Landscape.. Garden.. Heck, why not!

Our front yard is well, BLAH. When we bought the house in April, in 3 days it will be the 1 year mark! The house had a new roof, new gutters, fresh paint all over the outside.. The yard, nothing.. notta.. zip. Just a bush that actually is very pretty when it blooms. 

 

Zak and I have never planted a flower. EVER. Neither one of us. Now I have grown a flower in a flower pot at school maybe. We had been planning our landscape for weeks. I said lets just get a professional to do the entire thing. Hubz said. NO, we can do it. We read. We scoped out home depot and lows. We read some more. We researched. We googled pictures. We drew plans and thoughts. Then the day came and I was nervous! We changed out plans at last min. REALLY last min. As in standing in the yard with the shovel last min. We spray painted the outline of our plan then we dug the trench for the bricks and then off to home depot we went. After 3 carts and the Hubz debit card, after loading in the truck and home we went. It was time to start becoming professional gardeners. Actually lets say professional landscape designer since we are not sure if we have the green thumb to keep the flowers alive. We worked on this till midnight. Come to find out. I am good at planting flowers and bushes. Come to find out I LOVED IT! Relaxing!!

My first hole, my first plant, our house's first bush!

It is much prettier in the day but you get the point. We still have a tone more to do as for the landscaping. We have another one of these gardens to make and a bench (that we got today) will go in between them (since our porch is not large enough for rocking chairs) Of course more landscape details such as a fountain and stepping stones. Some taller bushes/trees at the far end of the house as well. For now, this will do. I want to wait to make sure we can keep flowers alive before we plant more flowers. Does anyone know how long I need to wait to see if we have the green thumb. does 2 weeks sound ok?



Storage for Sarah

Sarah, you were looking for ideas for your entry way. I could not figure out how to post pictures under a comment so here is a blog, JUST FOR YOU.. ha.. I know (from looking at your house renovations) You and the hubby can do things and build things yourself. These are just some ideas for your entry way. Furniture you can buy or things you can build. Enjoy.. (you are more than welcome to link this to your post if you want other people's opinions on what they like.)

I do not really like this one but I love the concept. Sort of what I am going for in my house minus the coat rack part of it. My bench is prettier though. And I am still looking for the perfect shelf thing like this.

I ran across this. It looks small but pretty cool. I had never seen thing before. I found it at http://shoestoragesolutions.org/ I just typed in shoe storage bench under google then looked under images. not sure where to buy this or if it is large enough.

Simple way of doing this, bench piece, or build bench with basket underneath and attached a pretty bookcase. Your creative, you can do something easy and fun

Yall could build this

Yall could easily build something like this and then put baskets under the bench part

This one I like because it has a cubbie that closes for your shoes (they have blankets) I don't like exposed cubbies and clutter (even though mine is exposed right now) The down side, you can not sit and open the cubbie at the same time.

You can find tons of furniture like the last pic at places like liquidations by lila (That is where I got my bench) (plus they are already put together) or goodwill or biglots and so on. Some even have mirrors in them where the tall part is. some with built in cubbies an so on. Good luck with your weekend projects.

It is all about what greets you

It is a work in progress. I knew exactly what I wanted though. The picture on the shelf is usually hanging under the shelf but we did have stockings hanging there. New light fixture! (it actually isnt yellow like in the pic, it is white) The shoe bench will be covered with padding and pretty fabric, one day. Still looking for the perfect baskets for the shoes. 3 cubies, 3 people. PERFECT. I love my mail holder by the door! Thank goodness for kirklands.. (MY FAV. STORE EVER) and I have the hooks for the jackets just not sure what to cover them with (fabric or paint) and if I even want to put them up next to the door on the brown wall. I would stagger them. I don't like a messy look (although this pic is sorta messy) but we need hooks because everything gets set on the bench. Everything but our rear ends that is. The table is the perfect height with a (ugly) basket for keys and such. It is coming along I have to say.

p.s. but the way my wall is not that color brown. It is funny how a picture can show imperfections or show the "untruth" It is much more chocolet and you can not see the wood slabs or whatever it is called as much. In other words, it looks much better in person!

Master Bath

Like I said in the master blog, this is my bathroom the day we got the keys. Taken with an old cell phone so quality is not so good but here it is.

With some paint, and a shelf, and rugs, it makes a world of a difference, now for a town rack, decor, and so on. It is coming along pretty nice though.

The light square around the towel bar is not really that color. It is a reflection from the mirror. The vanity needs to be painted or stained. Probably going to stain it black instead of painting it.

Like I said needs decor. But looks much better!

It is just a bathroom

This is our hallway bath. Madyon's bath. This is the bathroom that I don't really want to talk about. For such a small bathroom, they waster a ton of space. This WILL be fixed one day. For now, it will do.. It gets her clean and that is what matters. Plus the toilet is brand new and the tub is very clean and new looking (after my wonderful mother scrubbed the living heck out of it) Thanks MOM!

Lets just say it will be gutted! From ceiling to floor! 

I did my best with what I had.  We will leave it at that.

I am your MASTER

Again, above is the day we got the keys.

The door goes into the master bath.

Below is the master - work in progress. It isn't the size of a master I was looking for, but it is fine.. enough room for us and plus it has a master bath.. I can not complain. The walls are a elephant gray with the wall at the head of the bead a dark gray. I love multiple colored walls in a room. The windows are just covered (with thumb tack.. embarressed to say) for now.. Many ideas for the master but 2011 is not the year for it. Maybe next year Master!

THE BED.. Zak and I have had a mattress on the floor with boxsprings for years now. The bed is new. We have had our eye on it for a while. Black leather sleigh bed.. Dreams do come true to those who dream!!

This is a shot from a cell phone of the master bath the day we got the house.. Then the updates we did. 

Walk Right In

Our living room was the only place we did not have furniture for. We had our old living room suite in the downstairs area. Along with the T.V. and everything else. For a while the only thing in the living room was a recliner for Mady to sit in. We began to make the living room our 2010 project. I have to say I am impressed. It is by far my favorite room! It is the first living room suite Zak and I bought, actually Zak and I bought everything in it. No gifts, no hand me downs, just us and our money. It does have hardwood floors under the carpet but the carpet is in wonderful condition so for now it stays but hardwood.. you will one day be seen and tackled!

Above is the day we got the keys! I fell in love with the windows!

Below is the almost finished product. On the wall across from the windows, we have a art decor that actually has pictures in it. We also have a shoe bench next to the window, a small entrance table with lamp right when you walk in (pictures to come soon) 

This piece sits next to the couch. It store all of Mady and my art supplies. Plus games. It is in the middle of being fixed up. Just looking for the right knobs.

Below is my hallway Leading to my amazing linen closet!

Like I said, amazing! I have never had anywhere to put towels, blankets, sheets, and so on!

Place for jackets, cleaning stuff, and more blankets!