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Saturday, November 21, 2009

TV Alert - Catch me this morning on HGTV

Although my work in TV is behind me, it seems they are airing plenty of reruns, so I wanted to share.
Today on Carter Can, (more info on the episode), we redo the backyard of a row house in Denver for a single mom of three kids.
I LOVED this episode. The family was so fun to work with, and Julie was truly a genuinely wonderful person. I kept up with her long after the show. In fact, I think I might call her after the episode and see what she's up to. She helps in the summer with a craft market called the Sweet William Market. (When summer hits again, I'll give you the details on that.)
She wanted a backyard that would be a good gathering place for her kids to have their friends, and a place that she could host small parties. Wait till you see the water fountain feature that Jake came up with. I asked him to come up with a water fountain for the garage wall, and he really hit it out of the park, as he always does. Frank, who is head of construction, and who you don't see in the shows, is equally as creative. We all threw in our ideas and Jake created a masterpiece. Seriously, you have to see it.
My job was to design the yard makeoever, and make a lot of the fun things. In a yard that small, it was a bit tough, but it ended up being one of my most fun project.

Here are a few highlights from the project:
Here's the before:


NOW HERE'S THE AFTER !!



We added everything to the garage wall you see in the corner. That's where the water fountain is. Julie already painted the outside a fabulous green, so we went with it.
The little row house scape you see on the fence was built from plywood. She wanted some color on the fence, and I found a great little picture -at Big Lots of all places! - and recreated it on a larger scale in wood. This is featured on the show, so I won't go into details.

We built her a cabinet to house her tv that could stay outside through the seasons. It's weather-proof wood, and it's sealed on the insides. She loved it!

One of the things she wanted was a place for all of the kids to set their beverages and such, so while Frank and I were at the landscape yard picking up all the pots you'll see on the deck, I spotted a pallet that I thought would work great. See how I turned this into a table on the show! This was a fun project. (I have 2 more pallets sitting in the garage waiting for me to do the same thing to them! Some day.....

Isn't this great?! All of those tiles are glued down so they can be used as permanent coasters.

I used 8" cuts of 4x4 lumber, and then added fence posts toppers turned upside down to the bottom for a little added curvature. I cut out the shelves of the pallet so that I could fit the legs in cumpletely under the table top. The pictures don't show just how cute this really was.

Here is that TV cabinet, built from scratch. I love the color we stained this.


Here are a few more detail pictures from around the yard:
This glass mulch is awesome.................but it is sharp!! I have the 2 leftover bags somewhere in my garage. Hmmmm. Think I'll have to pull those out at the first sign of green grass.


Is this not just incredible? I want one for myself. That's copper gutter that carries the water.



And we didn't forget the other deatils either...........................doesn't every spot of water deserve it's own ducky?!


This added so much color! Aren't all the colors in this yard fantastic? Not only cute, but functional to boot. I added a rod to hold her tablecloths on one of the houses, and a flower basket on another.


I just screwed this directly into the fence.

Color, color, everywhere!!!



13 comments:

  1. Oh darn, I missed it. It is already 10:30 Pacific time. Well, I enjoyed the pictures you showed. It was a fun yard makeover. Great job. I'll bet the kids loved all the color and that water feature was fantastic. I don't know about having TV outdoors, but then again....maybe that's where it belongs. LOL.

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  2. Okay, I can't figure out time zones...I got to see it after all. It was even better than your pictures. So fun getting to see the real you too. And you have such a cute little accent. Great outdoor design job and it seems the family really loved it. The kids are older than I thought, so the TV outdoors suited them fine.
    Loved the glass rock and I'm trying to figure out where I could use some of that.

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  3. I'm so bummed. I'm not reading this until 6:45 p.m. so I missed the show. I would have loved to have seen it (I probably already have and just didn't know it because I watch HGTV all the time).
    The backyard looks great and I love all of your projects.
    Did you do just the one show or were there others I should be looking for?
    I'm very impressed!!!
    Jane

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  4. how fun this must have been to design - and with Carter?! WhooHoo! Lucky YOU!

    Terri

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  5. Thank you ladies. Jane, to answer your question, I did the whole first season and part of the second season of the show. They decided to move it to CA, and I had no desire to go there. Go on to my blog page and click on "TV Work" in my categories, and you can see what other work I did. There's also a link to other upcoming episodes.

    Terri - Carter. What can I say about Wonder Boy (as I call him). Most people ask me if he's as nice looking in person as he is on tv. The answer is yes, and he's as nice as can be, but kinda guarded most of the time with all but his long time buddies. It was fun to work with the whole crew. Another question I get is if he is as involved in the projects as it seems like he is on tv. The answer is no, but I can't really elaborate on that. He's much too busy outside of the show to be planning makeovers.

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  6. This is simply incredible! I'm so inspired by what you came up with. I live across the street from what has now just become a two-story bank, so I'm looking for new water features. I have a pond, but want more water "noise." I'm sending this to my carpenter, Robert, who has done miracles at my house. He will love this as much as I do! You are one creative lady!
    Brenda

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  7. I'm a day late and missed it. I already commented, but then was so excited about the photos that I wrote about it on my own blog. I emailed you about it. Just wanted you to know in case you check here first.
    Brenda

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  8. love the houses especially - great use of color

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  9. Love the water feature! It looks like it was made out of mostly reused products.

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  10. Hi,

    I just discovered your blog at The Cozy Little House blog. I saw your show and wanted to say you did a phenomenal, wonderful job! That yard is so original and colorful and funky, I want one just like it! I am adding you to my blog reader so I can keep up with your design adventures!

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  11. What great comments ladies! Yes, the whole yard makeover was done with repurposed items, and recycled items in mind. The wheel that turns the water was from a bike we found at a garage sale. The 'cups' on the wheel are ladels we got at the $1 store. the copper gutter was used in many places around the yard. On the fence I turned a piece of it upside down and used it as a shelf.
    The water pipe was from some old pipe we found on the property. The corrugated galvanized sheet metal for the back of the fountain was leftover strips from a kitchen remodel we did earlier. (Wait till that comes around - I can't wait to show you pics of it!!)
    All of the pots and wire things along the fence row were items found in her garage, so we cleaned them up and reused them for the yard.
    The beaded candle sconces were ones she had replaced in her house, again found in a box in the garage.
    The dish stand next to the back door was fashioned out of a cabinet she had covered in the garage as well.
    The chairs on the deck were her old chairs, sanded and repainted.
    The only new things we bought were the table and chairs on the ground, the large flower pots, the deck material itself, and the sun shades. Everything else was either donated by friends, found in her garage, or found in our toolshop.
    I too, love all of the color!

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  12. Hi, I just found you via Brenda's Cozy Little House! I just love how you made over their backyard! Especially the water feature and the TV cabinet! Wow, if I could watch HGTV outside, I would probably never be in the house again, ever! (smile!) I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your lovely blog! Patti

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  13. I actually saw this episode the other day. I thought at the time that you looked so much like a good friend of mine. We both worked for Ethan Allen in Northern California.

    Then today I was reading Brenda's post at The Cozy Little House and there you were again! I will be following you and look forward to getting to know you.

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