Renovations, Earth Day, and Easter!!

I've been a BAD Blogger I know - My apologies! Things have been quite busy around the house - I get a bit distracted when the weather is nice and tend to frolic outdoors as much as possible! Thus, I've started my outdoor renovations on my house!

I bought my first house almost a year ago - a cute 1950's single family home that a builder renovated and flipped. The inside looks great - refinished hardwoods, new kitchens & baths, and lovely paint colors! There's very little I plan on tackling inside the house - installing a ventilation fan in the master bathroom and connecting the icemaker line for the refrigerator are the biggest ones, but those will left up to the professionals! However, the outside has been a bit of a mess and one that I am more than prepared to tackle myself (with a little help from dad and his chainsaw!! :-)). So, when the weather turned a bit warmer I decided to finally tackle my outdoor renovations!! 

BEFORE: The crazy bushes in the front have been KILLING MY LIFE since I bought the place- yes, I've hated them since Day 1! They do NOTHING for the curb appeal and trying to trim them is WAY more of an arm work-out than I would like in one setting (especially since they have to be trimmed every few days in the summer & as my boyfriend likes to tell me - I have little girl arms- so super OUCH!)! There was just no way I was ever going to get the curb appeal where I wanted it with them there and in their weird and uneven placement. As much as I would have loved to save them - they were planted when the house was built, so that's where dad and his chainsaw came into play!

AFTER: (Part 1). Sunday saw me caulking and re-painting the Wood Paneling on the Right. It went from Light Tan to now a lovely White that makes it POP just a bit more! Extended flower beds & new plants will be Phases 2 & 3, so stay tuned for more updates as the work progresses!!! 

Earth Day

I can't leave out the backyard and my outdoor renovation to celebrate Earth Day!!! Unfortunately the real "BEFORE" picture didn't turn out very well, but I had Dad with his handy chainsaw take out 2 Mimosa trees that had sprung up in the backyard and were growing like weeds. This before is after they were taken out!

Before: Yes, While Cavaliers romping in the backyard do add a lot to the overall aesthetic of the place, I needed something flowering in the back left corner! So, in honor of Earth Day......  

I now have a Lavender Crape Myrtle planted!!! (P.S. pay no mind to the rubber tote in the background - that is my compost bin that I'm hoping my rose bush will hide soon! :-))