One Year Update ~ Front Yard

 

Moving on with our "where things are at after one year" posts, the weather was beautiful this past weekend so it only made sense to spend as much time as we could outside getting things cleaned up and ready for fall.

 

I would say that the outside of the bungalow has gone through the biggest transformation to date. We have been building buildings and weeding like crazy. We still have a ton of work to do and some pretty exciting plans for the future but for now things are definitely looking a lot tidier.

 

To recap....below is how the front of the property looked about a month before we moved in. The random fence panel still makes me giggle.

 

FRONT YARD ~ BEFORE

 

And the next three photos were taken the day we were given the keys. You can definitely see a difference in neglect. Clearly the previous owners weren't too concerned about the property after they had finally sold it. The broken garbage can is a nice touch.

 

FRONT YARD ~ PROGRESS



 

And this is how the front of the bungalow looks now. Happier and healthier I would say.

 

We are finally getting a handle on the weeds out front. They are still scattered through out the lawn and in the grass close to the road but they are far more manageable now. We so far have cleaned up the front porch, re-painted the number sign, chucked the screen door and moved the mailbox to the side.

 

We dug out all of the stumps left from the hedging and grass seeded along the front. Planted Mr. Roboto last October and cleaned up the front flower beds. Recently we built a vegetable garden and re-painted the shed.

 

Probably the biggest change is the new garage you see poking out behind the left side of the bungalow. The garage will have it's own post which should be making an appearance soon.

 





I took these recent photos just as the sun was setting. Our shadows in the photo above add a bit charm I think ;)
 

The chain link fence still stands but I have been itching for months to rip that thing out. I believe the time is nye. I have been dreaming of a new fence for a long time and I am probably going to be more excited the necessary when I am finally given the green light to make it happen. For now I will continue weeding the empty flower bed. We haven't planted anything here yet because when the fence goes this goes as well.

 

 

To back up the bus even further than the month before we took possession and the day we got the keys, below is how the bungalow looked from the street when we first viewed the property.

 

What bungalow you ask?

 

The property started out almost fully surrounded by the hedges. The bungalow couldn't be seen from the road unless you stopped to catch a glimpse over the random fence panel. It was entombed in it's own little hedge fortress. Naturally it made the property feel really private when inside and I was initially devastated when we were told the alleged news that the City ordered the front hedges to come down. The neighbours took the hedges down between the two properties a little while before hand. I did get over it and realized that the bungalow gets so much more natural light now and can now stand proud as a member of the street after being hidden for so many years.



 

 

Photos taken from Google Maps.

 

The funny thing is I remember driving by the house on numerous occasions when we were out looking at other properties in the area, seeing the For Sale signs and wondering what the house looked like behind the hedge. It wasn't until our Realtor sent us the listing that I put two and two together and the rest is history! 



Diggin' A Hole

Last weekend D and I dug a hole in our front yard. Why you might ask? Cause we were preparing to welcome a new addition to the family :)

A while back I had mentioned that we would like to plant a Japanese Maple in the yard. Our previous townhouse had one in the back patio area and it was gorgeous. I loved watching it grow over the time we were there and am hoping our new tree will provide us me with the same enjoyment.

We dug our hole at the tail end of a two month dry spell. It was quite a process as we wanted to transfer the dirt to another area in the yard. D shoveled the dirt onto a tarp and then I separated the dirt from the turf, removing the weeds as I went. As you can imagine the ground possessed rock like qualities so the digging part was hard work. We also don't own a wheelbarrow yet so we had to transfer the dirt one shovel load at a time. We didn't have far to go, but I'm sure we looked pretty funny walking back and forth across the yard a million times. A wheelbarrow is definitely on our wish list for spring!

We filled the hole half way with water a few times to try to presoak the ground before we planted the Maple. If you don't do this then once the tree is in the hole the surrounding ground can steal the water away from the tree roots. Luckily for us the rain started a few days later and hasn't stopped since. So the ground was nice and moist come planting time. It's funny that now we are home owners with a yard we are trying to beautify, we welcomed the rain with open arms. We were actually quite excited about it :)

Yesterday was the day we had planned our trip to the nursery to pick out our Japanese Maple. I had practice and a game to attend in the morning to mid afternoon so by the time I got home D was itching to go. It was still raining, quite hard I might add, so I had my doubts about being outside. I also thought the folks at the garden center would think we were crazy for planting in the rain but turns out that it was the perfect weather conditions to plant a tree :)

So we chose a 3 gallon tree, grabbed some soil and bark mulch and drove the block home with our new Maple sticking out the back of our hatchback.

We decided to name our tree because we are dorks like that. So let us introduce you to Mr. Roboto, our new Japanese Maple!

And we have been personifying him ever since. Last night we had a discussion regarding if he was missing his friends at the garden center and that now he can watch the traffic go by ;)

We think he's going to be a great addition to our yard and can't wait to see how he transforms over the next few years. 

Mr. Roboto is currently the same height as D. Let's see what the height difference is a year from now. I should also state that the Maple tree is my birthday present (which is today) so we will always know what date to take another comparison photo :)

The final step was to give Mr. Roboto some root booster. Yes, we need an outside watering can as well ;)

Weekends, Weeds & Window Seats

I had mentioned on Friday that D and I would be putting the finishing touches on a small project over the weekend but alas it wasn't meant to be. The project was to give our front porch a mini makeover and one of the final steps was to repaint the concrete steps. D works on Saturdays so I set out to Home Depot bright and early to buy what was needed. The stairs do need to be repaired at the bottom so we didn't want to spend a lot of time and money going through all of the proper steps to refinish the porch at this time...stripping, acid washing, cleaning, sealing, painting, sealing again. We just wanted to quickly slap some paint on them to give the porch a fresher look until we paint the exterior of the house next year.

So after convincing the salesperson at Home Depot that we didn't want to spend a fortune and yes we knew that they wouldn't hold up for the long haul, she recommended we use a product called 'Restore'. It goes on thick and covers all of the imperfections in the concrete. You do still need to use the 'Restore' cleaner beforehand though and then wait 24 hours before applying the paint. Reducing the steps from 6 to 2 and only needing to buy 2 products instead of 5 definitely seemed much more manageable.

The salesperson also warned that the paint needed to be applied when no rain was expected for at least 48 hours. Driving home the sky was clouding over and the air felt damp. By the time I had gathered up the necessary tools I realized that painting the stairs or at least cleaning them just wasn't in the cards for the day. To be honest I had also starting losing interest and becoming a little disheartened in the project on the drive back form Home Depot.

All is not lost, I started on a different mini makeover indoors that seemed much more enjoyable than scrapping and cleaning concrete steps. But as to not leave you in the lurch on the outside mini makeover, here is a pic of the work that has been done to the front of our bungalow so far.

So far we have:

• Removed the screen door.
• Repainted the house number and hung it higher.
• Painted the mail box black and fixed it to the side railing.
• Hung some fall hanging baskets.
• Removed the weeds from along the front.

 We still need to:

• Repaint the concrete steps.
• Plant some greenery along the front and add river rocks as a border.
• Put new trim around the front door.
• Maybe paint the door handle (still in discussion).
• Add a couple more fall planters to the porch.

It doesn't seem like much but when you compare it to the before pic it's quite an improvement.

Pulling out the weeds along the front was a tough job. Firstly because they were 60% thistles and secondly because the ground was as hard as cement. D's sister and mum very kindly worked on the left side the day we moved in and D finished off both sides, broke up the soil and leveled it off last week.

Speaking of weeding...D and I spent all of Sunday afternoon pulling out the weeds (again mostly thistles) along the front of the property line in front of the chain link fence where the front hedges used to be. I don't have any photos of this part of the yard, but trust me it was pretty horrible looking.

Back to the indoor project that was started on over the weekend.....it's soon to be my favorite seat in the house....Yep the window seat :)

Here is a before photo as a reminder.

The wood paneling was covered in scratches, marks and quite frankly looked ugly. Too much wood paneling gives me a headache. So I started out by sanding it down and painting it white.

Such a huge improvement already. I will keep you posted on the progress of this little space that brings me so much joy. Or at least it will when it's done ;)

Inspiration ~ English Country Cottage Gardens

With the warmer weather sticking around and the sun continuing to shine, we have been spending as much time as we can outside weeding and tidying up the yard. We still have a LONG way to go but we've been working on some projects that will add a little more curb appeal to our diamond in the rough.

All along I have envisioned what our bungalow has the potential to be. Call me a dreamer but I can see a warm cozy inviting abode through all of the grime and disarray.

True to my British heritage I am in love with English country cottages and gardens. Here's a little country cottage inspiration for you all......

Do you notice a exterior colour scheme going on in the above photos? Call it a preview if you will ;)

 

I would love to plant a small hedge along the front with a little country gate. Plant a veggie garden on the side and fill the perimeter with wild flowers and flowering shrubs including Forget-me-not, Foxglove, Lavender, Viburnum, Kerria, Grape Hyacinth, and Daisies. Soon I hope, but I know slow and steady wins the race.

Can you guys envision it as well???!

Kicked To The Curb

Then taken out back and shot to the dump!

Here's a quick run down of what we ripped out and evicted from 9808 last week.

Day One

• The carpet leading to the basement. I didn't even want to walk on this thing in shoes it was so gross and smelt like a big wet dog.

As D and I were walking up the stairs to call it a night after sweeping the basement, I wondered out loud how hard it would be to pull up the carpet. "Let's see" said D and within 15 minutes the gross stair covering made of dog hair was history.

• The weed garden along the front of the house and attempted to tackle the weeds on the right side of the front door. The ground is as hard as cement which makes for back breaking work.
• The mailbox on the front screen door.

Day Two

• The front screen door.
• The ceiling fan on the deck.
• The leaky kitchen faucet.
• The leaking pipes under the kitchen sink.
• The carpet in the basement.
• The random fence panel in the front yard.
• Attempted to fix the leaking bathtub faucet (we need to order a new part).
• The gross discoloured Plexiglas panel above the bathroom counter.

• And lastly the carpet from the main staircase.....

Those of you who have been paying attention may remember that I posted about our Stairway To Heaven a few weeks ago. The main floor staircase in the house acts as a focal point. It's steep, original and worn from years of use. The risers are high and 80% of the stairs creak underfoot. It  definitely needs to be sanded and re stained in the future but for now I love it just the way it WAS!

For reasons we can't begin to imagine, the previous owner decided to carpet the staircase before we moved in. Please note that this was done AFTER we closed on the house. So the last time we saw the staircase it was happily carpet free.

The weird thing is they went to the trouble and time to do the installation properly. Well as "properly" as everything else in the house has been done. By doing this they have now shortened the timeline in needing to refinish the staircase. They took the time to nail in tacking strips and glue down underlay. They didn't take the time to remove any debris from the stairs before fixing the carpet down though. D found used Xacto blades and strips of staples sitting on top of the underlay under the carpet. Oh Jeez! In all fairness, they may have wanted to carpet the stairs in order to protect them when moving the furniture down but I would imagine using a piece of capeting or blanket would have worked just as well.

So my once beautiful (to me) stairs are now marred with nail holes and glue residue (and the odd missed staple here and there). But at least they are back to being carpet free.

Green with Envy

The weather was fabulous this past weekend. D and I were outdoors for most of  it, camping in Fort Langley, relaxing at Cultas Lake and walking around our current neighbourhood in the evenings. Since we bought the bungalow we are finding ourselves taking note and becoming more and more envious of other people's yards.  We now seem pay attention to different types of flower beds, fence styles and house colour schemes. Gah, that last sentence makes me feel really old! We can't wait to start getting our hands dirty (pun intended) on the outside of 9808.

In it's current state the outside space at the bungalow is definitely green....but grossly overgrown, neglected, and just plain miserable looking. 

The worst of the mess is luckily hidden behind the house. The junk pile below, we believe used to be some type of carport. I'm assuming the owners tore it down with plans to possibly build something new and just didn't get around to doing any more work. Right now it's kind of a guessing game as to whether all of the garbage and junk will be cleared out before possession day. Our realtor thinks we shouldn't hold our breaths and to plan on renting a dumpster along with our moving truck. We will have to wait and see... 

That random appliance in the photo below is a weird sink/fridge/hotplate unit. Never seen one before and don't plan on keeping it. Maybe it will go on Craigslist if it's still there when we move in.

Saying that though....the current owners did offer to remove the six still standing steel posts for us. We are assuming  they only want to do this supposed kind act so they can sell them for extra cash. The last time we drove by they were still there, so again we will have to wait on see what is left behind and what's not. The less we have to haul away the better.

One of the first things we need to do on arrival to our new abode is build a garage. If you squint your eyes and use your imagination you can picture a fancy new double garage in this spot.

I was debating posting these outdoor before pics because the place is such a mess but having really bad before photos will make ANYTHING we do a ginormous improvement!

We plan to tackle the yard and outside space in phases:

1. General yard clean up and garbage removal. Basically clean out all of the left behind junk and de-weed around the house.
2. Remove chain link fence. As I mentioned here, we don't have any animals that need to be contained within our yard so the horrid fence needs to go.
3. Build garage. In order to do this we need to move the shed over and re-cement the current slab to make it bigger. As we will already be paying for the cement load fee we are also hoping to pour a small patio next to the garage on the left side of the house.
4. Transplant hydrangea bush.  Thinking of putting it somewhere along the left side of the property. I need to find out when the best time of the year is to disturb it from it's current resting place first.
5. Spruce up flowers beds along front of  house. 
6. Freshen up front porch. 
7. Plant a Japanese Maple. Again hopefully along the left side of the yard.
8. Fence or hedge along  front. We eventually need to dig out or bury the stumps that are left over from the old hedging, but right now they don't really bother me. 
9. Repaint house. Planning for summer of 2013.
10. Redo deck. Definitely in the long term plans.

There is a ton of  more work that needs to be done eventually to the outside, but right now a list of ten projects, some big some not as big, seems plenty enough to get started!