We did it! Over the course of two nice long Clara naps (and with a little help from a friend) we managed to open up our front yard in what we like to call “Phase Two Of Ten Million” when it comes to slowly transforming our front yard. Why so many phases? Well it started out looking like this:
Much like our first house’s yard, we figure it’ll take a few years of tweaks to get it where we want it, so this phase was just about clearing things out for a you-can-actually-see-the-house-now effect (Phase One was limbing up the magnolia). In short: we dug up/transplanted/removed a ton of bushes (with the help of a friend of ours who took home some boxwoods in exchange for helping us get a bunch of them up). This post is full of photos, so I’ll let them do the talking. Without further ado, here are the before and afters (we tried to take photos from the same angle for comparison). First there’s the AFTER to the before above (don’t mind the black feather wreath out there on the door for Halloween):
Here’s another BEFORE for ya from the driveway:
And another AFTER from the same angle (a little further away):
Another BEFORE:
And the AFTER:
Here’s a side-angle BEFORE:
And an AFTER from the same POV:
Another BEFORE facing more towards the street:
And the accompanying AFTER:
Here’s a BEFORE from the other side (the bushes used to completely stop the eye so our yard felt way smaller):
And here’s the AFTER from the same angle:
Yet another BEFORE:
And another AFTER:
Here’s how it looked from the front porch BEFORE:
And AFTER:
The only drawback? I got me a blister. So in that aspect it was exactly like Phase One (seen here). Totally worth it though. No pain, no gain.
As for where we put the bushes that we transplanted, we just dug them up…
… and planted them in the naturalized parts of our side and back yard (and our friend who helped us dig made off with the rest of the healthy ones). Sadly some of the bushes were dead…
… so those just got removed with a sawzall (aka this reciprocating saw by Skill). Which was probably more fun to use than it should have been (it was actually our first time sawzalling, so we took turns and grinned like fools the whole time). And you know we loved the fact that this big curb appeal makeover was f-r-e-e (well, I guess it cost us a few boxwoods in return for some helpful friend labor, but it was foliage well spent).
As for our future lawn plans, we’re definitely just getting started out there – so there are a lot more phases on the over-the-next-few-years agenda. We’ve got plans to:
- dig out some ivy/monkey grass
- lay down some grass seed in certain areas
- layer in some low maintenance native (and less fence-like) plantings to soften things up around certain areas of the perimeter
- landscape around the front of the house (there are hardly any plants on either side of the porch – so it’s just sort of a mud pit in those areas)
- do a million other things that are slipping my mind at the moment (one big one: convert the carport to a garage)
So this step was just about clearing things out to make way for some less house-obscuring choices and opening things up to let the eye travel a bit further in certain places. Feels nice to let the house breathe a little. And the neighbors have all been saying such sweet things about the change. Whew! Has anyone else been up to a few exterior tweaks? Do you do them during baby naps with the monitor outside on full blast so you can run in at a moment’s notice? Do you hold your breath until the neighbors approve? We totally do.
Psst- We’re over on BabyCenter talking about a Halloween surprise that we discovered on Sunday night. Let’s just say Clara’s in love. Here’s the story.
that looks GREAT! :)
It looks completely different but awesome none the less! Good luck moving forward!
GREAT work! we’ve been doing something similar. Based on your lirope experience, we offered our boxwoods for free to anyone who would dig them up. Three cheers for free yard labor! Unfortunately, our yard still looks way more torn up than yours. :(
Yeah, sometimes that can end in large holes! But if you add in some topsoil and toss down some grass seed it can get better! That’s how we did things at our last house and it ended up looking so good. Can’t beat free labor!
xo,
s
It looks fantastic guys! What a difference.
Looks so good, really makes a world of difference for the better IMO!!!
I was dying to know what the neighbors were saying so glad yall included that tidbit!
That’s incredible. Already looks 10x better. We are really wanting to do yard tweaks. The previous owners must have been gaga for roses because we have about 12 rose bushes around the perimeter of our front yard. It is just TOO much maintenance for us. Not to mention, I am more of a fan of shrubs and plants that look good year round. Unfortunately, our next door neighbor loves our roses and would probably cry if…..WHEN we rip them out. We are in such a pickle. Lose the roses or the neighbor???
Oh man that’s so hard! What about transplanting them so the neighbor knows you didn’t kill them and you can appreciate them in a cluster in the backyard with some other plants that look good year round to “round things out”?
xo,
s
Give the roses to the neighbor so they can plant them in their yard =)
Sher & John ~ WOW what a difference. It looks great. I’d be out there staring at it from the street. :)
Oh yeah – that’s an awesome idea!
xo,
s
Looking good!
I am curious… did you install sod over the newly bare ground immediately? It doesn’t look like a dirt pit out there… how did you do it??
-Tara
Many of the bushes are surrounded by ground cover (ivy, monkey grass, other green vines) so we dug up the bushes and sort of pushed the ground cover over the hole for now (just to keep it from looking like a messy mud pit). We definitely plan on clearing out some of that ground cover and adding in some dirt to level things off before we toss down some grass seed though!
xo,
s
Holy cow, it looks GREAT! :)
WOW!!!!! It looks amazing. We have a wall of bushes/trees on the side of our house. I don’t mind it to much since it blocks out the noise from the college age boys who rent the house across from us. They’re the kind of young men who think pumpkin smashing parties at 5AM are fun. I’m making my 26 year old self sound like a grandma.
Wow what a change!! It looks so much better now :)
The new yard is totally working for me! And I love that you guys went green (pun intended) by re-purposing the bushes to other parts of your property! :)
WOW! What a difference! You must feel so accomplished to get such a dramatic before/after during only two Clara naps!
I’ve been reading your blog for 2-3 years and this is without a doubt my favorite before and after photos you all have posted. LOVE the yard. So un-cluttered and open.
Congratulations! It looks so awesome. Thats one less headache you guys need to deal with now :)
Looks fantastic! Really opens things up! I love how the yellow door pops and you can really see it now.
Would love a close up shot of the feather wreath. I have a thing for wreaths. lol
We’ll have to work one in soon for ya!
xo,
s