Landscaping

Our yard has been barren for the past year and a half. And it bothered the bajeezus out of me.

It was always our plan to get landscaping done this spring/summer but man, that year long wait was long. I'm so thankful that the wait is now over!

(You may notice we cut down one of the smaller trees - it looks way better this way!) 

We had a landscaper plan and plant everything because Andy and I have an uncanny ability to screw things up. Since landscaping was so important to me I preferred to do it right the first time. My only stipulations were that we plant as many budding plants/flowers as possible, and that we have mulch. Rock may be less maintenance, but it just doesn't do it for me. I like the lush-ness of mulch much better. Andy of course wanted rock and stone edging, so we met in the middle. I couldn't be happier with the finished product.

Those babies are actually cemented into the ground! Thank God we won't have to deal with edging for many, many years.

Viburnum, Hydrangeas, Lilac, and Peach Coral Bells

Hydrangea

A few of the plants looked a little sad when they arrived from the nursery, but that was to be expected since we were planting so late in the season. These babies had only been in the ground for 4 days (at the time I photographed) and have already perked up quite a bit. I think in a week or two we will have very happy plants.

Russian Sage, Patriot Hastas, Sedums, and a Crab Apple Tree

Love me some Russian Sage! And the edging looks pretty sweet in the photo below.

I can't wait for everything to grow and fill out.

Knockout Roses

English Lavender

At first we weren't planning to do all of the perimeter in the back, but we finished the deck so it just made more sense to do it all at once. 

It's mostly bushes - burning bush, boxwoods, spireas, and some more hydrangeas.

It was definitely worth the wait for this.

All Decked Out

I'm back with an outdoor update. We now have a back deck!

A deck was always something Andy really wanted. I was kind of 'meh' about it because there were things that were higher on my priority list. But it got to be a big hassle not having an outdoor space. We had always planned to pave a patio in summer 2015, but decided we didn't want to go without an outdoor space for that long. So, a deck it was..

It's a bit of a tough space to photograph since it isn't very big - 10' x 12' I believe. It's pretty much the perfect size for the two of us, though - enough to comfortably fit the grill and a little sitting area. We did host my sister's baby shower a few weekends ago and it seemed like more people were able to congregate out there than I thought would be able to. 

Can I get an Amen for not having to grill in the garage anymore? It's so nice to only have to walk 5 steps from the kitchen.

 It took a while for me to find a bistro-type set that I liked as many of them were really small. I also wanted to avoid a glass table because winds get pretty crazy out here. This is a BHG set that I ended up ordering from Walmart (*gasp*). I like that it's fairly large, the chairs rock, and the cushions came with it.

Overall, we are reeeal happy with the way this turned out. We will stain it in the fall to finish it off, but are just happy that this project is complete!

I Love Plants.

The title of this post may be weird, but it's so true. I love plants and landscaping. I never really paid much attention to it until I worked one summer for my city planting and watering flowers. They are seriously real pretty, guys! And my mom is definitely a green thumb so I'm used to having boatloads of flowers around.

This summer we were determined to dedicate all our efforts to making our yard more pretty. Since we had to wait a bit for landscapers, I started by assembling a few pots/planters. These things have been my babies for the past few months and I check on them every day (it's not hard when you don't have many to look after!). I thought I'd share a few of our smaller outdoor "projects"..

This little sitting area is brought to you by Ace Hardware. The chairs were on sale and only like $15 a piece, and actually quite comfy. The petunias had already been planted in this cute little pot, so I couldn't pass it up. These sit on our front porch and get quite a bit of use. I don't think there was a single day I didn't sit in them for a solid 6 weeks straight.

This big square planter had been in the old shed, and I was pretty determined to put it to use (I like free). It requires machinery to lift/move, but for now it sits on the back "patio." The blooms pretty much all died after we got 7 inches of rain a few weeks ago (the planter had very poor drainage), but thankfully they are working their way back.

And onto more petunias. Andy and I found this cute little bicycle stand at the 3rd Sunday market and I about died when I saw the little umbrella. (There are similar items at Big R if you're in the market). Again, I just bought a basic pot with pre-planted flowers at Ace and it fit perfectly. These blooms are also flourishing quite nicely. This sits between the "patio" and deck (more on that in another post).

 There was another large round pot that had been sitting empty at one of the farms, so I had been planning to snag that one too. Late in the season, I went to Home Depot to look for something good to plant. I love dahlias, but they only had one plant left and it looked really sad. I bought it anyway. I got home and realized the plant was about half the size it needed to be, as I way under-estimated the size of the pot. Oh well. I planted it anyway.

It actually looks hideous in this picture. The plant has improved since I planted it, but it is definitely still sparse. The blooms it does have are beautiful! More dahlias, please.

 Flowers are such a cheap way to put a smile on my face.

Master Bedroom

I'm not sure why I've never posted about our master bedroom before. I guess it took me a little while to get things looking a way that I could live with. There have been a few changes over the past year but we've settled into this space quite nicely.

View from the hallway

View from the doorway

 A few things to note about our electrical set-up in here. First of all, Andy has outlets by his nightstand, I do not, hence the extended cord. This is a bother and something I never would've thought to check prior to moving in. Second, the fan is centered in the middle of the room. Since our bed sits off-center because of the window and doorways, the fan is not directly above our bed. It should have lined up with the TV. Which brings me to the next point, the connection to the TV was set high up on the wall so that it could be mounted. This presented a problem because it is SO high. It's like this throughout the rest of the house, too. The outlets are so high that it is awkward to cover them up without looking funky. These are all minor things that I've gotten over, but interesting to point out for those who are building or remodeling.

View to the right of the doorway

The duvet is from West Elm. The headboard we made from a random piece of plywood we had lying around. We just covered it in foam backing and then nailed fabric to it - super easy and non-committal. We didn't want to buy a headboard because eventually we will upgrade to a King bed. And I've already re-covered the headboard once, so it's easy for people who can't make up their minds. I was hoping I'd have extra headboard fabric for a throw pillow but no such luck, still on the hunt for that. I believe the lamps and lamp shades were from Lowe's.

We need a new clock. We also need to unscrew the mounts on the back of the dresser (oops). The mirror is from HomeGoods and is a life saver for getting ready. It also reflects directly on the window so brings in double the light. It's so bright in here in the morning and I love it! This wall needs to be balanced out with something else on the left though..

The left door goes into our master closet, the right door goes into our master bath

Yeah, I need to figure out a place to keep my jewelry other than on top of the dresser..

I'm totally in love with our bedroom furniture. It was gifted to us around the time we got married and initially I was adamant about not taking it.. until I saw the pieces. These babies are super well made, solid wood. They don't really go with the rest of the decor in our room, so will likely be moved to another bedroom once we find a new set that we like, but these babies will be in our family for a long time. Pictures don't really do them justice, but the grain is amazing.

We will probably start loosely searching for a new set soon, but otherwise there are no big updates for this room on the schedule. Eventually I will get some photo frames for the walls, but that is so low on the priority list. I'm pretty content with the way it is now.