Saturday, February 26, 2011

OK, brace yourself...

Here's photos of what the yard looks like *after* my clean up today. I didn't have the courage to take any as it was before that.
Let me open with something that I know you will like... This is my treasured Bertoia and my fabulous wood table. The Bertoia should probably not be out here, but it's under the roof line and it just looks so good out there! I will say, when I actually sit in it, I use the fake sheepskin/flokati that is normally inside. It prevents waffle butt beautifully. The little table was under $10 from what I remember. I found it in the basement at an estate sale with my mom a few months back. I think it's home-made and I just love the way the base looks kind of like a retro rocket. My idea was to clean it up and give it a fresh coat of paint, but I parked it out here while figuring out where to put it inside, and it just looked so good with the Bertoia, I left it. The metal edging around the top picks up the metal legs on the Bertoia beautifully. Oh, and the chair is from a local antique place, and although it was expensive, I'm assuming it's a knock-off. The things we do for waffle butt...

The view while standing on the stoop. Mmm, brown, brown and more brown. You can see the weird patch of sod the HGTV people put in to smooth out the curve. Before, it was straight across. We had to WATER that patch, as well as one on the front of the bed. Sod does not like being planted in the hottest part of summer. Trust me.
Here is the other side of the driveway that I mentioned before. If it looks familiar, you are probably just thinking of Chernobyl. Or Siberia. Oh, the house to the left across from ours (the one that is kind of beige-y/greige-y was one of the small "neighbor projects" on our episode of Curb Appeal: The Block. It's cute, and a nice family lives there.
This is that same little stretch between driveway and fence. The bermudagrass here really never got dug out; I'm convinced. I think they just sprinkled a tiny bit of mulch on top.
From the front. At least the house looks pretty...
Here where the bed is supposed to widen again where it meets the street has basically disappeared. We get really heavy water run off up here, so the mulch washed away really quickly, as did the plants they put in. I think once we get a divider in, I'd like to put in rocks instead of plants. But we'll see. Monkey grass seems to do fine.
Close up of what used to be a planted bed... Gross.
Another angle. And Roxanne's lovely Retro Red Radio Flyer. It was a gift from her cousins, and it's so cute now that she's starting to be able to actually pedal it. She just can't steer well, so she just yells a lot if you don't hold onto her while she's riding.

5 comments:

  1. Take heart...Everybody's yard looks hideous right now. All my shrubs have yellowed frostbitten leaves, my cast iron plants have that shredded look, my iris are buried under tons of leaves and even the monkey grass flattened out under the last snow. Things will start looking better before long, especially for us in the South. ;)

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  2. Very nice! I just want the weather to be better to get out there and do something~

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  3. Dana, you are right! I think that's what is making me want to get started now, so that maybe once things start blooming again, the yard won't look such a mess! And it'd definitely easier to pull up the weeds when a lot of stuff is half dead. But can I tell you, we have quite a bit of this thorny weed up by the mailbox, and I CANNOT get it out! I'm not sure what it is, but it has red leaves, and it made my arms break out. And it is stubborn! I can't wait to see your yard in full bloom, Dana! I'm sure it is gorgeous.

    Zootsuitmama, thanks for stopping by and commenting! I have to say, this weekend in Georgia it has been in the 70's (our expected high today is 77) so I think that's been part of my drive to get out and get started! Of course, we always have the fake spring, where it gets lovely for a while, then we have another cold snap and anything that bloomed too early gets knocked out. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays nice.

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  4. Oh that is so beautiful! Your so lucky that you can be out in your yard! Mine is still covered in snow and its -38 today... yuck... I can't wait to see more of your beautiful yard, Beautiful home too!

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  5. Sherry Baby,
    Thanks for stopping by! I can't imagine that kind of weather... Georgia is usually pretty mild, but it does that frustrating thing during each season where it seems like it's going to stay one way, but then goes back the next week. Instead of gradual season changes, it's like we just get seasonal whiplash where it's 70 one day and then 40 the next.
    I'm sure my daughter would love to be where you are for at least a few days! Every morning since we had snow a couple of months ago, she wakes up and says disappointedly, "It didn't snow last night." Poor thing. ;)

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