Happy Fridaaaay! Are you all as ready for a three day weekend as I am?!
As I was typing the title for this post I stopped for a second and thought “wow…I’ve been at this for three whole weeks now!” It’s crazy because it honestly doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but at the same time it’s amazing to see how much I’ve been able to accomplish in that amount of time.
In case you missed the previous posts in this spontaneous series you can catch up by reading the posts from week 1 and week 2. I say spontaneous because a few weeks ago we had absolutely no intention of doing anything with our yard anytime soon. It’s been a weed jungle the past two summers that we’ve lived here and we’ve been waiting to do anything with it until we could budget to have it sodded. At the beginning of this month I decided that I couldn’t take looking at all of the dandelions any longer, so I went out to start pulling them and then just kept going from there!
So let’s chat about what I’ve accomplished this past week. I started out by picking out some perennials for the flower bed.
I began by planting hostas and hydrangeas, but when I saw how badly they were doing in such a sunny spot I moved them. After researching which ones do best in sun I ended up with dahlias and creeping phlox and so far they are doing great with the afternoon sun.
While I was at Lowes I couldn’t resist these cute hanging planters. Aren’t they pretty?
For the back corner I put some colorful annuals in these bargain planters that I grabbed for 10 bucks each at Lowes. I also built a wood planter box very similar to the ones that we built at the old house (tutorial here).
I attached L-brackets to the corners to dress it up a little. I didn’t stain the wood since I really like the naturally weathered look that this pressure treated wood has.
Are you wondering what that awesome orange cord was draping across the fence in the previous picture? Funny story about that! When I moved the hydrangeas to this shady spot along the fence I apparently hit the buried cable line. Whoops…
I didn’t see any cables, but when the tech came out the next day he said that is most likely what happened. He rewired us but had to open a ticket for someone to come back and bury it so for now it’s just there!
Oh and the beautiful bird bath arrived! It’s plastic but looks so much like real copper and I’m really happy with it.
I also this cool solar fountain pump that sprays water out the top when it’s charged in the sun. The birds just love splashing around in it!
In other exciting news, remember what the side of the house looked like during week 1?
Yep…FILLED with trash. I was able to get rid of a lot of things by listing them as free on Marketplace and the bags have been going out bit by bit on trash day. This week I dug out the weeds, laid some weed barrier with rocks and this is how it looks now!
Ahhhhh so much better!
I also decided to move the bench over here so that I can have a better view of the bird bath when I’m out here relaxing. This is the view going down:
I still need to tackle the other side of the house which is thankfully free of trash but is covered in weeds. This is after I took the weed whacker to it so you can only imagine how scary it WAS!
The rock retaining wall isn’t as nicely structured as the other side so I’m not sure if I want to rebuild it or just take it out entirely.
We made our first trip for sand and even though we need at least two more trips, the boys have been having a blast playing in the new sandbox.
Under the deck it stays shady and cool so they end up spending hours entertained here.
I also ordered them an inflatable pool to go in the spot next to the sandbox and this slide to go with it. The pool should be here in the next couple of days which is good because it has been so dang hot here already!
The bird feeder that I ordered arrived this week, however I am sad to report that the squirrels have turned it in to their buffet instead…*sigh* I had it filled on Wednesday and by the next evening it was nearly empty. If any of you have tips for making it squirrel proof I’m all ears!
Oh and have you noticed the fancy lights along the fence posts?! I searched high and low for some good solar lights and finally landed on these. The crackled glass is beautiful and they actually let off a ton of light! All I have is this crummy phone pic, but hopefully you can still get an idea of how nice they are at nighttime.
Okay, here’s a quick look at the transformation so far.
Week 1:
Today:
Obviously still working on the grass, but the seedlings are starting to sprout which is super exciting!
Week 1:
Today:
One the obnoxious orange cord is buried and the perennials grow bigger this is going to be such a pretty corner!
I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day weekend! I’ll be back next week to share a furniture flip for this month’s Thrift Store Challenge. See you all then!
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Linking up to these awesome parties!