(Less than) Extreme Home Makeover

326 landscaping blocks
+12 tons of dirt
+ 50 plants and shrubs
2 very tired people!


Although tired, we are very happy to have the bulk of our landscaping projects completed (for this year, at least.) Here is the "before" picture of our house when we first bought it...



And here is our home now...

Scot and I built the walls around the planter areas ourselves. And, yes, I do mean "we." I did the majority of the work on the planter area nearest the garage, and Scot did most of the work on the one towards the side of the house. (Yes, Dad, they are both perfectly level, too!) Matt and Andy were huge helps moving the 12 tons of dirt into the plant beds. Isn't child labor great?! :)


We still have to put the mulch in, along with a few more plants, and install the landscaping lighting, but we've made good progress so far!




Scot also built the retaining wall in the culvert (seen in second picture). We still need to replicate it on the other side of the driveway, which is probably a project for this weekend or the next.

You may also notice that the front door has been painted, and there has been a major change to the structure of the garage! When we first looked at this house, we fell in love with everything- except for the garage. We really wanted a 3-stall garage, and felt this garage was too small. It wasn't possible to add another stall, so we made it a condition of our offer that the builders had to expand the garage for us. They took off the front of the garage, expanded it by 4 feet, and then rebuilt the front and added the gable. The best part- we didn't have to pay any additional money to have it done! The garage isn't huge by any means, but there is at least room enough to accomodate both cars and Scot's bike now. Scot liked the extra room; I liked the cosmetic difference it made to the front of the house.