PROJECT: Curb Appeal

It has been so much fun doing all of these projects this summer! They know me by name at Home Depot! Just kidding! Anyway, from the moment we saw this house, I had a vision of all the things I wanted to do to it. When we got back to Maryland, I put together a binder with drawings and magazine clippings! I was so excited to finally own something (well, kind of...in like 30 years).   Any way, every year we have tried to chip away at our list: finished the basement, the backyard, the kitchen, the fireplace, and now the front. The one thing I loved about our house, was that it had color. Every house around us has a different color scheme...it wasn't just brown. I loved it! Well, over the years, I have dressed up the porch, taken care of the garden beds, and planted as many trees as I could convince Dan to let me plant. I mean come on...trees = shade and fresh air, right? And being that we are in the middle of the desert, I saw a need for shade! Plus I miss all of my east coast trees!  Well this summer I decided to step it up a notch! So, here's the run down...

We added the accent color to the house (front door, columns, shutters, and garage doors) and then stained the concrete front porch to hide all of the AWFUL construction stains. And when the fall plant sales finally hit, we decided to finally rip out all the boring bushes in the front yard and shake it up! Being from Georgia, I am not used to such long winters and the brown twigs of bushes with no leaves out front did not help. So, my goal was to add lots of different evergreens and then tons of color during the warmer months. I think once everything matures, it is going to be gorgeous! They are babies right now, but give it a year or two and it will be so much different. I'll have to remember to post a picture of the front when everything has grown in. 

Well, here's the before and afters....

These are from when we first saw the house and were writing up an offer...

Oct 2008

Early spring 2012

And here's the latest transformation...

September 2012

My personal favorite is the Michigan Flag! 

This tree is Dan's favorite and was his pick. 

It is a weeping norway spruce.

I just want to say that there is something therapeutic about putting a little sweat into your home and working in the yard. Watering it, watching it grow and turn into something beautiful. I love looking out my kitchen window to see birds on my blue spruce feeding their babies and butterflies fluttering around my freshly planted flowers. I do these things to my house, because I not only enjoy them, but mostly I enjoy DOING them. There's a sense of pride and responsibility when I take care of my home. It is my canvas...my world...my home. And I LOVE that I love coming home.  

P.S. - I could still use more trees! Ha! :-)  (My trees are like the mountains for people from Utah and Colorado...)