The Atrium..."after" photos

There is another "room" in our house that is finished. The "Atrium" as we've come to call it. An indoor-yet-outdoor space that has come in super handy while our yard is still not finished.  We keep the large sliding glass doors open all day long most days (there is a fan that blows not only in the atrium, but onto our dining area too!) and the boys have found the spot a never-ending source of entertainment. "The Rocks" is what they call it. "Come play in the rocks wif me!" is something you'll hear Isaac say most every day.

While this space took much more physical effort (thanks Daddy and Mama!) it won't require 2 posts. Here are some before, during, and most importantly some after pictures.

BEFORE: concrete chunks, cigarette butts, and anything else small and discard-able that the construction crews didn't need. What this picture DOESN'T convey is the cat pee smell as the space was also used while the house was vacant by neighborhood cats as a litter box. Couldn't let my boys out there for a second without them getting filthy dirty or (Isaiah) eating a cigarette butt or two.

DURING: It took a couple DAYS but we hauled all the rocks and debris out and tried to level the ground a bit in the middle.

DURING: If you look in the picture before this one, you'll see the quality paint job done, particularly around the bottom few inches of the space. We decided a dark green would keep with the "Atrium" feel so filled in the unpainted part.

DURING: Then after much debate and a couple-day search for Quik-crete (which in the land of concrete here does NOT exist, at least not the kind we needed) we decided to lay down some plastic sheeting (double and in some lumpier spots, triple and quadruple-layered) to keep the dust at bay and to put nice smooth rocks down. The "rock store" didn't have enough in any one color, so we bought all of them.

DURING: Us taping and cutting the plastic sheeting down.  When it came time, all four adults (us two and my parents) had way too much fun ripping the bags of rocks open and dumping the various colors and filling in the space with them at like 11pm. It was the last step in a long process and we had fun with it!

AFTER: Nice huh?

AFTER: So neat. So cat pee free.

AFTER: My son standing in the rocks and smiling. Because they're a lot of fun.

AFTER: Kaylee gets her rock time everyday too. We've also noticed that she needs some help on her basic math skills, but we're glad the rocks in the atrium are there and that the space is DONE!