Before and After: The Front Yard

FINE. I admit. We were that neighbor before our recent front yard face lift.

What?! You don't have that 1 person in your neighborhood who is a total *like* embarrassment?

NO? REALLY?! Well, isn't that awesome for you::eye roll::

Since your place is perfect and your neighbors' places are perfect, let me share what being that neighbor meant for us.

Background: This all started when Hubbs gave me the nod to get our granite. FINALLY, I would get the fabulous kitchen I'd dreamed of. FINALLY, I'd make the first steps to a kitchen perfect for entertaining... I was so excited to get home and squint my eyes with the to-be design in mind... I had magazines and paint swatches and pinterest boards and - THEN, I pulled into my parking spot and realized my granite dreams weren't the priority... During the winter months, I rush from and return to the house when it's dark. On THIS day, I either turned my HGTV eyeballs on while I drove home or the spring sunshine made it EASY to see my front yard was a MESS!

DISCLAIMER: This is a safe space so please don't judge, lol.

My first thought was, "how can I have the kitchen of my dreams on the inside and this HOT MESS on the outside?!" OMG.

Issues

Our yard had NO grass - just weeds and moss. UGH. There was more green GROWING on my house than in front of my house. Can you say POWER WASH? As I got closer, I noticed the wood on the windows was a mess... They needed a fresh coat of paint (so I thought).

O, but that wasn't the worst part! Just LOOK at the porch!

I tried to get more pics of the porch but Munch was having no parts of it. What is it with the kiss face? Is she practicing for her facebook profile picture?

Check out that fancy (SIKE) light fixture:

To give you some insight into my life, my husband told me that it didn't matter if the porch light was broken because we could use our cars' high beams if we NEEDED to see the front of the house.

::insert awkward silence::

GREAT suggestion, guy!

No need to talk about the humungo azalea bushes... I mean, they made a great backdrop for photos but were overgrown:

AND...

What about the rest of the yard?

Munch serving up her WHAT? hands, lol. Can you see the green on the house and the UGG-MUGG light fixture, bleh!

I had to do something... Hubbs and I decided to move forward with a front yard face lift and put the granite plans on hold.

There was progress.

I chose the perfect charcoal gray from Behr. We chose a natural mulch because, although I love the red and black mulch options out there, they require refreshing every year or they start to look dull (because they're mixed with paint that washes away and dries out). Our contractor created a 6" thick covering of mulch so refreshing every year would be expensive. PLUS, if Hubbs wasn't cutting the ~~weeds~~ grass, he certainly wasn't going to refresh!

Day - 1, our porch rails were torn down, our tree was trimmed and the window wood was replaced; I never wanted to kiss a pile of trash so much in my life!

There were fights.

The project was NOT cheap, the rain made it take longer and the Hubbs does not like to spend money on stuff like this(he'll buy me a $1,000 bag or shoes without blinking but this?! Nope). I almost lost my sanity, we almost cancelled the project, we argued over the dumbest things (like how Hubbs wanted an ALL BLACK porch, whether we should go with copper accents, etc.) BUT despite all of the stress and strain, heartache and headache...

There IS pretty.

No more grass to mow (well, weed eat but it's all relative)! O don't worry, our small plants will grow slowly and remain close to the ground with minimal maintenance. PERFECT for a city boy (who isn't mowing a thing) and a country diva (who doesn't do dirt), lol.

Can you see the property line in the corner? As our neighbor gets grass, our property line will be more defined - so excited!

I love my light. The frosted bulb cover gives off the perfect glow. In addition to this light, our porch finials have solar powered lights in them that ALSO offer a nice glow for our entrance. As it gets dark, Munch loves to watch for the solar lights to *CLICK* on because she thinks it's magic (I secretly do too, lol).

Same kid, same 'tude, NEW STEPS and backdrop!

My NEW view from my car in the morning :) Can you see how one of the azalea bushes was trimmed and provides the perfect covering for our trash can? Take THAT, HoA!

It really feels like HOME. As much as Hubbs fussed, this small change has made a big difference in our property's appearance and an even bigger difference in our relationship... After all, when mama's happy, EVERYONE's happy (and there's nothing sexier than a man who takes care of his home *insert creepy eyebrows*)!

I wanted a classic and clean design that required minimal maintenance and gave our property the curb appeal we'd NEVER had before.