The Lay Of The Landscape
We’re back with the front landscaping full monty. When we mentioned that the 50+ year old bushes around our house were overgrown, overcrowded and dwarfing out short & stout rancher, we weren’t kidding:
Um, yeah. We were embarassed. But we know a thing or two about scoring free landscaping labor on craigslist, so we put up a little ad for free azaleas and a few holly bushes (for people who were willing to dig ‘em out and haul everything themselves) and before you know it, we had a cleaner slate to work with (while our monster bushes got bigger and better homes).
We were left with some annoying loriope (aka: monkey grass) which nobody wanted, and a weird brick ledge (which used to have giant bushes planted both in front of it and behind it)…
…but it was nothing a little digging/sledgehammering couldn’t solve:
Then it was time to amend the soil (rough it up and add some free compost from the backyard) and start planting some new plants that would grow to be the right size for our short little rancher (at the right distance apart to avoid any future overcrowding). Best of all, we can actually mulch the beds now (before everything was so packed it was really hard to rake, let alone mulch).
We left six azaleas (three on each side of the porch) and added three japanese andromeda (seen here in the back row) along with a dwarf alberta spruce on each side of the house for some height and balance. We also added some hostas on the house. Literally. We transplanted them from the backyard for zero dollars and zero cents.
On the other side of the porch we filled things in with some happy little boxwoods, our other dwarf alberta spruce, and a few more free hostas.
Mulching everything after planting it lovingly with some awesome brewed-all-winter compost was just the thing to make our new additions feel welcome and happy. Here’s a little cost breakdown: dwarf spruces: $50 for two, hostas: free from backyard, boxwoods: $57 for three, japanese andromeda: $57 for three, mulch: $15. Grand total: $179. Our goal was to keep the whole project under $250 so of course we’re thrilled.
And we can’t believe the new house that we get to come home to every day:
Not bad at all when you consider it looked like this when we made an offer three years ago:
What do you guys think? Anyone else planning a major landscaping overhaul this year? Anyone wondering how the heck we fell in love with our house when it used to look like this?
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Comments
Hey Blair,
We actually got everything for our front landscaping makeover from Home Depot, but we have found great deals at Great Big Greenhouse and Sneed’s on occasion (we got a beautiful crepe myrtle from GBG last fall) so they’re definitely both worth perusing as well!
xoxo,
Sherry
That looks so great! You guys have done so much already to improve your curb appeal!! Our front yard makeover was last year’s project for us, and we have been sooo happy with the results! There’s just nothing better than pulling into the driveway after a long day at work and seeing green grass and happy plants
LOVE THE AFTER PICTURE. SO BEAUTIFUL! Question: What is the green stuff on the chimney? Can it be power washed or is it like moss or something?
Hey Elbee,
The green stuff is good ol’ Richmond mold, and it totally needs a good power wash. It can also be sprayed/scrubbed with a water & bleach solution but we’d hate to let bleach run into our new planting beds so we’ll just have to wait to rent a power washer.
xo,
Sherry
Great job! I am so motivated now to tackle our landscape- very similar situation. Thank you for the tips and congrats on your success!
I have to ask. Have you upgraded that ugly mailbox out on the corner from the before photo. Nothing worse than an ugly mailbox. Besides…I know your answer could be an entire blog post about mailboxes. That’s how you two roll. :-)
Love the look of the new landscape! I’ve been thinking about moving some plants around, including our hostas, and a few others. My goal is to have all white flowers in our front yard (actually it would be a “moon garden”….) but it might take some time! Great job for staying under budget too!!
Fabulous job! You should be so proud. I need to do some outside work too. I should look at this again Friday night to inspire me to get to it this weekend.
I love your new landscaping, it looks gorgeous! I had a front yard overhaul this weekend as well. It has been raining for the last two weeks, so at the first sight of sun- I booked it outside. I was happy to pass on some of the unwanted plants that I pulled up to a neighbor who was walking by and asked for them. No one wanted my monkey grass either. So far it has proved to be (and I think will continue to be) a huge pain in the butt to get rid of! All the work was worth it though. I am so happy to have lots of pretty new plants and flowers to come home to. Thanks for all the tips and pictures- you guys did a great job!
WOW! What an amazing transformation from 3 years ago!! I especially love the plants with the white flowers! gorgeous! :)
Sorry Sherry, for some reason I missed your price breakdown in the post- sorry to have to ask for it! Thank you though… what an improvement for such a small investment- it’s fantastic!
Good question Kristy! We did a little mini makeover with some paint and two sets of stainless steel street numbers (one for each side of the post). It actually did a world of good but my secret dream is to start a neighborhood initiative where everyone on our street gets the same classic and clean mailbox so they all match and it looks that much more charming driving down our street. I know it might sound a little Stepford, but everyone has different mailboxes with different colors and materials and I always think about what a huge neighborhood upgrade it would be. But could I convince a bunch of strangers that we should all spring for the same post and mailbox… and could we all agree on one model? We shall see…
xoxo,
Sherry
Oh gotcha, well maybe when you win that $5000 from bhg (cause you will, I vote everday) But the landscaping is still looks beautiful, keep up the great work!
Look at your cute little home! I just love it! I can’t wait to own a home one day… AHEM… you wanna come decorate? It’s a short drive to Pittsburgh ;-)
What a crazy difference!
I’m terrified to start getting involved in the landscaping that is much-needed in our front yard. So this was a little inspiring. Everything you planted looks pretty easy to keep up on, which is definitely what I need.
Wonderful landscaping! Did you post the bricks on craiglist for someone to take? Gotta love recycling old building materials.
Hey Tammylee,
We actually kept the bricks on hand (we’ve heard that having bricks that are original to your house is a good thing in case you ever want to add a staircase or a pillar or even patch something on the house in the event of an emergency. But craigstlist definitely would have been our method if we didn’t want to keep ‘em around!
xo,
Sherry
Gorgeous! Your approach to home renovation is so refreshing and inspiring. Love the site!
Ok, so I may have missed someone ask you this before but I am new to the blog and have seen those super cute glass spheres hanging from your porch, and have been trying to find where on this super informational blog you have posted where you found them!! Can you share?! I love them and want some for my front porch! And like I said I am a new reader (and commerical interior designer by trade) and LOVE LOVE LOVE all the ideas you have.. everything looks great!
Hey Lisa,
We actually made them with light covers from Home Depot! Here’s a link with the step by step breakdown. You can also find a slew of other tutorials on our How To page under the header. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I bought some hydrangeas last summer for my ranch… after the normal planting season, so I got them for more than 1/2 off. They still took off and did great! Can’t wait for them to grow together and form a hedge. I now need to move around some of the boxwoods that are behind them and I totally understand about the Loriope! I hate it! I’m thinking about either moving it somewhere else or just “gifting” them to people. My mom has lots of hostas at her house and will be gifting me some of those once I’m ready for them. I think our ranch houses will have a similar feel :) Flowering shrubs, boxwoods, and hostas! It’s a great transformation you two did! Oh, and I know why you bought the house… you two can see the potential in things… I’m the same way.
GORGEOUS transformation!