Spring!
After a long hiatus from working on the house, and an even longer hiatus from blogging, we are back to work!
We've had a bunch of small changes around the house since my last post. I'll talk about those later, but I'm excited to share what we're currently working on.
Those of you in the Boston area are well aware of the long and snowy winter we had. As soon as the weather turned warm, we started spending each weekend outside, working on the yard.
The house needs a total external overhaul, and we started focusing on the yard and overall curb appeal.
Our walkway has been lined with brick, some of which had started coming out of place and causing quite the obstacle as the kids tried to run across the yard into the driveway. Plus, I just didn't like the look. I think at some point they were meant as a decorative edge, but it gave the walkway a dated appearance.
M and Little Man (well, mostly M) took out the bricks earlier this week, which absolutely opened up the area.
We've moved the brick to a small garden area in the backyard, at least for now. They make better stepping stones than edges!
One of the other big things that bothered me about the yard was the red mulch. It works in some yards, but I felt that the color just made the entire house look washed-out. With the brickwork on the house facade, the red mulch was just too much red color.
So, M painstakingly raked up the red mulch and transplanted it to the back yard, along with the brick stepping stones. He lay a weed barrier, and covered the area with new, black mulch. So much better!
Once we can get the grass to green-up a little bit, we'll see some nice contrast with the mulch. It already looks so much cleaner and more modern.
The last improvement was to try to get the house to look less like it was built in 1965. Which, is kind of hard, because it was built in 1965! At some point we will repaint the front entry, front door, and garage doors. For now, though, we wanted to see what would happen when we removed the lower shutters.
It really opened up the front of the house. The shutters matched too much with the siding, and it made the bottom seem so small. We are loving how it looks now.
I want to get rid of the existing shrubs and add some more interesting plants to the front, but for now I'm pleased with the progress!
We've had a bunch of small changes around the house since my last post. I'll talk about those later, but I'm excited to share what we're currently working on.
Those of you in the Boston area are well aware of the long and snowy winter we had. As soon as the weather turned warm, we started spending each weekend outside, working on the yard.
The house needs a total external overhaul, and we started focusing on the yard and overall curb appeal.
Our walkway has been lined with brick, some of which had started coming out of place and causing quite the obstacle as the kids tried to run across the yard into the driveway. Plus, I just didn't like the look. I think at some point they were meant as a decorative edge, but it gave the walkway a dated appearance.
M and Little Man (well, mostly M) took out the bricks earlier this week, which absolutely opened up the area.
We've moved the brick to a small garden area in the backyard, at least for now. They make better stepping stones than edges!
One of the other big things that bothered me about the yard was the red mulch. It works in some yards, but I felt that the color just made the entire house look washed-out. With the brickwork on the house facade, the red mulch was just too much red color.
So, M painstakingly raked up the red mulch and transplanted it to the back yard, along with the brick stepping stones. He lay a weed barrier, and covered the area with new, black mulch. So much better!
Once we can get the grass to green-up a little bit, we'll see some nice contrast with the mulch. It already looks so much cleaner and more modern.
The last improvement was to try to get the house to look less like it was built in 1965. Which, is kind of hard, because it was built in 1965! At some point we will repaint the front entry, front door, and garage doors. For now, though, we wanted to see what would happen when we removed the lower shutters.
It really opened up the front of the house. The shutters matched too much with the siding, and it made the bottom seem so small. We are loving how it looks now.
I want to get rid of the existing shrubs and add some more interesting plants to the front, but for now I'm pleased with the progress!
You might consider taking off the upper shutter too. Shutters look best when they could operate. None of yours would cover the windows. Too bad you returned your mother's ladder.
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