Small Curb Appeal Updates

This is how our house looked this Spring. I had just raked up all the leaves and started putting a ring of stones around the main tree in the front yard when this picture was taken. There weren't any plants, landscaping, or even bordered flowerbeds when we bought the house. It was missing the shutters from the windows (you can still see where they spray painted the old shutters black and got some of the paint on the house...ugh...). It was also missing the house numbers, which was a quick and easy fix. The fenced-in backyard was a great bonus but the chain link fence ran flush up against the front side of the house - functional but not pretty.

Jump forward to July... I got the front tree ringed with stone and mulched. I added the flags for the 4th and they looked so cute! I marked out a border for a flowerbed to run the length of the front of the house and lined it with matching rock. When we bought the house it came with a HUGE pile of large rocks. The pile has only slightly diminished in using them for the borders; it will take some imagination to use the rest of them up! Anyhow, it's saved us money since we didn't have to buy rocks. The brick on the house and the natural stone compliment each other. I've noticed a lot of houses through the neighborhood use stone flowerbed borders too.

Finally, what to do about the chain link fence that runs off the front side of the house? I had seen a clever idea on Pinterest on how to disguise your chain link fence by attaching a wooden fence section to the front of it. My parents came to stay with us one week and we got it built, painted, and installed all in the same day! I really love the look of it! It gives the house a much more English garden, white picket fence, cottage-y feel!

Another in-progess picture, and another use for all those big rocks! I put in a stone pathway through the flowerbed leading up the the fence. I drew it out on the dirt first to make sure I liked where it was going to go. The kids are already very fond of it! It's fun to step on the big stones with bare feet!

Hen and Chicks bordering the new path!

My Peony, a lovely pink blush!

Yellow Coneflower from my parent's house.

Some hen and chicks nestled in nicely along the path. I also planted a pink peony, Russian sage, yellow and purple coneflowers, and white and pink geraniums. After the snow melted I discovered two small bushes crammed up against the fence in the front. I moved them to new spots in the flowerbed. I was surprised to see some purple salvia had survived the winter and it was big enough to divide. Now there are three salvias in the flowerbed and I'm hoping by next Spring they will be much bigger. I hope to add some more perennials and eventually some mulch too - kinda holding off on the mulch until I know where I'm going with any new plants.

Improvements to the front porch area included scraping off the peeling paint from the porch columns and repainting those spots. It will need more attention in the future but for now it has a nice, clean look. I also planted the walkway flowerbed with geraniums and sedum and got it all mulched over.

Those are all the improvements so far. There is still more on the to-do list (like some pretty board and batten shutters in a clean white) but I'm very happy with what we've done so far!