Trimming Trees and Making Plans

As I mentioned in our first post about our outdoor design plans, right now our main focus is curb appeal. Last weekend I spent a couple hours pulling weeds by the front of our house and around the deck. I was going to keep going, but that quickly came to a halt as a big spider fell on my head. Kyle now has been given the honor of pulling weeds underneath our deck. Lucky him!

This weekend, my parents came over and helped trim trees. Three trailer loads later and two trees were done! This is a before and after of the front of our house.

Before:

After:

Much better! Notice also how those fans are no longer in the windows? Our air conditioner is not yet fixed, but the weather this weekend was much cooler so it has felt amazing in the house.

After this weekend, we are now trying to determine our lawn situation. Our lawn is full of weeds including Creeping Charlie, a ground ivy that is covering about 70% of our yard. At this point we have two options: use a weed killer that kills weeds only and then seed OR kill the whole lawn and seed. Right now we’re leading towards killing the whole lawn, but we have until mid August to make a decision (when Creeping Charlie is supposed to bloom again and is the best time to spray).

Until then, we are going to start doing more indoor design changes. Our plans for this coming week are to either update our kitchen table and chairs or have our paint color options completed. I guess you will have to wait and see which one gets completed. Maybe both?

What project did you start or complete this weekend? Comment below and post a picture over at our Facebook page.

A First Glimpse at Our House

We have been in our house for almost two months now. For the most part we’ve been unpacking and trying to organize inside. There is still a lot to do, but currently our main focus is the curb appeal. Here in Minnesota you only have so many warm days and often they don’t last long. Below is a basic list of home projects that we are currently looking to do. We’ve also posted photographs of our home so you can get an idea of what it looks like before a lot of design changes start happening.

Oh and those fans you see in the front windows? Those would be because our air conditioner decided it doesn’t want to work anymore. The past 100 degree temperature days have been lovely.

Front Yard:

• Trim Trees
• Pave Driveway
• De-weed the lawn
• Plant bushes along front and add mulch
• New garage door
• New mailbox
• Touch-up front door
• Clean siding
• Fix and paint concrete
• Remove Dish satellite on roof
• Add gutters
• Change shutters

Deck:

• Stain deck
• Tighten railing
• Replace screen on door {thanks to our pup going through it}
• Purchase outdoor furniture
• Create patio area off deck
• Remove weeds around and underneath deck
• Add plants and mulch

• Backyard: 
• • Add fire pit area
  • Create vegetable and fruit garden
  • De-weed yard
  • Trim trees
  • Remove brush along back of yard {cant see in image}
  • Fix and paint concrete
  • Add fence for the pup

 

Quite the list, huh? It’s a start and we’ve been enjoying thinking about all of the things we’d like to do and knowing what our home COULD look like.  Just wait until you see our plans for the inside…

What is something that you are currently doing to update your curb appeal? Leave us a comment and share your ideas with us!