House projects

 So these pictures were taken of our house right after we moved in, November 2009. 

The front yard wasn't too bad, but the back yard really needed some work.  It looks like there was grass back there, but don't be fooled.  It is just weeds.  We had 3 Rose of Sharon bushes that were very overgrown and a big tree stump as well.  Justin had his work cut out for him! I didn't taken any good pictures in between when we first moved in, and a year later when we started working on the yard.  One of the first things we did was place a strip of gravel under our covered porch where it was always dripping. 

Next Justin put in a sprinkler system.  He also started leveling and contouring the yard so that it was much more smooth and ideal for grass growing.  It was so much work!  I am so glad that Justin worked in landscaping for awhile, so that he knew how to do all this stuff.  I'm clueless!

We wished we could've used sod, but it was definitely not in our budget.  So we bought seed and Justin spread it out. 

We watered it really thoroughly, with our new sprinklers!

It slowly started growing!

This picture below is the next spring, after we'd mowed it for the first time!  It had a lot of weeds in it, but it was so green, and in much better shape than the year before!

It just kept getting better.  You can tell here that our garden needed some work too!

Justin digging up one of the Rose of Sharon bushes. 

Here is after we fixed our garden wall and planted our first garden!

This is earlier this spring, Justin and I started getting ready to put a raised garden bed in.  We started with some railroad ties, and bought all the supplies needed for the wall. 

They sat there practically all summer.  We were super busy, but finally started working on it a lot right before Labor Day. 

We set our canopy up for some shade. 

The almost finished product....

Justin is still working on finishing the back side of the wall, and we have even planted a tree now, so I'll update that part when we're all done! 

Now for the changed in the front yard!  This is our house in Spring 2010.  Justin and his Dad had built the walls around the flower beds, and they looked so awesome! 

And my favorite was the painting of the house trim!  I hated the tan color that it was, so Justin and I decided on white trim with a red accent.  I think it looks so much better!  It makes a world of difference!

My Dad helped him put gutters on as well!

So as always it is a work in progress, but it has been a fun process of making improvements on our home and making it feel more "ours."  I can't remember all those in our family and friends that have helped with each project, but Thank you!  With lots of your help, and all of Justin's hard work, a LOT has been done.  (I didn't even touch on the jobs INSIDE that he's done!)  And just so you know, I may not be a carpenter, painter, or landscaper like Justin is, but I am a dang good assistant for all those things :) 

August 2012 on our front porch :)