Before/ After : New Curb Appeal Garden

Hello everyone, and greetings spring!

It's finally here and I am so super excited!

Everything is finally in bloom and is so beautiful!

It was such a long, long loooong winter.

But now that it has warmed up
we were FINALLY able to finish our garden out front.

It was a long process, but we are so happy with it now!

LET ME START WITH A BEFORE PIC..... 

showing our overgrown smoke bushes -

 which (truth be told) we rather liked...

but they very quickly got out of control!

And when we had to heavily prune them

it left the huge cut branches really ugly...
especially from behind them next to the foundation.

I saw them every day when in my home office,

-where one may usually find me-

or at the window in front of my piano... 

I'd sit there and just cringe and wish and hope and wait

 for the day those old and very sad bushes

were no longer part of our garden design!

You can see what we had was just dated, overgrown,
nondescript  foundation garden plots
which were covering up the windows!

Just noticed this really is a "before" because it also shows

our old door and side window panels!

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

And now the reveal: TA-DA!!!!! 

Here is our AFTER!
 Every thing all nice and pretty!

It will take a while for things to settle down
and a few things will bloom - hopefully-
which will make it all much prettier eventually.

Since this pic was taken 2 days ago we moved
a few things around to balance better.

We planted 3 big limelight hydrangea (left),
one gorgeous Weeping Lace Leaf Japanese Maple (right)
3 boxwoods (left)- forget real name but kind that get tall
2 Holly Sky Pencils (both sides)
10 Heuchera Purples (both sides)
14 Big Blue Liriope (both sides)
and one Red Twig Dogwood (right)

Our home finally has a bit more curb appeal.

A couple years ago we planted this mailbox garden.

That's our wee red Mini Cooper in the background.
It's been leaking oil lately - 
so it's banished from the driveway or garage for now.

This is what Lime Light Hydrangea looks like when mature:

It's fun to compare before/after pics.

Those orange things are where I wanted the stones to go.

We shortened both gardens quite a bit
 to make them less weedy and needy.

On the right there's now a nice patch of sod grass
 between walkway and garden.

On left we designed an angle for the natural stone wall.

We are always limited to what we can plant due to all the deer.

The bunnies love the liriope though, so keeping fingers crossed.
I sprinkled red pepper flakes around to keep them at bay.


On the side of the house our Bleeding Heart is still thriving.

A HUGE THANKS TO:



*Sharyn for her awesome landscape designs.

*Andrew for all the intense laborous work,
especially for the fabulous stone walls!

And a HUGE thanks to my wonderful
 hardworking, handsome, awesome husband
 who worked long exhausting hours prepping everything,
 and working right beside Andrew
 lifting and planting and mulching and perspiring
on planting day and earlier 
to help make this dream come true.

Also - a big thanks to YOU for your visit!



If you're ever in the Columbus, Ohio area
I would be delighted to welcome you in for tea.

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Metamorphosis Monday   *   Make it Pretty Monday   *   

Inspire me Tuesday   *  At Our Home   *   Style Showcase   *

Home and Garden Thursday

Before/After Home Office Cabinets

It strikes me as odd how things work out sometimes.

I have never been one of those

 save-that-vintage piece-dumpster-diver
I-break-for-garage-sales kind of gals.

Nope, not me, not ever.

 I have been called a "shopping snob"often enough

 that I must admit there may be some truth in it.

I know, right?

  Me - the Secondhand Queen,

the bargain-loving gal who nearly never pays full price

 for anything to decorate and upgrade her home?

Me - who LOVES to create the look-for-less

and can usually spot potential in every possibility?

A shopping snob?

 Really?!?

WELL, truth be know, I have always drawn the line at curbside.

That doesn't make me a shopping snob, though, SIS! lol

I always simply think the next person should grab that curb item-

he or she will be better and certainly QUICKER than I, for instance.

I talk myself out of it every single time I see it -

and I see it often.

(My neighbors throw out some pretty awesome stuff, just sayin'.)

I see its bright future, sometimes I want it, yet I always ignore it.

I hear my mother's sweet voice saying in her soft lady-like way

 "that's just not what we do, sweetie."

Yet I feel my heart pound when driving past these potential saves; 

I know deep down inside a part of me is shouting  

'PLEASE, JUST STOP IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS SALVAGE!!!!

So today, I bid thee welcome

 to a reveal of something salvaged by us

from the curb of our neighbor.

GASP

Last summer my daughter left our house to return to her home

and called from her car, to insist that I walk down to the house whose owners had already bought another and had recently moved.

(I DID go to their garage sale and bought some vintage linens.)

I am friends with the mother of the gal who moved.

I know her from my local civic women's club.

SHE even told me (before they moved) to come down

and make an offer on anything they left so far in the house-

they'd probably just give it to me.

And I really meant to do so, I really did - but I didn't.

It's just too awkward for me, so I just put it off till it was too late.

But knowing me SO well, my youngest daughter said:

"Mom. Don't delay this.

  Just walk down there, it's dark, it's at their curb

 and it won't be there long. No one will even care or notice."

So I walked down.

 Took me only two minutes to see those

two dingy old dirty and dated wooden base cabinets.

But, like so many of you, I did see potential in them!

I walked back home and told my husband.

 I asked him if he'd help me retrieve them,

as I can no longer lift heavy items 

 since hurting my arms a few years ago.

Were we embarassed? Yes, perhaps a little. 

Did we ACT noticable? Probably.

 Hubs brought his wheeled cart thing.

We aren't ninja trash pickers. We were loud, I know it.

Was it worth it in spite of it all to save those cabinets
from the landfill and give them a new life?

You be the judge:

Voila!

Two nicely cleaned up black floor cabinets flanking

 a gifted antique dresser my son-in-law no longer wanted. 

(It's still kinda nasty with primer, another task for another time.)

Sometimes one must see past the greasy grimy gopher guts.

I think these may have been living in their garage,
doing duty as storage units or something

 as their home was absolutely stunning inside.

They probably started their lives from a bathroom

 that had been upgraded along the way.

The only thing we had to buy for this project 
was four new snazzy pull nobs,

 as one of them was missing.

We already had the primer, the paint, the sealer
 and silver matte metallic spray paint for the bottom pulls.

We had to run out and get another can of the paint
towards the end of painting.

So all in all we spent around $28
 for our "new" cabinets in our office.

I am happy we could salvage those bottom pulls

I absolutely love them.

I run a business out of this space at home. 

Behind those cabinets you will find scanners,

 and scales and packing tape and stickers

 and reams of paper and printers ink, everything

common for a home office is kept tidy and unseen.

I may dabble with embellishing them a bit more

but for now I just wanted them placed

and was too excited not to share with you!

This is a wonderful and haunting print of my sister's - on loan.

She lived in New England for years running an ad agency.

One of her art staff took this winning shot of his aged father

who played violin his entire life and won many contests.

I adore this print and it currently and happily resides

in my home office with its black, grey and white decor.

My pic of the pic doesn't do the shadows justice.

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Met Monday   *  Mosaic Monday    *   Before & After Wednesday 

Faerie House Container Garden (Before/After)

Well at least I imagine a pretty fairy living in this tiny little house,

 but to know me is to know it is a bird.

At least for now anyway.

Where a little bit of imagination may lead us............

....I believe.

And as the seasons come and go, here's something you might like to know. 

There are fairies everywhere: under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day.

 So listen, touch, and look around — in the air and on the ground. 

And if you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wings!

                                                                                           ~Author Unknown

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Met Monday   *    Garden Party   *   You're Gonna Love It

Inspire Me Tuesday

Potting Table Before / After

Greetings and apologies my sweet friends!

I am so sorry to have been so long absent!

Life has been busy and I have been busy living it!

We've been doing lots of entertaining,  

home improving and have been doing

a lot of working - all keeping me away 

from Blogland, the place I want to be the most!

Today I have a simple before and after for you.

Our potting table gets a lot of use and it was looking kinda bleh.

Forgive it's state as is, but I'm keeping it real.

Usually it also has plants on it but on this day

I was ready to plant so the vessels are there.

As you can see it has no sides, back or front 

to hide all the icky bits and to keep stuff from falling when

I get rambunctious and push too far.

Hated stuff falling behind, because this bench table

is all wood and really heavy to move!

Here is the before:

This potting bench was stained to match our hot tub

 which we sold years ago.

It was looking shabby, faded and worn... 

and since we ("we" meaning my husband) were painting the entire

outside of the house I thought it time to spruce up the table, too.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Here is that wonderful man on a super hot day

preparing the new sides after he had painted them!

He wanted something that could vent,

because sometimes we use chemicals

(nutrients and occassionally organic disease help for the roses)

and he didn't want anything to combust getting too hot.

The back of the house is full west and gets HOT!

Here is the prettier after:

She is still a busy working horse, not just decorative

But I love love love her new sides and back wooden lattice work!

I am contemplating a skirt in front but it gets wet and gets moldy that would be gross - 

so I think I may leave as is.

Doors that open and close could be nice, though....but 
I don't want warping, either.

Maybe wood and chicken wire? But will that be too busy

with the latticework?

I can't decide, so left like this, but do invite opinions. 

(Even you, Vee!)

During:

Sometimes the little things

really kinda feel like big things.

(Thanks, husband!)

As always, thank you for your visit!

I promise I will  be catching up

 on all my missed blog reading this week!

Hugs and prayers!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Metamophasis Monday   *   Inspire Me Tuesday  *  Gonna Love It

Tweak It Tuesday   *  The Scoop (Yvonne) *  Home Sweet Garden

Inspire Me Tuesday   *  Home and Garden Thur   *  Home Sweet Home

Fabulously Creative