Wow, I REALLY am quite a slacker on this blog. I would say I'm sorry but I'm not lol. I got so tired of talking about this remodel, thinking about it, DOING IT and writing about it. But I'm all excited now as we just checked off one HUGE project....landscaping! Remember, you can click on ea picture to enlarge it.

BEFORE:

AFter we started to pull the junk out!

Mmmmm...pretty! Not ...

As you can see, house was multicolored as the previous owners had started..doing something, not sure what.
Bricks were natural red
ROCKS...UG
An unsightly circular rock formation with an even unsightlier scruffy bush in the middle.


DRUM ROLL PLEASE...............

AFTER!

I like to compare pics next to each other. Pics are not touched up. lol

OMG, just the look of it brings a lot of peace to my mind.

Here are some comparisons:

On the right as you walk up to the house
OLD


NEW! I'm loving my succulents in the pot! They don't need a lot of care..perfect for me LOL.

Another view:
See the NO SOLICITING sign? Charles put this up for JW's .. LOL! (rolly eyes)

Cute, huh? My fav is the string of pearls drapped over ;)

Next:
Weird rectangular planter box right where I'd love to park. We discussed demo'ing it and concreting in, but we're frankly tired of working that hard....

so this is what I did with it...more succulents since we ripped out the water source that was there. Perfect solution and really pretty in real life! All the same plants in the close up of the pot above.
Another View:
Not the best pics. But some of those succulents grow as ground cover and will eventually fill in and hopefully drape over the ugly red brick and hide it. People who walk by admire it...yay! People used to walk quickly past our mess...such an improvement! lol!

In the above AFTER pic of the house, I didn't have any plants in the pots right against the front of the house, but I did plant those this weekend...Zak loved helping.




2 Hibiscus bushes on the far left, higher pots. Kids picked them out ;)And Zinnias in the shorter pots right outside my bedroom window, with moss rose (persaline?) boarding them. Can't wait till the moss drapes over the side full of pretty little flowers!

What we did.
House was painted (one of the only things we hired out)
Stephanie, Charlie, Zak and I painted the brick white
Charles restored the gate and Jesse helped him build the gate to the dog run on the left of the house.
We took a sledgehammer to the unsightly circular rock formation and hauled it off, much to Aunt Kara's delight LOL
We listed FREE ROCK on Craigslist and a guy came from 2 hours away to get all that rock on both of those 'levels'. It took him EIGHT TRIPS and a week to do it and I could kiss his FEET for taking it!
We had to redo the sprinkler system, this took one weekend.
We took LOADS of dirt out of the front to level it for sod
Then we got soil delivered and spread it until it was evenly distributed.
Then we rolled it, compacted it.
The layed the sod and compacted it w/ a roller again.

Hi Zak!

Yours Truly dug these ditches....all of them. (faint!)
I also cut the pipes and layed them out..and installed part of them, while the mastermind and Sprinkler System Designer ran to Home Depot and back and supervised. I'm so glad this is over!

The next weekend, the dirt showed up at 8 am! Here we go! One shovel-full at the time..3 layers on each level. Don't they make machines for this?
Don't answer that......I'll die to know they do after we manually did it!

Nice shot ...but hey, I'm never in a pic...

Zak really loved helping with this!


Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'! Seriously....we did it three times! On just the dirt.

DONE!
For the day...dreaming of pretty greenery...

The next weekend the sod went in and I didn't get pics. Charles had to lay the sod all by himself b/c they cut the pieces in 5 ft lengths and it was CRAZY HEAVY. Poor guy.

And...done!
TESTING!



Rusty's contribution LOL

We took this weekend off, well that was the plan. We still went to home depot and I painted gutters LOL. I don't think I know how to relax on the weekends anymore haha.

NEXT PROJECT
And this one is going to be my favorite!
See the breezeway that goes to the right, here between the house and detached garage?

This is going to be designated "Mommy's Courtyard". This weekend we are installing pergola on top attached to the roof of the house and garage, all the way out to the gate. Then we are tiling the ground with slate, putting my papasons out there, table between them, an outdoor fire pit, a fountain and a glass of wine :) I've already started decorating..here by the door is my pretty little fushia plant, and on the ground........our version of a metal RUSTY lol! I love you Pier 1!! haha

So the gutters for my area are painted....and today I am priming and painting the 108 boards that are going up this weekend. Not a typo...108. Priming and painting 2 coats...108 boards. If I keep typing that, it means I never have to go outside and start LOL. Well I guess I'd better. I've been waiting a solid 2 yrs for MY area and here we are doing it! yeah!

So...what'd you think?

And, my tagline at the end of my posts has been:
Not letting the grass grow under our feet!

But I think after our last project I can change that huh? LMBO!

WOW!

Ok, well I must apologize. I can't believe SIX months have gone by w/o an update here on the blog. I am working on organizing a bunch of pics to catch you all up. We've done a lot and are sitting at around only about 20% left to go before being entirely done. Just the master bathroom, front yard landscaping and my little courtyard area! Since updating, we've finished the front bathroom completely, had the outside of the house painted (I was SO excited that we hired out for this!) and done quite a bit of work on the front yard (with TONS yet to go). We've taken some time to enjoy the summer and some family visiting, conventions, kids soccer games and life in general. We are about to hit the master bathroom hard and knock it out in a couple weekends only. Oh wait...we are have to finish up Rusty's dog run area, THEN the master bathroom. You all haven't seen Rusty in a LONG time! He's a big boy! And way too much fun for us! He's as silly as we are Haha!

Ok, stay tuned, updates a'comin!

Not letting the grass grow under our feet!

Wow, how time FLIES! Get a puppy and three weeks have passed before you know it!

First of all, if you were one that help suggest names, THANK YOU! Right up until the end, the choices on the big list were: Chase (top of the list), Rocco, Ace and a couple others. Then we brought him home and he was just a Rusty lol

So....everyone......meet Rusty!





He is so much fun and spunky too. He is doing very well in 'training'. I have been crate training him which helps him 'potty' train very quickly. He normally goes right to his potty area now when he has the need. He can sit, shake, lay down, roll over (so cute!) and come on command. He also knows "off" and when I hold even his favorite treats in front of him, he won't get it if I keep saying OFF. I am working with him to leash train right now so we can have a half way decent walk around the neighborhood with him lol.

The kids just lovvve him. Once he does his business they go out and play with him, play fetch, chase him and cuddle him. They have food and pooper scooper duties. That goes well most days. Sometimes ..I get a lot of complaints lol.


Rusty and I are even going to a puppy class for basic manners tomorrow afternoon. From what I can tell he's learned most of them but I'm sure there's lots to learn from going. I don't want a super dog. I just want one that is easy to be around and obeys a few key commands so that he behaves around and guests and when we take him places.

So along w/ all else, any quiet moments are now filled with little Rusty. He's fun, but like a human baby, a ton of work at first. Yes, I'm loosing my mind.......... lol!!