Yard Makeover Reveal

Remember the dresser that I finally fixed?  Yea, the drawer bottom fell out within 24 hours.  The dresser is destined to be a three drawer dresser.  I am over it and even more confident in my decision to bring in the big guns for our yard this year.I could not be happier with the final yard and the landscaper we hire.  It took them less than a week to get it all done, in addition to doing our neighbors yard at the same time. This would have taken us another ten years to accomplish. The best part was they re-used all the plants we had, that let us focus the bulk of the budget on adding mature plants and bushes. As a matter of fact, apparently the nursery they work with disappointed them on their last order and they made up for it on our order. This left us with even large bushes than we expected so the yard looks like it has been this way for awhile.  Lucky us!

Here are some before and after shoots of the transformation (minus the garden and the oak tree that may have been a casualty of it’s relocation).  Granted the few weeks of growth between pictures were an advantage for the after shoots.  It is like those shoots in the back of magazine selling the next hot non-surgical face lifts where the women wear their ugliest clothes, frown and scrunch their necks down to exaggerate the wrinkles and flab.

At quick glance the front yard does not look too different. They moved the box woods closer together, split some hostas, moves the bleeding hearts, added in some new perennials and balance the stairs out with some bushed on both sides. It will look even better once the perennials start flowering.

One of the bigger changes in front was the removal of the flower bed between the houses, it is now new sod. I liked the flower bed, but it is much easier to mow now.

The side yard now has bushes, yippee!  A few varieties of lilacs and the forsythia that was previously in the backyard.  It would be so colorful and fragrant next Spring.

Huge improvement around the deck.  The peonies were moved and a variety of lilacs were put in their place.  The new bush under the window will be great in a few years to block the view of the alley and the neighbors, as well as block the blazing sun we get at dinner time.

Finally, no more wearing a path through the yard. Though it did require moving the swing set, I am thankful it did not fall-out apart seeing we built it.

We put in the original patio and fence ourselves about ten years ago.  The fence guy asked if we wanted the new one crooked also.  Smart ass.  They both held up considering, but we decided to replace then both and expand the patio.  On a hot sunny day our yard is hell on earth, this is literally the only shade we get!  The shade is provided by a mulberry that grew in the alley, the landscaper was dying to cut it down.  The fence guy wanted was too.  In the end they left it alone, threatening their lives may have played into that decision.  I love the peonies where they placed them in front of the patio, they were previously surrounding the deck, they can be better appreciated here.

The planting bed in front of the garage was extended, the existing plants split and reorganized, a few new added in and a huge bush added in the back.  No clue what the bush is, but it will be a vibrant red in the Fall.  We left the grapevine, there are a few baby robins occupying a nest within it.

We’ve already used the new yard more times this year then we did the entire Summer last year. Love it. Maybe now we can find someone to fix the doorbell that has been broken for about ten years.