Our new flower bed

Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Finally I found the time to build a new flower bed to grace our otherwise barren front yard.

Also we took Pat's recommendation and bought a bunch of nice perennials from Humber Nurseries.

Photos are on Flickr

Harlequin Maple

We started to look at what to do for the yards (front and back) but personally I wanted a harlequin maple just like the one in my parents front yard.

Other trees?
Japanese maple (but there are thousands of species.. must find a nice looking one)
Korean lilac (supposed to smell good.. here's a picture)

Periwinkle Flower

Periwinkle Flower
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

The first flower of our house appeared! This is from the periwinkle that Pat, my friend at work, gave me last year. It had established itself, survived the winter, and grew bigger throughout this spring. :-D

Ground cover for the garden

Forget-me-not


Light purple Phlox
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Tyatt's mom gave us some of her ground cover plants like Forget-me-not and Phlox. We also bought some herbs and flowering plants as well!

That just means we'll have to opening up some flower beds soon.

DIY drapes for the house

Sewing machine action shot!
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

We needed drapes badly -- the Redi-shade is beginning to look old. Ready-made drapes are either too ugly or too expensive, or .. both. Custom-made ones from drapery stores are too expensive. So, we did it ourselves!

See it on Flickr

Closet Remodeling

I am being crushed by the PAX
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Our so called walk-in closet is very small, and the original shelves did not make full use of the space. We bit the bullet and bought the PAX closet shelves from IKEA.

Installing them was a challenge -- we pretty much had to assemble the shelves inside the closet because the door opening is much shorter than the full height of the closet. Also, the inside width of the closet is exactly the width of the shelves.. we had to plan the order of the assembly to assure we can actually move everything into place!

The assembly is documented on Flickr

Tiling the kitchen back splash

Cleaning the second row of tiles
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Our first project of 2007 is to tile the back splash in the kitchen. We used glass mosaic tiles and toiled for 4 nights to get it done. We are both excited about the result!

Opinions have varied.. many say the kitchen and tiles are stunning and the kitchen now has a certain funk. Other says the tiles made the kitchen darker.

You decide: The photos of the job are on Flickr