Yard Makeover Part 1

Yes, I know that I haven't blogged in forever. I know, blah blah blah......but, once you see the next 2 post (plus vacation), you will understand why!! We have been busy working on our yard! We are so proud of the way it has turned out. We have envisioned doing this since we bought the house 23 months ago. I am constantly amazed at Jonathan and the things that he can do. I had no idea that I married such a handy man. He really can do almost anything!! I am having so much fun working in the yard and creating this masterpiece. I can't count the number of neighbors, next door and throughout the ENTIRE neighborhood, that have stopped and commented on how great our house looks. Everyone talks about how much better it is. We even had a guy from down the street stop and ask if he could take pictures because he still kept in touch with the kids that grew up in this house and he wanted them to see how awesome it looked now. I thought that was cool. So this is just the first post. I am trying to do a work in progress, as we go along kind of thing. So here goes......

This is a picture from last fall but I wanted to remember what the front of the house looked like before we did all the landscaping.

We moved out steps. If you look hard in the above picture, you can see the front steps on the far right front of the steps. We wanted to move them right in front of the door and make a sidewalk with flowerbeds on both sides. My vision from the start!!!

Jonathan had to make a mold to pour the concrete for the pad for the steps.

Notice our new gutters!! Woot! Woot! And now we are ready to get started!

Before :(

We transplanted this bush from my neighbors yard. She was nice enough to let us have some.

Got our load of dirt......can't make a flowerbed without dirt!

Luckily, we didn't have to pay a small fortune for these stones. We kept these when we tore down the man cave just for this purpose!! Jonathan priced a pallet of stones like this and they were $400 plus! For just 1 pallet. I have used WAY WAY more than that and have a lot left to use in the backyard!!!

Those stones are heavy and this was not an easy or fast job!

And we had to get them as level as we could and find the right ones to fit on top without causing big holes where the dirt would leak out. Very time consuming, and hot, and back breaking! But very worth it!!

Here is the first picture of the almost finished product. This was before we added mulch and more flowers.....you'll see.....

We have to get some sod and dirt and raise the ground in front of the flowerbeds to make the yard drain better. Another project on the to do list. It is never ending!

I was proud of this that day but to see it now....

This is a view from the front yard. I have another from the street when we are done.

I didn't want to do too big of a post so I am doing the house pics in sections. I am telling you, this is why I don't have time to blog. I am so dang tired from working on this house that I go to bed way too early! Hope you enjoy and I'll do another post tomorrow........