Progress

We've gone from this...



to this...

to this...

to this...

and finally ended up with this.

Going, going, kind of/sort of gone...

When we moved into our house in April 2009, this is what our backyard looked like. We had a nice deck and a patio with a hot tub. Unfortunately, we quickly found out that the hot tub did not work and would cost us a couple thousand dollars to fix...thanks but no thanks.




We got rid of the hot tub and finally, in July 2010, we decided to get rid of the paver patio that was beginning to look overgrown. It was a L O N G, hot process.

Finally, though, we had hauled all of the pavers out of the backyard and stacked them up in the garage (to do something with later...ha!).

We also removed the wood edging and were left with a very large square filled with...sand. We tried to get rid of the sand, but that wasn't happening...there is a TON of it. So we decided to just plant grass seed on top of it.

Which we finally did a few weeks ago...in October.

So far, we don't have any grass, and I'm beginning to wonder if we should have just left the hot tub patio alone. Is it too late to ask that question?

Landscaping Extravaganza Day 3

I know, you thought there was an end to our landscaping craze, but oh no, we've just begun. Scroll down to see installments 1 and 2. As you saw in my previous posts, our house had become a jungle of weeds. Well, after an entire weekend of pulling those weeds and digging out the ugliness that was our landscaping, we have moved on to bigger, better and funner things. So, Don and I packed ourselves into the truck and returned home (3 times) with more trees and plants than we knew what to do with.

Here's a glimpse at the truck after one of our trips to the nursery...

Here's a view of the front of the house after we planted some azaleas and hydrangeas...

You might have noticed the beautiful tree at the corner of the house. It's my new cherry tree...

Here's a view of the side of the house. If you remember correctly, this is the side that previously looked like it belonged somewhere in a jungle. The weeds were much taller than me and far more out of control! After planting a few azaleas and grasses, it looks MUCH better!

This shrub is at the other corner of the house, on the garage side. It's the only plant we bought for which I have forgotten the name. I wish my camera did it the justice it deserves. It has beautiful red and green leaves...perfect for fall!

We started tackling the backyard, but we were driven away by a mass of hornets that have nested in the ground where we are trying to plant. Maybe another day...

I'll post more pics once we finish the backyard and put in the 165 brick edgers we picked up at Menard's. Do you have any idea what 165 twelve and a half pound bricks do to a Ford Explorer? Let's just say we were ridin' low!

Landscaping Extravaganza Day 2

Well, we started all over again this morning. We weeded, raked, had a bonfire and sprayed weed and bug killer. We are finally done (well, except for the planting new stuff part)!

Here's the back of the house BEFORE (again with the ugly evergreen shrubs)...

And here's the back of the house AFTER (no more weeds or trees)...

Up next...the jungle we call our backyard.

Landscaping Extravaganza Day 1

Today began our landscaping adventure. When we bought our house in April, no one had lived in it for close to 9 months. Therefore, the wooded lot looked more like a jungle of weeds than anything else. Well, we finally got around to cleaning things up today (a Herculean effort when you look at our jam-packed calendar). We made a lot of progress but still have a LONG way to go. Here are a few before and after pictures (please don't judge us!).

The front of the house BEFORE (lots of ugly, half dead evergreen shrubs and weeds)...

Front of house AFTER (goodbye weeds in front of chimney and deadest evergreen...I'm still working on convincing Don to just take them all out)...

I'm embarrassed to even post this picture. This is the side of our house BEFORE (have you ever seen so many weeds??)...

Side of house AFTER (ahhh, we can actually see out our bedroom window and as a bonus, we'll get to have a bonfire with all the wood we chopped down)...

See all the wood around the hot tub? Well, it's gone now...just dirt and grass seed. I still haven't figured out why someone would put pieces of wood around 3 sides of a hot tub but leave 3 feet of grass on each side. Hello, a riding mower does not fit!

Goodbye ugly 50 year old bird bath! Sorry birds...you'll have to wash up in someone else's yard!

Well, what a day (and that was only the beginning)! I can't feel my hands, arms or legs and Don's hand is swollen like a balloon from a bee sting, but we'll be up early tomorrow morning to keep on going! Check back tomorrow night for pictures from Day 2 of our Landscaping Extravaganza.

Too bad I didn't get to spend my day like Hoosier did...4 hours at the salon. Isn't he so handsome?