curb appeal

Before we bought our house, the trim was blue. I hate blue trim (personal preference) unless it's navy and suits the neighborhood. Maybe in the '70s, this powder blue did suit the neighborhood. I'm just glad they painted it taupe for us! I'm not glad they did a terrible job replacing the siding, but that is a rant for another day...

Here's a recap of what the house has looked like outside as we've lived in it/were looking to buy it:

Our house - when it was blue and unloved.

Recap from the one year post.

This 'garden' preiously had a hodge-podge of plants in it. We paid our old yard guy to remove them (YAY!). I then moved and reused the rocks elsewhere:

One time, Austin installed a poorly-made (not his fault) railing for the front porch, per my request, and the demise of at lease one hammer drill.
Idea: curb appeal.
Problem: wobble.
Solution: TBD.

This is what was underneath that little garden (back view), Hideous now, but used to be a brick wall. Why it is gone, I will never know. I truly wish it was still a brick wall. I'm sure someone ran into it and destroyed it.

Thursday, I weeded this area - which has been sitting for a year (sorry neighbors/HOA!), and put the some of those stones back over the wall foundation. Planted these Crotons (2x3-gallon containers = $17) on Friday.

Yesterday, I added sod - about 400 sq ft of it - which I get to water like crazy for two weeks!
Here's where it all went:

More sod by the new pathway - we obviously need to spray
the pathway for weeds. :)

After "we" finally removed the dirt (Austin) and frame (Austin) for the old garden area, "we" (I) planted some new plants - which cost around $45 - just in the area in front of the railing. I then laid the sod (solo!) yesterday. Our neighbor told us that grass doesn't grow well here because of the shade, but we are going to try it out anyway. It's what I would prefer to have there... so I am going to be true to my stubborn self and try it!

When the plants were removed, before the dirt was removed.
It's a deceitfully large area.

No sod, just new plants and some of the rocks from above.

Sod + new garden (+hose from watering all that sod!)

The "front" of our house... which is really the side.

And since I had just a little left, I took some to my parents' house. Matt's dog, Tyson, was very happy about the new grass... or maybe it was just that someone was outside with him!

I'm SO happy to be done laying sod, and so are my arms and clothes (though I'm sure the mud is good for you.. right?).

We also had our trees trimmed in the last few months - something we don't think has happened in at least 5 years. Our oak tree was bullying our magnolia into leaning to the right. Hopefully, some new branches will grow on the left side of the magnolia. It looks so naked!

I really hope this stiff lasts after all that work. I'm also hoping for a massage and a hot stone pedicure, but if the grass lasts, that's reward enough! ;) I'm really ready for my husband to be back from his hunting trip, and grateful that my mom watched Ethan yesterday so I could do all that work!

Project costs:

Plant removal: $200

Dirt haul: $0 (Austin did this)
New plants: $65 (after tax)

New Sod: $180 (we had it delivered, works out to $1/piece; pieces are 16"x24")

= $345 for a new yard!

And the final before & after:

I'm ready for some relaxation and some football this afternoon. I'm praising God for this glorious fall weather, too. I was glad I wasn't the only one to bust out my riding boots for church this morning!

xo,

a day in the life

I am a part-time worker-bee, part-time stay at home mom. I like the arrangement we have for right now, because I get more time with Ethan than I would in a full-time position, Ethan gets to play with other children, and someone else battles to feed him lunch (it's a mess whether I do it or he does). It's a win-win, minus all the extra snot which stems from being in constant contact with other little-bitties.

On Friday, I was off. I had just gone to a Noonday Trunk Show with some girls from our church on Thursday here in the neighborhood, from which I did not return until about 11 PM. Yikes! So when Ethan cried to wake up at 6:30 AM on my day off, I said "NOOoooooooo," and rolled over. I hoped he would go back to sleep, and he seemed to. In effect, I 'snoozed' my child (you can start getting judgey now). I justify this with mornings like today, in which my son, who went to bed at 8 PM, has to be woken up at 8:40 AM because he will otherwise just keep sleeping. I know the kid is capable. Of course, his mom and dad were both up at 7:30 AM today, so we just can't win.

Unfortunately for me, Ethan had filled up his diaper on Friday morning, so when I went in to get him at 7:30 AM, he had covered himself - head to toe - in the diaper's contents. By this time, Austin was well on his way to work, so this mama got to wage the war against germs and sickness solo -- including the screaming in the bathtub because somebody was HANGRY! Come on, mama!

All that is to say, having kids doesn't make early mornings easier - it just makes them necessary. Don't you all just want lots of babies?!

I have to say, Ethan is a delightful little boy. I wouldn't trade him for the world, and despite mornings like this, I still want another little human someday. Some mornings, he even wakes up happy and babbles to us through breakfast - it's sweet. But folks, you can tack my Friday morning experience onto the blog post I wrote a while back for those thinking of having/adopting a little human.

Other awesome things accomplished this weekend:

-Austin had a guy's night with his best friend (this is a rarity, but awesome for them).

-New faux mount above the bed. I'm looking for an ornate oval frame (probably will settle for an IKEA one, but I'm not totally sold yet...).

-We finally found inexpensive and plain pillow covers for the Man Cave couch.

-We bought a cheap IKEA desk for Austin to work on so he can stop stealing my sewing table.

-I created a new pathway from driveway to back yard (through our new-ish gate) using leftover decomposed granite from our patio reno, and leftover landscaping stones from the previous owners.

-Austin moved a BUNCH of dirt from the front yard. Next phase is sod and adding more of those landscaping stones around the edge of the area we kept the dirt in. We're also looking for groundcover that does well in our area and in shade. And possibly drought. Any suggestions?

Hope y'all had a happy and totally glamorous weekend, too!

xo,

PS - someone tell our neighbors we're sorry our trash can is on the street. The City told us to put it there. The trash guys broke it and it's just sitting out there, lidless, collecting water and stinking it up with all those diapers. We are awesome neighbors.

Progress: Front Porch & Entryway

Tonight, we're going to League City to visit Matt (and Tyson), and then to Galveston tomorrow, to see some waves, introduce Bear to the ocean, and see my cousin, Sarah. We haven't seen that island since we went in October 2010 for Austin's 24th birthday. It's been a while - we were dating, and the island was still recovering form Ike (the Pleasure Pier didn't exist!). We're looking forward to spending one of our last free weekends with some people (and dogs) that we love!

A late-night beach walk.

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As I've said before, We're really bad about the "before" pictures. I've gotten better as time goes on, but I totally forgot to take a "before" shot of our entryway. it had a reddish-stained door that hadn't been updated in... forever. The front of our house is brick with taupe trim, so I wanted to add some pizzaz to the front door, which actually faces our neighbor's house. You're supposed to get approval from the HOA first, but we were safe since our door is not highly visible.

At first, I was a little unsure of my color choice (yellow) and Austin was very unsure of having a yellow door, so I took a Facebook poll... and all the men tried to veto my yellow door! I spent an entire Sunday painting our door yellow, and I love it. I'm pretty sure it was the best door color choice ever.

Note the tools leading outside, and the old Terrazzo tile.

I think it's a little more complete with the pretty wreath I made (couldn't have cost more than $15 with coupons to Hobby Lobby and Michael's). All those white flowers are from Michael's and they clip onto the wreath. The burlap was wrapped onto it with wire, and the blue flower stems are woven in. It's been several months, and nothing has moved or fallen!

A few of my favorite things.

Don't forget about the railing project... that took 4 months, broke two (three?) hammer drills.. and looks awesome!

He started this project in long sleeves, and ended it in shorts and a T shirt.
Look at that hodge-podge of plants!

And finally, we removed paid someone to remove the mosquito-breeding habitat that consisted of some ill-planted shrubbery:

Who knew a barren flower bed could bring such joy?

The next phase involves planting some anti-mosquito plants, making that flowerbed MUCH more narrow, and possibly putting in more grass (though that area doesn't grow well since it is so shaded.. but that makes it the perfect place for our cafe set!). If not grass, then some rocks that were leftover from the other side of the house, where we also removed plants.

The rubble of rocks that remain.Why they left the one potted plant, we will never know.

Now our entryway looks like this (actually, the grout has been stained, but you get the idea!):

I love the brick pattern, and the new shelf I found at Marshall's!

Look for an updated post on the garden(s) - hopefully sometime before Ethan arrives. We're too busy going to the beach to work on a garden in 100-degree heat!

love,