Cottage Home Magazine » Garden

Stepping Stone Paths Using Fieldstone

Cottage Home Magazine — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:30:30 +0000

Stepping Stone Path

Fieldstone paths in your garden make it easy for visitors to walk along and see specials areas of your garden.

How to Build a Cottage Stepping Stone Path

It’s easy to control where garden visitors go in your garden with fieldstone paths.

Decide where you want paths
Gather your garden hoses and use them to lay out the size and the shape of your walkways. Try to allow enough room to create curved paths as they appear more inviting than angular or straight paths. After you have your paths laid out using your garden hose, remove any soil, sod or grass to a depth of 5 inches.

Adding crushed rock
Unless you own a compactor, you’ll need to rent one from your local equipment rental company. Their staff will instruct you on how to operate the compactor. You’ll need 1/4″ minus crushed rock. Minus crushed rock is finely crushed rock no larger than 1/4″ that also includes much finer material. You will want to use 1/4″ minus crushed rock because it compacts well and makes the solid base you want for your walkway. If you are not sure where to purchase 1/4′ minus crushed rock, you can check with your local landscaping company. If you local landscaping company does not carry minus crushed rock they will direct you to where you can buy it.

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Storing Outdoor Furniture For the Winter

Cottage Home Magazine — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:25:40 +0000

Storing garden furniture for the winter

There are certain types of materials that do fine in ice and snow but many others have to be protected during off months.

For the home owner who lives in a climate with a distinct winter season, storing outdoor furniture is often a last minute, hasty chore. There are certain types of materials that do fine in ice and snow but many others have to be protected during off months. Just a little bit of cleaning and preparing will help furniture to last longer and come out looking better in the spring.

As consumers spend more and more on better outdoor furniture, it becomes more important to do a good job in putting it away. Toward the end of the season, it becomes easier to do the tasks in small increments rather than spending several days of hard work. A few hours here and there add up to better looking spring furniture.

All fabric cushions and umbrellas should be checked for dampness. It is very important that they be totally dry before going into storage. Unless they are dry, mildew can form under plastic coverings or in a damp garage or basement. Scrubbing off mildew on a beautiful spring day is not fun work.

Plastic chairs, tables or other items like a protective coating of car wax. After a little scrub down and cleaning, spray waxes make application easier than ever. The pieces will be more protected and cleaning in the spring will also take less effort. For stackable chairs and tables, it is less likely they’ll provide sticking problems in the spring.

Mold can be common on outdoor cushions, and you certainly don’t want to store them that way. A solution of ten parts water to one part bleach will do the trick. If the mold still won’t come out, increase the amount of bleach slightly and try scrubbing it again. Use the same technique on umbrellas. Be sure to leave any item out to dry thoroughly before storing.

For wood furniture, wipe off any grime and certainly treat any stains before covering it in plastic for the winter. After a few months of sitting, anything left on it will only be more difficult to remove. It’s also a good time to check the varnish or paint for cracking so any restorative work can be planned for early spring.

Cast iron furniture can withstand the elements and is usually left outdoors over the winter. Its durability doesn’t mean that no maintenance is needed. Check the pieces for any rust and be prepared to sand it off and repaint. Left outdoors for rain and snow, the rust will only increase and be a larger job in the spring.

Using the proper cleaning aids for outdoor furniture is also a good idea. Vinyl cleaner on vinyl is better than kitchen sprays which can leave residue. Use the same cleaner that is used on wood decks for wooden furniture. For aluminum pieces do not use alkaline based products such as ammonia or window cleaners. It can strip the protective sealant on them.

Putting things away and preparing for winter isn’t the most pleasurable of tasks. Saying good-bye to warm, sunny days is difficult but there’s next season to look forward to. Preparing for it ahead of time means you can start to enjoy warmer weather right away without hours of tough work.

Thanks to Gabriel Meriwether

Patio Furniture And Other Items To Use In Your Outdoor Living Room

Cottage Home Magazine — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:57:09 +0000

Cottage Veranda

Instead of racing home to sit in front of the TV, many of us are spending some time outdoors, especially in the warmer months.

Creating an interesting and appealing outdoor space
As many of us retire to our homes after a hard day’s work, we are changing a lot about us. Instead of racing home to sit in front of the TV, many of us are spending some time outdoors, especially in the warmer months. That’s why it’s important to learn how set up such an outdoor space. Basically, patio furniture and other things to use for an outdoor living room are necessary to create a space that is interesting and appealing.

Proper treatment
Decorating your outdoors has lots to do with creativity, budget, and of course patio furniture. You have to be using items that can withstand the weather elements. Many of these products have been properly treated to be waterproof, water resistant, and resistant to the UV rays. Anything that hasn’t been properly treated will become damaged not too long after.

Preparing an outdoor living space
Having said that, here are some key elements that you should be looking at to prepare your outdoor living space. The first thing is to measure the available space you have to work with. Make sure you do this twice so that you don’t make any mistakes that will be quite costly to you later on. Then, try to set a budget. Do your best to stay with in your limits.

Shop and ask quesitons
Shopping can be a lot of fun. Take a trip down to your local stores and see what’s available. In this way, you’ll be able to understand what certain materials feel like. This way, you can rule out certain materials that you absolutely don’t like or find less suitable to you. By the same token, you should feel free to ask the sales people for any advice they have. For example, if you’re interested in real wicker, what is required with regards to maintenance and protection. If there is too much work involved, maybe you’d be better off with synthetic wicker.

Benefit from online savings
From there, you can go home with all your knowledge and shop around online. This way, you’ll get a wider variety of selection and style. You’ll also be shopping around for prices, which is a good thing because quite often, they have huge blowout sales online. So, you can benefit from huge savings and still get everything you want in terms of your patio furniture.

At the same time, you’ll end up getting a load of information with regards to designing your outdoor space. This can be very helpful, especially to those amateur designers that are quite limited with respects to ideas and how to make them work.

Adding accessories
From there, you want to add some accessories to complete your look, after you have selected the furniture that you are interested in. The first thing you want to look at is the protection that you want to provide, not only for the furniture but also for whomever is using the space. This way, you get to spend more time outdoors, regardless of what the weather is like.

In terms of accessories, you would basically use your decorating techniques that are typically used indoors. So, you can include some plants, sculptures, artwork, and the like.

About the Author: Gabriel Meriwether writes about patio furniture and patio dining sets and provides valuable information about purchasing garden furniture.
Article Source: Gabriel Meriwether

Move Outside Into Your Cottage Garden

Cottage Home Magazine — Sat, 01 May 2010 03:05:58 +0000

Relax on a garden swing

New types of materials make it possible to take advantage of good and bad weather while enjoying your cottage garden or backyard.

Relaxing garden get-togethers
It’s summer, humidity is low, and a light breeze is flowing throughout your garden. You want to sit outside in your garden and enjoy the beautiful weather, perhaps invite friends and family over for a barbecue, but you are a little short on seating for your guests to relax and enjoy themselves. This is a situation where some outdoor garden furniture would definitely make the day much more enjoyable!

Variety of styles and pieces
There is a wide variety of outdoor furniture styles and pieces for you to choose from these days. From weatherproof tables, made of plastic glass and steel, with umbrellas to keep you cool in the shade, to whole entire dining sets. The right piece, or pieces you need to make your garden get-togethers more relaxing and fun are out there waiting for you to add to your garden, backyard or on your patio.

Waterproof materials
There are outdoor sofas and chairs made of waterproof materials. There are also covers to slip over any piece of outdoor furniture that may not be quite as waterproof as you would like. Wood or wicker tables, chairs and other seating, can be purchased that are already protected from the elements, or you may have the option of doing it yourself with the use of store bought products.

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