Sunday, December 8, 2013

Focus on the Front Yard

We have finally tackled our incredibly boring front yard.  Above and below are the before photos.


And here's the finished product.  Please excuse the Frankenstein grass in the foreground.  It will fill in.  And that pile of mulch is on the way out.  Those wires you see are Christmas lights on the verge of being hung.

Here are some detail shots.
The arbor was originally meant for the back yard, but it looked too good up front to deny.  We tried about 40 different brick patterns for the path that failed miserably, but eventually found one that worked.

And here's the work in progress.
We started by ripping out all the old plants and brick boarder.  All our neighbors (who employ gardeners) thought we were crazy.

That included the small tree in front of the gate that made moving the garbage cans a hassle.

In the process I might have broken a sprinkler line, which ate a day of potential work.

We also relocated a sprinkler to the corner, since we were doing PVC work anyway.

One of the nicest changes was to the brick wall.  We picked up some concrete stain and Chrissy applied two coats, completely transforming the mismatched blocks into a cohesive chocolate colored wall.
Before.
In Progress
After
We put a lot of effort into the new brick boarder.  Chrissy had the idea to use a two layered approach, with one brick flat and another on it's edge.  It will allow for easier mowing and should resist movement much better than the crooked old single row of bricks.
The trusty dead blow hammer proved its worth yet again.  The right tool is always a bigger hammer.
Testing plant placement.  We didn't have any specific plants in mind for this.  We just went to the garden section and picked what we liked.

It was a lot of work, but we are really pleased with the way it turned out.  The biggest challenge was working around our busy weekend schedule and early sunsets after work.
This further proves that if you want to tackle a project, you should just jump in.  If you work hard, it will turn out great.

Here's one more before and after shot.

1 comment:

  1. I have recently become a fan of mums for a planter. They give off lots of color and can be trimmed back to little green balls when they aren't blooming. They come in several different colors and are rather inexpensive compared to the amount of space they take up. I bought 11" plants at Home Depot last spring for about $12. Love the arbor!

    ReplyDelete