Show & Tell Tuesdays: Our Yard

Good morning, friends and happy Tuesday to you!

So, the Blackhawks have one the Stanley Cup again! Woo hoo! I think I'm most excited that now they can stop playing that "Lord Stanley" song on my favorite radio station. If you don't know what I'm talking about, they took that Drinking Class song and re-wrote the words ("Chicago wants our Stanley back"). I couldn't take it.

On to the regularly scheduled programming...today, I am liking up with Andrea for Show & Tell Tuesdays.

We LOVE our yard and outdoor space!

This is our first home together. Previously, we had been in apartments. One apartment had a shared patio (no green space) and the other just had a little balcony. Needless to say we were ready for some grass and flowers and a deck!

I cannot take ANY credit for our yard or outdoor space. We live on a double-lot, so there is a lot of green space that needs tending. Justin does all of the mowing, trimming, cleaning, and watering outside. My mom comes in a couple of times and helps us with the immense amount of weeding that needs to be done.

Here's the thing...the people who lived here before us took great pride in their flower beds. I believe the wife was a Master Gardener (that is a thing). Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb. I am not just being humble, I literally am a failure at keeping anything green or with flowers alive. I get all excited and make up planters and I swear I try to water those things, but they all bite the dust pretty quickly.

I'm working on it.

As far as the weeding goes...I don't think I'm ever going to get there. I am just not the kind of person who is okay with having dirt under my fingernails. A little bit...OK...but the amount of dirt that I am cleaning out of my fingernails the week after working in the yard...no thank you! I know, this is a prissy moment for me, but at least I am owning it! I get super hot weeding, itchy, all scratched up and the BUGS...don't get me started!

So, thank GOD for my husband and my mother. Bless you both.

We have made some changes to the outdoor space that I will kind of walk you through and tell you a little bit about where we are headed.

When we moved in, it was May. All of the outdoor doors on our house were painted a muted, maroon color.

We got a wild hair and decided to paint all of them BRIGHT red. This project was actually SUPER easy. I used THIS tutorial from Young House Love. We had all of the doors (front, side, and garage) done in one weekend. 

Here you can see our fresh, red door during the Fall. 

And here you can see how the front of the house looks today. I love the pop of color.

Last year, I bought a wreath from Pink Door Wreaths on Etsy. It hangs up pretty much year-round, until our Christmas wreath comes out.

Here's the issue with the front of the house that I would like to tackle. I have tried all sorts of planters up on the front path/steps, and nothing with flowers will survive! 

We actually use to have a GIGANTIC pine tree to the right of the house that was blocking a ton of light from the front. We took that out last year, but it is still pretty dark up there. 

Right in the middle of that grass you see used to stand the huge pine tree. It was way taller than our house and blocked our view getting out of the driveway, so it had to go. Justin did an amazing job re-planting grass and now it's like you would never know it was there!

I want to rip out the bushes at the front of our house and start fresh with some new landscaping up front, but I haven't quite figured out what will be low maintenance and survive the shade. Any tips?

Moving on to the deck. These will serve as your before pictures, because we are currently having the deck stripped, repaired, and repainted. That is, if the rain will ever stop for long enough for our guy to get the work done!

Justin started this project shortly aver we moved in, but when we got a great quote to finish it off, we decided to outsource the work.

Once we are all done, I would love to get some new outdoor furniture.

Can you see that huge vine hanging up on the side of the deck?

That is one of my favorite things about the deck...our Trumpet Vine. At the end of the summer, we get the prettiest blooms that attract hummingbirds.

Moving over to the side of the back yard, we had a MESS of a flower bed that was overgrown with weeds. I am sure the previous owners had that area totally under control, but we have jobs and do not have that kind of time to put into this stuff.

Last year, we pulled up the back part of this bed and transplanted the good stuff to other spots in the yard. Justin planted grass seed, which took really well. This year, he pulled up the remainder of the bed and put down more seed.

Here is how this space looks now (view from the deck).

So much better!

Finally, the most unique part of our outdoor space...our shed!

We have been told that this shed used to be a chicken coop that was gifted to the owners of our house decades and decades ago by a fellow neighboor. It is equipped with electrical inside and even a phone jack! Right now, we use it as extra storage space for yard tools and such.

What cracks me up about this shed is that at first, there was a lot of debate about whether we should remove it (I was strongly against that!). Now, everyone that comes over has a strong opinion about whether it should be stripped and re-painted.

With that said, we have no plans to change the shed. It is rustic and we love it.

So, that's our yard! It's one of our favorite things about our house. There is nothing better than sitting out on our deck on a Friday night after a long week, having a glass of wine and some apps, listening to the buzz of all of the neighborhood kids running back and forth through the yards to each others' houses. Suburban life at its finest.

Have a great day, everyone!

xoxo

Jess