My first thought when we pulled into the driveway of this particular house after our realtor said we should was, "It's got potential." The yard didn't take my breath away like the inside did, but it did make my eyes light up and channel my creative juices. Potential is exciting, but it is also quite exhausting, to be honest. Our first yard day was about two weeks after we moved in, and it consisted of raking and blowing piles and piles of fallen leaves. The shade that all of our trees give us is so wonderful, but it makes for some endurance training when the millions (literally) of leaves hit the ground. Braxton loved jumping in all the leaf piles, and that made all the hard work worth it!
After the leaves were raked and gone, we walked around and tried to get a game plan for what our next step was. Our decision was easy: rip up everything and start fresh. And a couple months later, in the middle of February, we had our first big de-bush day, and about a dozen of those days have followed since. It doesn't sound like much, but boy, it has been! Teesh has worked and worked and dug and dug until his hands bleed, and his diligence hasn't been in vain. We are so close to being done with the "demolition" stage, and our hope is to replant in the spring. It feels so good to be making progress, no matter how long it has taken us.
Our yard is nestled on a corner lot that is just shy of half an acre, which is a pretty good size to be so close to Main Street, and we have so many big dreams that we want to see come to life. Turning this house into our home the past seven months has been the source of a whole lot of joy and family bonding! Part of me was sad to be doing so much digging up, because we know the family whose parents and grandparents lived here for so long. I can remember how I felt when I passed our Ma's house and saw the new owner making so many changes, so I was sensitive to how they might feel. What I learned from my experience, however, is that the memories I had of her home could never be taken away from me, and my prayer is that the precious family who made so many memories here for so long would rest in that same truth.
Here are a few Before and After photos of the progress we have made. I snapped all of the "before" pictures prior to everything blooming, so what you can't see is how large the bushes were before we cleaned them out. We could barely see our windows because of how huge they were when they were in full bloom!
From the front of the house (angled):
From the side of the house:
From the other side of the house:
From the front of the house (head on):
In the next couple of years, we hope to have a new roof, a bigger front porch, and plants that add to the curb appeal. So much to be proud of and look forward to!
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