Before and After

BooMama is hosting a Before and After carnival. Back in June she challenged us to commit to a project around the house and conquer it over the summer. She was even gracious enough to give us an extension.

I accepted the challenge and decided to finish landscaping the Hairdryer household's backyard. My goals were:

1. Clean out weeds and debris.
2. Clean off the porch.
3. Plant 1 or 2 trees to shade the house from the evening sun.
4. Lay sod.
5. Weed and mulch the vegetable garden area so it is ready for planting next season.
6. Buy Honey a new grill.

Here are my before pictures:

In this picture you will notice the messy porch, ancient grill, weeds, broken wheel barrel, and some sort of baseball backstop thing.

Here is the picture of what lay between the back porch and the back gate. Our dumpster is just on the other side of the fence. Every time it rained our backyard became an absolute mud pit. It was a major chore to even take out the trash. Not fun.

Here are the after pics:

Here you will see that numbers 1,2,4,and 6 on my list were accomplished. The debris and weeds are gone, the grass is growing in nicely, the porch is neat and tidy, and the new grill (with it's weather resistant cover) is in place.


Here's a view of the vegetable garden area. I put down some cheap bedding border that will hopeful keep the healthy bermuda grass from invading. At one point in July when we were working on this project, I had the beds cleaned out and growth free. I attempted to spread mulch, but sadly I ran out before I got the job completed. I was sorely mistaken on the amount of mulch it would take to cover my vegetable area. Estimation is not my strong suit.

Here's a pic of our new grill. Honey feels like he's died and gone to grilling heaven. It has two different sides, one for propane and one for charcoal, allowing you to pick your poison when you cook. It also has a side burner for those times when you feel all Martha Stewart and want to cook the complete meal, side vegetables and all, outside.

We didn't check off our list planting trees and actually finishing the vegetable garden prep. Here's a newsflash: the middle of the hottest and driest month of the year (July) is not the best time to plant trees. Who knew? So we decided to put the tree planting off until October-ish. I'll finish the vegetable garden by then, and of course I'll post pictures.

If you're interested in seeing other Before and After projects, click over to BooMama's Before and After and check out the Mr. Linky. Happy weekend!

I'm SO doing this!

This year is the year of tying up loose ends at the Hairdryer house. Because of that, I have several projects that need to be done before we can say we've settled in to our now over a year old house.

In the Spring we hosted The Great Office Makeover, which by the way, I'm still loving. The only drawback is that when I open the blinds on my huge window so I can enjoy the natural sunlight while I blog, this is the view I'm greeted with:

Yes, it's our backyard. It's ugly, dirty, weedy, and overgrown. Not exactly an inspiration or a pleasure to behold. And when it rains, we can't take the trash out for a day or so because our dumpster is right behind that fence, just beyond the great chasm of mud.

Here's another view. Our yard is small, but homey. Or it could be if we'd get it cleaned out and get some grass planted. Compared to the 1/2 acre we left behind with the old house, this is just a couple of hours of hard labor away from being in Better Homes and Gardens. But we just haven't gotten around to it yet. So here are the goals:

1. Clean out weeds and debris.
2. Clean off porch.
3. Plant 1 or 2 trees to shade the house from the evening sun.
4. Lay sod.
5. Weed and mulch vegetable garden area so it will be ready for planting next year.
6. Buy Honey a new grill so we can enjoy our favorite summer fixin's.

That's it. That's all I ask. It's very doable. We just have to find someone to level our dirt and get us the sod when we're ready. See you in July with the makeover results.

If you want to see more before and after projects, head over to BooMama's.

And don't forget about the Bloggy Book Game I'm hosting