yard projects

It all started with the new sidewalk that was poured in front of our house this spring.

The brick walkway that made the path from the sidewalk to the front door sunk

and it was a couple of inches below the edge of the sidewalk.

My husband, ever the perfectionist and potential-lawsuit-worrier, set about his plan to fix it.

But, as with all good house projects, one thing quickly led to another.

As he assessed the state of our outdoors, he noticed the roof to our shed was rotton.

Cedar shake shingle roof - oh, so quaint but oh, so needing replacement also.

So, he, with a bunch of One's help, re-shingled the roof (early June).

He then re-stained the shed (late June).

And he, with a little bit of help from me, replaced the broken fence near the shed 

(the rest of the summer).

That was a big project, let me tell you.  

He had to dig post holes 4 feet into the earth.

We made concrete and poured them into the postholes.

We had to make the fence level

and square.

He built the rest of the fence,

and we tag-teamed painting it.

I think our neighbors were worried it would never get done.

We took many breaks during the project, and our next-door neighbor laughed at me

literally watching the paint dry on a hot and sweaty August afternoon.

With that done, it was time to tackle the front yard.

The people we bought the house from were big gardeners.

We tried our best to keep up with it, but we were clearly over our head.

Last summer, we took apart about 1/2 of the front yard's garden, 

redistributing the plants around our yard 

and to other yards in the neighborhood.

In that space, we planted grass and a cherry tree.

We decided we liked that so much that we wanted to simplify the rest of our front yard.

So, Bob disassembled the rest of the garden.

He took out the brick walkway.

He studied catalogs with different paving options.

We considered cost and style and installation effort,

and we made our decisions.

Bob's goal was to complete the project before Halloween.

His vision was to sit outside in the front yard,

with a bonfire blazing,

while children came to trick or treat.

It was that vision that kept him motivated.

So, without further ado,

here are pictures of our front yard, taken on October 31!

Note the path - gorgeous!

Note the lack of plants - maintenance free!

Note the freshly sodded yard - green and lovely!

(what is not so obvious is a small tree planted)

You can see the tree better in this shot, along with the doggie peeking out the door.

roaring fire?  check.

husband relaxing in front of it?  check.

scary halloween decorations?  check. 

This little area was a hodgepodge of plants which I battled constantly to keep weeds out of.

We got rid of it all,

placed in some large stones which were a part of our landscaping,

planted a bush,

and added in this odd gun-totin' leprechan Bob got from his boss. 

And one more shot of the path, because it is so gorgeous.