Landscaping is complete!

We've been working on having the front of our house re-landscaped for some time now. We started the planning back in the fall before Maddie was born. We had a lot of trouble with the grass growing because of the huge trees and the roots. We also had a mini mudslide to the left of the walk way. Plus we just wanted to spruce up the outside! Work started in December with new flower beds, new posts on the front of the house, a new walk way and front porch and some of the plants that could with stand the winter. We then had the rest of the planting done last week, bought planters for our front porch, replaced our house numbers, and finally had the new sod put in this week. We also redid the beds on the side of the house. We LOVE it and are so happy. I have to admit that I drive by the front of the house a lot more now to just see it. It makes such a difference! I've been waiting to post pictures until it was complete so I could do a complete before and after. A huge thanks to our friend Dan and his entire crew at From the Ground Up. They did an amazing job!

Here is what the house looked like when we bought it:

And the work begins...

First they took out the old steps, which were the long, large steps that were strange to walk up. They removed the posts and put lovely 2x4,s up to hold up our covered porch. They rebuild the porch to make it larger and stoned it and the new steps, which are configured much better! We had Oklahoma Flagstone laid in a "natural" pattern and a border of the same flagstone to trim it out.

We also extended the beds around our two huge trees to help the grass grow.

And used the same stone to build new beds. There are two levels of flower beds now that are much larger than before.

Here is a picture of the new posts before they were painted (on Christmas Eve - and Carrie on the porch)

Here is a picture with the posts in and painted on the porch

And TADA! It is complete!

Lower beds planted with inpatients, hydrangeas and a Japanese maple

Walkway, front door, new planters and house numbers

Planter up close

Another shot. I'm pretty proud of these since I actually did plant them! :)

Looking off our front porch! It is so green and lush. We love it!