VOTE! Front Door Makeover

Should we stay with the red or move on to something new? Here's a before and a proposed after. Weigh in by voting for your favorite option in the poll to the right of this post!

Coming Soon: Customizing storage solutions for a cottage

Here's a sneak peak of a post coming soon. For all you cottage dwellers, you know as well as I do that good storage space is hard to come by. Stay tuned for details on how we turned this unused awkward space into a window seat with ample storage.

$75 Porch Makeover!

If you're like us, money can often be a little tight from the array of unexpected expenses that pop up with an old house. But with the house being appraised for a chance to refinance, we decided the porch needed a little sprucing up. Nothing like solid curb appeal to welcome the appraiser in!

After spraying the porch down and giving it a solid and much needed cleaning, here's what we did with just $75 and a little left over paint from the foundation project (note the columns).

Nothing like a few little pops of color to give the house a stylish update!

Shopping List:

2 Bags of Potting Soil: $6.46

2 Striped Outdoor Pillows: $13.98

Sunburst Door Mat: $18.97

Hosta (Quart): $2.50

Salvia May Night (5.5 L): $8.97

Europys (1G): $6.97

Paint (Already Had): $0

3 Pots (Already Had): $0

---------------------------

Total: $71.83

The Start of Spring

Ever in love with the tulip poplar (the offical tree of Tennessee) but having no where to place one of these magnificent trees with canopies up to 30 feet, we opted for a smaller rendition but ever delightful Jane Magnolia.

Jane went in the ground over the weekend and already has several showy blooms registering in the magenta to pale pink family.

Anticipated size is 8 to 10 feet wide and approximately 10 to 12 feet tall. Good thing the neighbor likes it, since I have a feeling it will easily grow over their fence one day!

Cheers,
Laura

Retaining Wall Love: An Afternoon of Landscaping

So after we finished the new retaining wall, I couldn't help myself. I felt the uncontrollable need to landscape.

At least one side...(especially since we need some serious fill dirt for the other side.)

What I thought would be a super quick project turned into a little bit of a more intense project removing a hidden layer of grass. In the end it was well worth it to start with a clean base.

This particular bed gets full sun (6 - 8 hours per day) so I knew this was my chance to put bright, showy, blossoming plants in the front yard.

I went to Home Depot with modest budget of $100 and came out with the following:

• (2) 3-gallon Double Knock Out Roses
• (1) 4-gallon Ornamental Grass (can't remember the name)
• (3) Montauk Daisies (fall bloomers)
• (2) Mondo Grass
• (4) Dwarf mondo grass
• (4) Bags of top soil
• (2) Bags of shredded pine mulch

All of these plants are perennials and will come back year after year. Plus there's a good mix of green, blooms and a general color pallet of hot pink and white, which works lovely next to the slate grey of the stone. They also have varying sizes and will stagger elevations as they mature--at least that's the plan.

If you have a Starbucks near you, be sure to check with them before you plant as they often times give out old coffee grounds for free which can help add nutrients back into your soil--especially soil where perennials will be planted. (And it smells good too)

Tools I used include gardening basics:

• Pointed Shovel
• Pick Axe
• Metal Rake
• Garden Gloves

Voila! The retaining wall is naked no more...

Brick By Brick: A Retaining Wall Goes Up

In order to make room for the new and unexpected driveway that went in this summer, the crews at Cement Brothers Concrete had to dig out a portion of our front yard.

Before they got started, Paul and I rented a jack-hammer and took out the old walkway, since we knew that the area between the new driveway and the front porch would become a garden bed at some point. We also knew that the grade change would be significant and would require the installation of a retaining wall down a large portion of the driveway.

Our first thought was to use a product from the big box stores but after significant research we opted to go with a different product available through a local stone yard called J & R Stone.

While I was traveling for work, Paul and his friend Adam kicked off the project by installing three natural stone steps into the hillside.

We finally decided on a self-locking retaining wall system in a slate grey color and had it delivered. With a crew of three, we got busy digging, laying leveling sand and working to install a perfectly level first row.

All in all, it took us most of the weekend but installation was easy--requiring some upper body strength and a good bit of patience.

We chose an offset masonry pattern--where the seams don't line up--and allowed the top caps to overhang about an inch for some extra drama.

Tools required for this job include:

• Limestone Based Sand
• Rubber mallet
• Speed Square
• Level
• Stone chisel
• Hammer
• Gator Dust
• 3 Tubes of retaining wall adhesive / Caulk Gun
• Wet Saw to cut 45 degree corner pieces (rented from Home Depot for $40)

An Invaluable Resource: The Bungalow & Related Styles

I was surfing the net looking for craftsman style front doors to possibly replace the current door we have that is less than weather proof and I stumbled upon an AMAZING resource.

Now that we're tackling the exterior of the house, I have about 1.8 million questions. Especially since the house was built in the 1940's and our goal is to try and restore it as much as possible.

If you have a craftsman style house in Nashville or anywhere in the country, you'll benefit from taking a look at the Metropolitan Historical Commission's Nashville Old House Series--Bungalow edition.

Seriously, this is the best resource I've come across to date and it's free!

Check it out here: http://www.nashville.gov/mhc/pdfs/historic/OldHouseSeries-Bungalow.pdf