Front Yard- Before and After

Apparently even professionals can't stick to a deadline. By Friday it was clear they weren't going to finish and after a long day yesterday the yard is 90% complete. The plant order was short so there are a few things still to come, but here is the general picture.

Let's look at the side by side comparison. 

Looking up from the front stairs before:

Now

Looking toward the street

The view from the porch

As you can see it is a million times better. All it needs is a few little tweaks and I can finally call the front yard done! I say it was 100% worth it to pay someone to just get the job done. The whole project was so quick and clean, nothing like it would have been if I did it. Could I have gotten the same results with half the budget? Probably. But it would have taken me months of blood, sweat, and tears. I'll take you around and show you all of the plantings once we are officially done later this week. Maybe I can score some end of the season deals on furniture for out there.

Cheers!

Front Yard Renovation: Day 1

It is amazing what a two man team, working eight hours can do to a space.

This is what our yard looked like this morning:

And this is what it looked like by 4pm:

I can already see the potential.  Be back Saturday with the final reveal!

Cheers!

Front Yard Plans

So, I've been saying this for two years now but hand to god, we are actually finishing the front yard this year. Know why? We hired someone to do it. All of it. I know, not very DIY of us but sometimes you just have to decide what you are willing to do yourself and what is just not worth your time.

It will be going from this

to this

Work starts Monday and I'm excited to see what paying people to do all the work is like. We seriously thought about doing it ourselves, but just know that with the baby it would take longer than we would like. I've been waiting two long years for this front yard to be done and I'm glad we are finally getting on it.

Be back Tuesday with an update!

Cheers!

Warning: Front Yard Disaster Area

The horrible truth? I haven't touched the front yard since we had the trees taken down last October. 

The very notion of starting is utterly overwhelming.

But it is starting to attack people who are trying to visit so I'm just going to have to suck it up and start working.

The main reason it has taken so long (besides the fact that I hate yard work) is that we didn't have the funds to landscape last November. That, and I told myself it is best to plant in the fall, which is totally true right?

 Well, fall is approaching and If I want to get any planting done I need to clear this up.

I've decided for my own sanity (and wallet) to only do as much yard work as can fill our 96 gallon yard waste bin a week. So, probably a slow process but at least it is a start.  Thankfully the laurel hedge hides most of this from the street so I don't feel quite so bad about being "that neighbor".

I'll let you know how it goes.

Please tell me I am not the only one who dreads yard work.

Cheers!

Check, Check, Check

I'm working through my TBC list so here are a few more items I can cross off.

We have light!

And even better, we have a functional Rain Barrel.

I used this inspiration for the design.

After I built my base I gave my barrel a fresh coat of paint and topped it off with some rocks and succulent planter (this was too cute not to copy).  After sitting there for a year it probably took me an hour to put together including building the base and attaching the plumbing. Of course that means there is absolutely no rain on the horizon but that's just how it goes right? 

I love checking things off don't you? 

Cheers!

Penned In

A few days back I shared my horrible shame list of unfinished projects. Well folks, I'm here today to tell you I've crossed one off of the list. And added four more. Let's focus on the successes though right?

I got my inspiration from this baby gate that Kim @ The Newly Woodwards made and tweaked it to what I had on hand.

TaDa!

It serves two purposes. One, it keeps Norman contained when we have the front door open (which is a necessity as it heats up) and two, keeps us from being bombarded by solicitors. Since Daniel works in the front room (it has the best view) he is unable to "pretend" he is not home when people came by. Now they don't even make it to the front porch.

Boy do my stairs need painting! Ignore that bit and check out the cutest guard dog in the world.

He means business! Unless you have tasty bits, then come on in.

There you have it, one task checked off of my ever growing list. Any bets on whether or not I finish another task before I find something new to add?

Cheers!

Front Yard Progress: Hedge Edition

Who doesn't love a dramatic before and after? I've already shown you the first phase of this project (here) but I thought a little picture by picture run down would be fun. 

To begin: The view from the street right after we moved in.

First phase: Remove that ugly rusted fence and hateful juniper bushes. Juniper in Gin? Great. In my front yard? Not for me. 

Phase two: Trees. Buh-Bye

Phase three: Planting!

Last Wednesday the guys from NurseryTrees.com planted five English Laurels. I now am the proud owner of shrubbery. We chose Laurels for their reputation for their look and speedy growth. Soon (about 5 years) we should have a nice tall hedge that provides privacy but doesn't block the view. It will be great to have a usable front yard instead of the monster pit from before. 

Here's one more just to compare: 

I'd say it's an improvement.

Cheers!

I Spy With My Little Eye...

 Our house! I told you I had a big reveal. In case you don't remember, this was the view from the street when I left for work Monday morning.

Can you believe the difference? Check this out.

Inside before

Inside after.

The amount of light in our front room is unreal.

I wasn't home to see the action but Daniel got a few shots. Apparently they climbed up the tree removing the branches as they went

And then came back down the tree removing the trunk.

As you can see they aren't quite done yet.

How much do my neighbors love me right now? Of course the yard looks like a few trees exploded, but, well, they kind of did.

Norman has been pretty skeptical about the whole thing so far.

But that is his usual attitude. I do feel a smidgen bad for Honey Bunch. The Cedar was her favorite play toy. (here she is playing in it just hours before they started bringing it all down)

I promised her I'd get her a new tree though.

More to follow once things get a bit more in order around here but I wanted to show the world our cute little house.

Cheers!

Jumping Junipers!

One of my resolutions this year was to give my house a bit of curb appeal. Boy was that a bigger can of worms than I thought. We started out with this

I swear there is a house in there somewhere. Of course it hasn't helped that I have been ignoring the problem for the last year, but I digress.

 First thing that had to go was that awful fence. It was completely rusted through in some parts. While Daniel did the removal I started on the mass of juniper. We got to about here before I gave up.

Can you see my path of destruction? I managed to bag and tag about half of the juniper while Daniel got out the entire fence.

After taking a few weeks off to recover (that stuff itches!) we finally got back out there and decided this would be the weekend. Everything must go!!

 Not too shabby right?

We were pretty lucky that some guy pulled up and asked to take away our fence (saves us the trip) so we managed to get everything pretty clean.

I did unearth some interesting artifacts hiding in the deep recesses of the Juniper Jungle.

Whomever lived here before must have had quite the menagerie of plastic animals. I have also found a giant beetle and a Lego shark. I'm starting a collection.

We are inching closer to our clean slate... I should have a pretty big reveal for tomorrow so stay tuned!

Cheers!