Swimming Pool Landscaping

Over this past weekend, Mr Farmer and I finished up our landscaping around the pool area.

Before I show you pictures, I want to explain my journey in picking the unusual stepping stones.

On the way to town one day, I looked out the window and saw a huge, I do mean huge, base log pushed into the ditch. The shape was beautiful. In my head I pictured it sliced into an 8 inch thick disc and then cut in half to make a half-moon shape. Can you picture it?

Anyway, my plan was to make steps out of them to help in going down the little hill by the pool. Excitedly I told Mr Farmer my plan. I was sure he was going to be as excited as I was about my brilliant little idea and my words raced from my lips.

 And here's what I got from him. "Hmmm. Sounds weird." Not what most people say when they are excited about a brilliant plan. I tried again to get him to see my vision. And I got, "We don't need steps there. It's just a little hill." Well, obviously he's not the one with arthritis! However, he did agree to humor me and look at the beautiful stump on our way home. He might even slow down a bit in order to see it. I was winning him over. Can you tell?

Well, we drove by it and he agreed with me that it was a beautiful stump. But he didn't agree that we could stop and ask about it or even use the idea. It just wasn't necessary.

Now, I will let you in on the inner workings of our marriage. Usually Mr Farmer is right about everything. It's really quite annoying. He thinks and contemplates and plans. I'm the dreamer that jumps into things before thinking them all the way through. Knowing this, I typically share my ideas and count on him to make them work or listen to him when he says no. Typically. Except when large stumps are involved. Or decorating.

So, I decided I was going to have half-moon stump discs for steps by my pool. The next day I headed to the Amish saw mill. From our discussion of my "crazy idea", I knew I needed a hard wood so that it would last a few years. As we pulled into the lot, I ogled the large logs piled high on either side of the drive. I preferred the ones with a "fluted or frilly" end. I thought they would give an interesting look to the steps. One of the boys was outside and listened to what I needed. He took me out back to the scrap pile. I explained further that I needed hardwood. On to another scrap pile. Then, I saw it. A huge log with a rotten center. I asked about it and he said it was oak. Hardwood-check. However, the outer edge was just round. No fluting or prettiness. But beggars can't be choosers so I asked him to cut me a couple. We decided to only cut halfway through to the center rotten part.

I headed home with my new steps. And an extra hedge log I found. I showed Mr Farmer when he got home from work. He still showed no excitement, but did agree they were pretty.

Anyway, this is what we ended up doing. And I still don't have any steps.

I had to make another trip for more pieces. Then, I sanded them smoother for wet little bare feet. But I left a bit of roughness so they wouldn't be slippery. I still need to seal them. It turned out so pretty! I'm always looking for something different and cheap. All together, this project cost us about $75. Of course, we had the edging bricks, plastic, and rocks already or it would have been just over a hundred. Still, it's a pretty good price for such a large area of landscaping.

Even though I didn't get my pretty outer edge, the inner edges where it had rotted away, made an extremely unique and pretty design.

And here is the extra log I brought home. I just loved the wavy design on it. It's kind of hard to see the design, but it goes along the entire length of the log and reminded me of water. Fitting for near the pool.