$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

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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

Turning a Negative Into a....Driveway?

When Paul and I were negotiating the purchase of 1148 Kirkland, we noticed that the property line noted on the paperwork fell on a tiny sliver of our 70 year old driveway.

Although our realtor went above and beyond--discussing this with the listing agent and homeowner, who also owned the home next door--in the end, three years later it came back to bite us in the butt.

Mortgage companies no longer require a survey of the lot in order to secure a loan, but if you're looking to purchase a home in an older neighborhood it's worth springing for the extra $500 to make sure that your investment is protected.

In the end, forgoing a $500 survey ended up costing us a a lot of hassle. We came home from work one day to find a chain link fence erected on the property line--leaving only 11 feet between the neighbors fence and our house. After taking time off work, meeting with a real estate attorney and in the end having to install a concrete driveway, $500 looks like a pretty good deal.

We've made the most out of the situation and have walked away with a phenomenal driveway. Here's a snapshot of our journey over the last couple of months.

BEFORE:

Nice open driveway. Plenty of room to park cars--with a two car parking area behind the house.

AFTER:

Got a call from a concerned neighbor letting me know a fence was being put up in the middle of our driveway while we were both at work.

JACKHAMMER:

After reviewing all of our options, the best choice for us was to find a silver lining and not pursue litigation. That being said we rented a small jackhammer from Home Depot and got to work. Took us about 5 hours to remove the old concrete walkway and steps.

CONCRETE TIME:

We talked with numerous contractors about the best options for our house and saving our 70 year old Cedar tree. In the end we decided to work with Steve and the fabulous crew at Cement Brothers Concrete. They got started on Monday grading the property, laying gravel and installing the forms.

STEPPING THINGS UP:

One of my favorite parts of this whole project was the idea to re-orient the entrance to the house and add two 9 foot long steps to the entrance. Here are the forms Cement Brothers installed.

VOILA:

Steps are in and smoothed out by hand.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

By Noon on Tuesday, Cement Brothers had wrapped up the project. A 70 foot long driveway, new front steps and patio in the backyard. They used a light brushed finish, reinforced fiber concrete and a lot of hard work to make a phenomenal addition to Bungalow Bliss. We are eternally thankful for their craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Next up...installing steps and a stone/paver retaining wall to hold back the 2.5 feet of dirt that was cut out to give us a little bump out in the driveway.

Stay tuned as we plan to tackle that project ourselves.

Cheers!

LB

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Industry Referrals for this project:

Realtor: Marsha Mauney, Zeitlin & Co. Realtors

Attorney: Patrick Witherington, Callahan Witherington, PLLC

Concrete: Steve, Cement Brothers

Stay Tuned...

So clearly Bungalow Bliss has taken a bit of a much needed vacation recently. But due to some unforeseen circumstances, we're back and will be blogging with a vengeance.

For the 60% (ok...so it was only 3 of you) that voted for the front porch in the "What project should we do next?" poll, well someone heard your vote and the project has started.

Stay Tuned...you won't want to miss this one...