partly a one car garage and the other part of it was the woman's kitchen with a wood stove in it. She did not cook inside the house. The house was really odd inside, someone had added a very tiny efficiency sized sink with a stove next to it. The fridge was over in the hallway. A great piece of land with water views in the distance from two directions. Terrific neighborhood but it sat on the market for a long time at a low price waiting for someone who could make it into something.
So I don't just design and build birdhouses and little cardstock buildings and travel trailers. I have also done design and renovation work on 5 properties that I have owned. Plus landscape design too. I could have been on one of those "fixer upper" shows that give ugly places some curb appeal.
Day before yesterday I took a photo of the house I used to own in Poulsbo. It was a very small and homely rental property with no landscaping when we bought the place. Along with my ex I renovated it to have the look of an older Craftsman bungalow by adding a big front porch and lots of details such as shingles, brackets, stone columns. I terraced the yard and planted tons of plants and trees. The back corner has a pond with a waterfall. I also designed and had a company frame up a big garage with an attic truss system, that was my workshop space downstairs and the upstairs was the office space for our architectural illustration business. There was another small building on the property, seen next to the big workshop space that also got renovated. The original owners of the place were a Norwegian couple and that third building was partly a one car garage and the other part of it was the woman's kitchen with a wood stove in it. She did not cook inside the house. The house was really odd inside, someone had added a very tiny efficiency sized sink with a stove next to it. The fridge was over in the hallway. A great piece of land with water views in the distance from two directions. Terrific neighborhood but it sat on the market for a long time at a low price waiting for someone who could make it into something.
So I don't just design and build birdhouses and little cardstock buildings and travel trailers. I have also done design and renovation work on 5 properties that I have owned. Plus landscape design too. I could have been on one of those "fixer upper" shows that give ugly places some curb appeal.
