I wanted the gazebo to disappear. FOREVER.
Everyone, even those who aren't renovating their entire house, has a project that has been on the to-do list for years but never tackled. I am not referring to large scale expensive projects but the less than a half day and basically free projects. For us it was the gazebo.
I know when I say gazebo most are picturing a cute, decorative piece of lawn furniture that could be present at a wedding. I am sure at one point it could have been classified as "cute" but that may have been in the 70's. In its present state it was over grown with vines, providing a storage location for miscellaneous gardening and building supplies and most recently became the cats favorite hunting territory. Spiders, lizards, snakes, and varmints call it home I'm sure.
Lets begin with the before pictures.
As you can see this beauty was located in front of our addition which was the former location of a screened in porch. It may have provided privacy but nothing that a curtain couldn't solve.
Prior to starting this Saturday morning project, Geoff may have thought he got off easy this year. Then demolition begun.
Step one included the removal of "greenery". Vines that have been part of this earth longer than we have were not as easy to remove as he would have hope. Multiple shovels were sharpened.
The second step was to clean our everything that has been hiding within the shelter.
An impressive amount of stepping stones and rotting wood was discovered.
It was then time to figure out the game plan of how to tear it down. I suggested sledge hammer but power tools and manual force won out.
The hairy helpers were out in full force. Multiple holes were dug when pleads for attention were ignored.
The cat was not thrilled with her gazebo being torn down but was easily distracted by the large amount of lizards that were loosing their home.
Much needed breaks were taken. Florida fall still consists of high's in the 80's. Notice the pineapple plants in the background?
We have one growing!
From my air conditioned view in the laundry room, the actual demolition didn't take too long.
The larger battle appeared to be the disposing of all of the "materials" and dirt.
Did I mention dirt? There was a lot of dirt and with our house being on a hill we weren't too sure what to do with it. Geoff tried to convince me that we needed to plant pineapples...
WE agreed that we would just pile it up for now and once we determine a landscaping plan we can adjust. I believe that a landscaping plan is #2759 on my list of things to do. This is still MY birthday present after all.
This is progress. Now we can get back to painting this portion of the exterior. That is # 2 on the list at the moment. After the remaining granite for the kitchen but before finishing the hall.
The step stones even got rinsed off and repurposed for the time being.
Happy birthday to me.
Now to think about what I want for Christmas.... a finished kitchen perhaps?
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