Front

Remember this photo?

This is the photo we posted two years ago of our then new to us house. With the rays of sunshine behind it and a cool filter, it looked pretty good.

And it is a good little house. We have not regretted trading down from the big house once. We have learned so much here (PEX anyone?) and found we can live with a lot less stuff. We have installed our first IKEA kitchen and got our basement in shape.

It's been a great little house.

But we have got to do something with the front. It is not all that super fabulous.

We had some odd bush situations going on - two round ball bushes and some really creepy creeper kind of bush. And if you look close, you can see in the upper left corner some really effective and attractive gutter action going on.

Oh, and the white address sign has been there since Hero's family lived here. 

The garage is not too bad - but the little eagles above the doors, which have most likely been there since the 70's, are not quite our style.

Two more random ball bushes. And a lily that seems to thrive on neglect (My kind of plant).

With all the happenings inside the house we have put the exterior on the back burner, but it is most definitely time to get on a few things to help improve the view. 

We have managed a few updates outside, including painting the front door and yanking out a few unfortunate looking bushes. 

We have plans this summer for a graduation party, so the outside has become more a priority. Here are a few items that are on the list:

1. Level the backyard. This includes bringing in some dirt followed up by laying sod. There was once an in-ground pool back there - now it is filled in. It is super lumpy. 

2. Get the veggie garden planted.

3. Do a little bit of landscaping. We want to keep things low-key, so nothing high maintenance for our yard.

4. We have a very sad evergreen tree in our back yard that really needs to come down. We are totally stalling on it though. It is home to squirrels and birds and it is alive. Plus it offers some privacy. But it is too tall and starting to compromise the wires. It was trimmed once - trimmed meaning someone lopped off the top. Hence the sad appearance.

5. Remove the most unattractive shed in existence. It is so awful. It is an old metal thing with squeaky sliding doors. Cannot wait until that is out of here.

6. Build a new smaller shed in a better location.

We have lots going on so it is taking a while to get a big push going. And all the rain we have had is not helping. But it has to happen soon.

We need to get this outside looking as fabulous as the inside.