birthday presents

As I've mentioned before Dan and I were married on my birthday in July.  Early on he started the tradition where he "made" my birthday presents.  While thinking about writing about this year's present I realized I never showed you last year's...  

stones under the back porch!

The granite support pillars were already existing, but it was just open space between them.  When we purchased the house there were old huge Montauk daisies (3-feet tall by 4-feet wide huge!) in front of the porch which hid the open/ugly crawl space.  I transplanted the daisies to a garden along the front drive last year.   I felt the house needed the weight of stones under the two-story porch for scale, not to mention I thought it would be a beautiful addition and finishing detail to the house as a whole.  The original vision is to have grass up to the stones.  We have had to leave this area for last as it served as access for trucks to unload materials when we were renovating the barn.  This spring and summer other projects have taken priority and we are just now working to start to lay sod in this area (you'll see a tiny bit of some in the last photo).  This area is a very symbolic project for us as it means we are finishing up the house renovation and don't need the area for work trucks!

Isn't it beautiful?!  Dan did a wonderful job dry-stacking the stones (which are all from our property by the way.)

For the side of the porch we used pieces of antique hand-cut granite foundation that were removed from the barn during renovation.   These two pieces were originally one huge stone that had to be divided in two to make them maneuverable to work into the tight space.   It was an exciting day the day we realized that this last large piece of stone would just fit under this side of the porch.

But...
before we can lay sod this year's birthday present needs to be completed. 

A small herb/vegetable garden!  

Granite edging will define the space as demo'd in this photo,  and will be slightly raised to keep the gravel that will surround the raised beds in and the perimeter grass out!  There will be a black picket fence to enclose the area that will sit on top of the granite edging.  The garden will be accessed through an antique iron gate - more on that in a moment.

This year's birthday present begins with the scraping/leveling of the area.

My wood director's chair;)

The gravel you see under the kitchen windows is a french drain that we had put in our first summer in the house.  I painted all the basement (cellar) windows gray to blend into their surrounding granite.  Painting them white, as is often done, would highlight them and draw your eye.  I wanted your eye to go to the house, not to the basement windows!

Thick weed blocker is a great base for the gravel.

Boards for the raised beds being measured out.

It's a small area, but (hopefully;) the perfect size for the two of us.  It is also easily accessed from the kitchen mud room which is the black door up the granite steps.

Here is where we are at today! 

The first load of gravel has been laid.  (Dan drove Big Blue to the quarry which about 20 minutes by tractor;) from the house!)  Old whiskey barrel rings hold down some weed block to keep the weeds from growing (I had a nice crop of them growing before I devised this method;)

Before Dan can build the picket fence I need to find my gate.  I want an antique iron gate.  I think the iron is a needed element with all the wood on the back of the house and it will give the little garden importance.  The problem is I can't find one!  I've been looking since last summer and haven't found "the one" yet.  So, if you live in New England or just beyond ( New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, eastern New York) would you do me a  big favor and if you happen to be out and about and see an antique iron garden gate will you send me a picture with info?!!!  We love a good road trip, so we'll drive for a gate!! 



The photo below shows an antique iron antique garden gate that I found that I think would be almost perfect- it is a little wide for the space (42-inches) and  is  $425.... not in my budget.  I don't want to spend more than $200.  I love the arch top to this gate... sigh. 

I'm looking for an antique iron gate that ideally measures between 36-38 inches width and 36-50ish inches height with a price tag max of $200!   So, if you can help a girl out I would really appreciate it! :)  xx

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