From day one the front yard has not looked its best. Over grown plants, nasty dried out mulch, and weeds galore. The curb appeal or lack there of was and is a turn off for this house. The day Geoff convinced me to look at this house I was not in any way shape or form impressed with the front yard.
I can honestly say that there is nothing at all that I like about this front yard. My first impression may not have been the best but I knew that this was a great opportunity for us. A small diamond in the rough so to speak. Crappy front yard, (check) crappy flooring throughout the house (check) and ugly ugly paint colors (check). This was the chance to prove to ourselves that we could indeed take on a huge project together and come out better on the other side. A true test to see how well we could work together as a couple to accomplish the home we have always wanted for our first home.
I planned on making our first project for this house the front yard, however the obnoxious paint colors and the fear of baking my skin and getting a horrible sunburn before our wedding changed my mind. Even after the wedding had passed and the paint on the walls had dried the front yard was still the furthest from being on the top priority list. We had planned on making it number one but traveling makes plans change. Why would we want to work on a yard when we are never home to do the up keep in the first place. Now 2 years later it is beginning to creep back up on the priority list, in fact it hit number one when we were home in May.
It's not like we did the whole front yard project in one shot, nope that would be way too much for little ole me. I decided to tackle this beast in steps. That way I can formulate a solid plan for what the final product will look like. Everyone goes through it, throwing out ideas, seeing which stick, seeing which are the most plausible to pull off, and of course how much the final project is going to cost. I feel the last one is the biggest decision maker of them all. How deep are your pockets for each project? How much are you really going to enjoy X if you get exactly what you planned? Is your plan going to bring value not only to your home but also your life? There is so much to think about when making plans for home improvement. It amazes me how many questions there can be for one project. Honestly, it really slows me down, a lot.
With all that said I normally try and tackle as many of the for-sure-no-matter-what projects as I can. With the front yard there are a few that can be tackled with or without a plan. Starting with weed and plant removal.
That is what I started with.
First, I removed the huge overgrown hedge at the front window. So much more work than I ever thought.
Thankfully Geoff got me those bags. Not only did I have to deal with the actual hedge clippings but there was also a nice layer under the hedge of dead plant material and dried mulch that I was not expecting to find. That was two bags itself. As I got further along on my hedge removal journey I found something I was not expecting...
A nice pipe in the middle of it all. I am not even sure what it is for... whatever at least it wasn't a hand or a dead animal! I never realized how big this hedge actually was! It even wrapped around the house. Once I got all the actual green parts of the hedge cut off I realized I was not going to be able to finish this project on my own. Those roots were just too much for me to budge! So in comes Geoff to save the day!
A few hours/days later he had all the roots removed! Yippee! I cannot believe how naive I was thinking that whole thing was going to fit into the trash can... Duh! I dont know I guess I bit off more than I could chew. O well! Honestly though it looks fantastic! I am so pleased with the results of our hard work. So the count right now is Steph and Geoff 2---- Plants 0... mauhahaha!
Doesn't that look so much better?!
I planned on making our first project for this house the front yard, however the obnoxious paint colors and the fear of baking my skin and getting a horrible sunburn before our wedding changed my mind. Even after the wedding had passed and the paint on the walls had dried the front yard was still the furthest from being on the top priority list. We had planned on making it number one but traveling makes plans change. Why would we want to work on a yard when we are never home to do the up keep in the first place. Now 2 years later it is beginning to creep back up on the priority list, in fact it hit number one when we were home in May.
It's not like we did the whole front yard project in one shot, nope that would be way too much for little ole me. I decided to tackle this beast in steps. That way I can formulate a solid plan for what the final product will look like. Everyone goes through it, throwing out ideas, seeing which stick, seeing which are the most plausible to pull off, and of course how much the final project is going to cost. I feel the last one is the biggest decision maker of them all. How deep are your pockets for each project? How much are you really going to enjoy X if you get exactly what you planned? Is your plan going to bring value not only to your home but also your life? There is so much to think about when making plans for home improvement. It amazes me how many questions there can be for one project. Honestly, it really slows me down, a lot.
With all that said I normally try and tackle as many of the for-sure-no-matter-what projects as I can. With the front yard there are a few that can be tackled with or without a plan. Starting with weed and plant removal.
That is what I started with.
First, I removed the huge overgrown hedge at the front window. So much more work than I ever thought.
I thought that this was going to be an easy job.. honestly look at the size of that hedge! What was I thinking? It seriously took me eleven of those 55 gallon black trash bags plus our city trash can and 5 hours to take it down by myself. The most time consuming part was clean up of course.
At first progress was slow. I didn't know exactly how I was going to tackle this plant and I honestly thought all of the clippings were going to fit nicely into our big city trash can.. Boy was I ever wrong.... There was no way that was all going to fit in the trash can.. Seriously at this point I had already filled it to the top.. So I shut the lid on the trash can and had Geoff grab me a box of trash bags while he was out for lunch.
Thankfully Geoff got me those bags. Not only did I have to deal with the actual hedge clippings but there was also a nice layer under the hedge of dead plant material and dried mulch that I was not expecting to find. That was two bags itself. As I got further along on my hedge removal journey I found something I was not expecting...
A nice pipe in the middle of it all. I am not even sure what it is for... whatever at least it wasn't a hand or a dead animal! I never realized how big this hedge actually was! It even wrapped around the house. Once I got all the actual green parts of the hedge cut off I realized I was not going to be able to finish this project on my own. Those roots were just too much for me to budge! So in comes Geoff to save the day!
A few hours/days later he had all the roots removed! Yippee! I cannot believe how naive I was thinking that whole thing was going to fit into the trash can... Duh! I dont know I guess I bit off more than I could chew. O well! Honestly though it looks fantastic! I am so pleased with the results of our hard work. So the count right now is Steph and Geoff 2---- Plants 0... mauhahaha!
Doesn't that look so much better?!
What should we tackle next? Removal of more plants? or Removal of nasty mulch? Maybe both? Or maybe just remove it all everything?!?!?!?!..... We will see...
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