The Challenge...Can we do it?

While attempting to trim up the beautiful old tree in our front yard yesterday afternoon I had a stroke of genius.  Ok, that's stretching it, but I did have a pretty fun idea.  You see, the way our "yard" is set up we have a front yard, fence, mailbox, etc. and then there is the road (Point Breeze Rd.) that runs in front of our house.  But, on the other side of the road is a strip of grass with our big old tree, our pier and we've got some chairs set up as well to enjoy the view.  By law, that land is ours and also by law no one can "own the beach".  Meaning that's public property and if someone wants to walk on it they can.  The grass, however, and pier might I add, are private.  Sometimes people either choose to ignore that fact or just think that we're nice enough to provide them with free access to our chairs and pier.  No, sorry folks, we aren't that nice.  (Unless we know you of course!)

So how do we solve this problem?  Well, we're going to take a cue from our dear neighbors.  They've designed their land in a way that people know it's clearly theirs.  And since our private property signs on the pier aren't doing the trick, we're going to try and do the same thing.  Which brings me back to my brilliant idea...I've challenged myself, and Bubba of course, to take on this task without spending a penny!  A totally green-reuse type of project...

Here is what we're up against...our neighbors have the prettiest house on the block, in fact when we tell people where we live we say, "you'll see a big house with a red roof...we're the small white one next to it..." Anyway, here is their strip of land by their pier, designed so people know it's private:

[It's hard to get the full effect from this angle, but they have a portioned off a rectangle filled with sand to make it look like a beach.  Then there is the lighthouse whose light turns on each night as dusk, two beautiful chairs chained to the ground so no one steals them, and the mulched and flowered area in the front.  It's perfect and such a good idea!]

And here is what WE are working with...

[Not quite the same effect...at all. Our chairs PALE in comparison, but they came with the house.  They were funky old chairs that we just painted and stained with some leftover materials my mom had.  So our cost free project is technically already underway!  Cross your fingers for us, this could be tough.]