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 

New Master Bath Wall Color

Hubs and I have been discussing having some upgrades

done to our master bath....but right now our financial priority
 is our youngest daughter's wedding in August.

An inexpensive way to get a fresh and new feeling

in the interim was to change the color of the walls

 to a gorgeous calming spa green/blue/grey.

It is EXACTLY what we I needed to tide me over!

The new color complements our pickled wood

paneled doors and cabinets.

This color plays tricks on your eyes -

sometimes if the sky is really blue it looks blue

and on grey days it can look almost silvery.

I found these perfect reproduction vintage botanical prints
(below)

in their perfect frames at the GW not very long ago

and they go perfectly with our brushed nickel faucets
and new large smokey framed mirrors.
(above)

I love this pic with its reflection
of the two floral prints by the tub in it.

Aren't the details of these mirrors something?
I am so happy we splurged on them, they're perfect.

It's easy to spend a little extra on something
 then save on other decor pieces
purchased at second hand stores - 
it balances the end amount spent nicely with less guilt felt.

For this winter season snowy blue spruce branches

and icy twigs with silver berries placed in an iced glass vase

makes a nice statement here.

Soon I will put those away and place our extra long

pure white albino peacock feathers in it.

We actually SAW the albino peacock at a local farm
and picked the feathers up off the ground
on the day we were engaged - so they mean a lot to us.

That cute little M tray was a gift from

 my women's club last year president Melinda

 as a thank you gift for being on her board.

I use it daily to hold my jewelry when washing up

or to hold at night while sleeping.

I keep things very simple in this bathroom -
 a large ironstone tureen to hold rolled-up face wash cloths....
...and a leggy wire basket for rolled up extra large bath towels.

]

No extra lighting was used for these pictures so I could show 

how bright the light is from outside.

I wanted to get the best look at the paint color this way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These plants LOVE all the bright natural light in here,

 and really thrive when it's all steamy.

This snake plant- or "Mother-in-law-tongue" as my mom referred to it

is almost fifty years old now!

 It was given to me as a small child by a sweet garden store owner

when (apparently) I was being extra patient and good

 while my mother was shopping.

Funny I remember her telling me that if I were careful with it

it could very well outlive me. Boy, she wasn't kidding.

That plant has moved with me my entire life.

I've shared that story a long while ago,

 but it is worth repeating since the plant is in the pic.

Plus it is in a neat new pottery pot worth showing off.

I REALLY just took this pic below pic

 to show those two canvas art prints.

I found them at one of my favorite local higher-end

 second hand stores not too long ago.

I knew EXACTLY where they were going to go!

I absolutely adore them.

And God forbid that I should have one room

 without a BIRD in it, right? 

I was tempted for some time to change out our soaker tub

 for a more popular darling claw-footed tub- 

but we've decided that our extra deep tub is a keeper.

 It's not a whirlpool, so needs no maintenance,

and it is in pristine condition.

 I fit in it perfectly - it's not too long, not too short,

 not too deep- I think I'd really miss it-
so it's dumb to want to change it, at least that's how
I look at it it.

It just needs to have brushed nickel faucets,
which we will be putting in ourselves one day soon.

The below pic is the closest to the true color -

 I think because of those extra lights being turned on maybe?

Thanks, Margie - our wonderful painter friend -

 you always do such great work!

Our plans - eventually- for this master bath:

*Gut the shower and make it larger

 with a little seat inside, built-in shampoo and soap holders

 with tile and a heavy frame less shower door. Possible double

shower heads - one rain one and one hand held one.

Right now the shower is ivory cultured marble but has a 

crack and we have it caulked but bleh!

* Considering losing the soffitt and have sconce lighting on either side of the framed mirrors, three of them perhaps.

*Upgrading the builder-grade cabinets to a taller custom quality.

We will then use these cabinets (if salvageable) in the basement to help me organize my craft area.

*I do like my ivory marble counter tops but would love to upgrade to white/grey Carrara marble to match with the rest of the room's white.

* We *may* move the bathroom door over a little to make more

room for a larger shower. (To the right of the door out of sight of above pic.) If we do move the door it not only gives us a much nicer roomier shower, but also gives me a larger blank wall space in the bedroom

allowing me to move my furniture around more. I'd love that.

BUT if we move the door to gain those two things we will lose those three roomy drawers on cabinets.....so perhaps we could have a tall custom made one to make up for it. Time will tell.

I am not - and never have been- in love with the 8 inch tile in the bathroom because there's SO MUCH grout.......but it is in perfect condition so don't think we'll spend the money to change it, especially

since it will match even better to Cararra marble that we'll be getting.

So, that's our big plans for the bathroom, now on the back burner.

It's fun sharing my dream decor ideas with you -

 thanks so much for indulging me.

Somehow I just KNOW you understand!

Any ideas you have on the plans please share -

it helps me make better choices knowing all options.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime I truly am enjoying this new wall color.

It's funny how color can totally change a mood, isn't it?

I now lie in my tub with its lavender-milk infused water 

and truly feel like I am soaking at a luxury spa now.

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

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Tuesdays At Our Home   *   Inspire Me Tuesday