{ A little Change Outside }

Check out the landscaping on the side of the house. Or the overscaping...whatever you want to call it. It was a major weed infested overload of I don't know what. 

There was a whole lot of stuff going on in there. Its this way all around the house actually. I really wanted to get this side cleaned up a little though since I have to stare at it every day. So I figured, why not clean it up so that when the snow melts away and spring comes around I will be looking at one side of the house that looks a little cleaner and put together. Just a little something to look forward to I guess. 

I really didn't know what was a real plant and what was a weed. I just started digging to get it cleaned out. Literally, this took me almost a week with my little helpers and with the help of my mom and sister too we got it cleared out. There were about 100 pounds of rocks scattered in there too. No joke. Maybe more. There was also random buried treasures. Like chicken wire, shingles, trash bags, plastic, bricks, little toys...you name it, we probably dug it up! 

Finally! Just dirt! It kinda felt like an endless rock and weed cemetery. Never thought that dirt looked so good. 

Here's a quick shot of my helpers!  You can see the bricks on the front steps too. We pulled out enough bricks to fill a whole trailer. Trevor helped me stack them all on the trailer. It was hard work but he's such a good helper. 

Isn't he cute. I think so!

Here's a pretty good shot of almost the whole area. 

Our plans are to eventually knock out those three old concrete steps up to the front door and replace with a front porch that goes all the way over to the windows and out about 6 feet. With a white railing and a cute little chair up there it should really make the front door a lot more inviting. I decided to plant a few things in the space that we cleared. I didn't want to plant too much and I didn't want to plant anything in the front under those windows knowing that we would be doing the porch next year. So here is what is looks like on the side now. 

Oh...wait. I added a few of the larger rocks that we pulled out around the border. Mostly to get use out of them. Partly because it didn't really look very finished to me with just the dirt. But I really don't want to add the little rocks back in here and I figured if we do bark mulch I want to wait until spring so it looks fresh. I think the little border of rocks helps it look a little bit more finished off for now. 

The rocks probably wont stay but it works for the meantime. A lot better than it looked before I would say. Come spring, I will be happy that I took the time to do this now. One less ugly thing to have to worry about when the snow clears. It's looking like we wont be able to paint the exterior before winter so there will be a lot to do in the spring. I cant wait to NOT look at the horrid yellow/orange color anymore! Each little thing that gets accomplished makes it feel a little better. It's hard to not want everything done with the snap of the fingers but since it doesn't work like that the little things make me happy.