~ flipNdesign ~: exterior

I wanted to make sure to document some exterior improvements made last summer--now that spring is upon us! And maybe include a few updated progress comparison shots!

I cleaned up the garden beds to the left of the front door, looking out:

This involved re-placing the brick edging (remember the 1890's leftover fireplace brick? yeah, that), replacing weed block and mulching. There are two hydrangea shrubs here, a new boxwood, a tall emerald Arbor Vitae, and some spray rose bushes. We also re-seeded the lawn because it didn't seed well the fall before when we removed the large boxwoods.

I re-located these yucca from under the Rose of Sharon to a new location near the entrance of the driveway. It is too crowded there and I think it will do better here!

There is an un-identified shrub that we have next to it to the right, that is doing really well. It is one that we got from Gabe's work for Arbor Day a year ago. It *might* be a dogwood.

See? It's doing so well! Except that I took this shot right before the deer got to it...grr

Took this shot mid June 2020

And another with a little cumquat:

In the background you can see a redbud tree doing well, and a pine tree in the farthest sight.

A few other beauties around the yard, blooming in June,

My peonies, in an unfinished garden bed in the front:

Beautiful climbing roses blooming next to the deck in the back:

I haven't quite had success getting them to climb, yet. As opposed to the climbing rose on the other side of the deck I've had since 2017 that has done quite well in the climbing/blooming department!

Here's a slightly different angle of the front garden bed shared earlier, with the hydrangeas about to bloom and the spray roses blooming:

Hydrangeas in the front left garden bed, going crazy awesome:

They started out like this in 2015!

Day-lilies, running out of room, growing up in-between our viburnum and evergreen:

Here is our garden and chicken coop/run combo:

A close up of the watermelons getting started in there:

Progress on how the front garden beds are doing, at the beginning of July:

Do you spy the elephant ears getting their start?

And now, the front facade, in the middle of September, elephant ears in all their glory (and swallowing up the juniper tree! Not to worry, it was looking pretty bad, having gotten a bad infestation of bag worms):

More up close shot:

We made a few other improvement too, to our back yard. We added a shade sail to our south facing deck which really helped make it more comfortable back there with a dark colored stain of the deck underfoot. Also, we added a stock tank pool, which is bigger than the other pools we came up with and is a little bit more in-destructible too.

We added some of the same white granite gravel around the pool to cut down on weeds and grass clippings that would make their way into my house ;)

This girl loves the stock tank!

Some technical difficulties are seen here--the pool got rusty looking because the chlorine was reacting with the metal. This year, we are going to spray 6-8 coats of rubber sealant instead of just one ;)

Visuals of the set up at the end of the summer, on a foggy morning:

Last but not least, we have some pictures taken by my brother in law, who just got a drone/license and was having some fun taking some pics of our property when they visited in May:

And that's all for now, folks!

This is one of the last posts I will write for a while, finishing up detailing the most recent additions. We will not be starting any more projects for a while--just finishing up what we have started! I see more walnut slabs in our future--installing a built-in desk and shelves in the great room and some live edge shelves in the kitchen (which will be fun to show at some point), finishing up a bunk bed for Judah and continued organization of the garage and basement, but beyond that, we will not be starting on the master bathroom and current hall bathroom over-haul for quite some time. There are still quite a few exciting projects coming along, down the pike, but for now, we are settling down in our new space and taking a break.

Springtime will be time for landscaping, when green beauty comes out, our little grass seed shoots will fill in and we will be nurturing our newest little beauty, who will make our family of 5. I might post some outdoor landscaping projects in the spring.

For now, let's go over some of the holes in progress up until now. There are some before and after pics I can show of the outside: the driveway, the back deck door from the outside, front facade before and afters, back of the house progression pics and then we move inside to detail the garage, great room toy corner, existing living room updates, kitchen backsplash, and finally, the master bedroom that I've been promising a look at.

I think it marked how much the driveway changed--it really changes our quality of life--from entering and exiting the house in a mess of grassy/muddy shoes (not thru the mudroom but the living room!) to entering and exiting thru the garage, with our minivan parked inside! This is a luxury I have never known. It is especially nice in the wintertime chill! Consider me tickled.

Muddy driveway from last February:

It wasn't always THIS bad, but close.

Just LOOK at the difference!!!

We are LOVING the difference.

Here's the back deck door, with a little imp, from last January:

And then, a look at it from the same spot this December:

The same exterior lights we used outside the garage are used flanking the sliding door on the deck.

Shown here:

Moving to the front of the house:

Let's look at a before and after of the front facade of the house.

From March 2013:

To just a couple days ago (December 2018):

We still plan to do a few things to the front, like paint the front door (in spring probably), dress up the front patio stoop with a roof, posts and rails, and paint the fascia black at that time to match the rest of the house. We also plan to buy landscaping timbers soon, let them dry out in our garage in time to stain them in the spring, and install them in the front, creating a tiered walkway up to the front door (so guests don't have to traipse thru grass to get to our door).

Looking at this pic in the spring of 2015, we can better see the windows that still need replacing as well:

Now, here's a fun progression of the house from one angle--the back southeast corner--with a view of the duration of the exterior construction:

December 2017

January 2018

February 2018

April 2018

September 2018

October 2018

December 2018

Whew! That was quite a year! There is a noticeable gap in exterior progress from April-September. Once contractor Dave had started demo on the kitchen, I had asked him to focus on the interior until it was done. That might have been slightly foolish, because once interior things were mostly accomplished, he shifted focus to outdoors and then, progress was contingent on the weather. He switched gears around July, and we ended up having the wettest July and September I can remember! (8"+ inches each of those months, when the average is 3"!) We also had some significant materials delays in that time too, which didn't help progress either.

I haven't really shown pics of the garage yet. Well, here we go! Up to now, it was a mishmash of items and metal shelves Gabe was collecting for when it was time to organize. At the final inspection, it was found that exterior supporting walls had to be clad in drywall. Gabe was planning on doing the drywall in the garage, but in light of this news, Dave had a vested interest in finishing for final inspection (one of his payments hinged on it), and I was delighted, because that freed up Gabe to accomplish some other things on our to-do list (backsplash in the kitchen). The garage drywall went up fast. Soon after, we had an unexpected snow day in November that we could spend organizing the garage together!

The fruits of our organization:

And now we can park our vehicle inside!! Just in time for more winter weather.

The lighting we used in the garage:

A peek at the nighttime view of garage, with exterior lights:

Moving on to finished up interior spaces! Stay tuned for the finale at the end :)

First we'll take a look at the "toy corner" in the great room. I just bought a new rug for the space, so it's all cleaned up for pictures!

Moving into the existing living room--view right as you walk in the front door:

Panning left:

Panning right:

Looking back towards front door:

Fireplace wall:

Close up:

Looking into the Great room/Dining room:

Aaaaannnnd here's a short little detour into the kitchen to take a look at the finished backsplash and deck door alcove all decluttered and gussied up for Christmas.

Starting with the doorway looking back into the living room:

Continuing to pan left towards the deck door, getting a close up view of the finished backsplash wall:

The deck door and south wall:

And finally, the cabinet/countertop to the right of the refrigerator:

Here's a couple pics of the dining room all shnazzled up for Christmas:

Aaaannnnd, drum roll please, the backordered bar stools FINALLY came in the day before Christmas, after being ordered last May!!

YAY!!! Merry Christmas to us!!

Here's our Christmas tree in the great room--

By day and by night:

And one more, with a bit of decoration in the front:

Heee hee :D

Merry Christmas! I'll do a separate post, with our Christmas letter included.

Ok, ok, here's the grand finale: the master bedroom, all staged up, like I promised....

First looking down the hall towards the master bedroom (the hallway got really loooonnggg):

I still have to add pictures to the walls

I staged the room with two different bed coverings, bear with me :)

Upon entering the room:

Bed donned in the red quilt I made

Bed has a tribal duvet cover on it that I got from Pottery Barn

Slightly different angle, showcasing the transom windows at the top, by day and night:

Another slightly different angle, ceiling fan included, by day and by night:

More nighttime moody shots of the headboard wall:

I just can't enough of how the light plays off the accent wall! Just sexy.

Ok, now here's a shot head on of every wall--

West wall:

North wall:

East wall:

South wall:

I just love this shot of faint, late afternoon glow, looking out into our yard, with the tire swing Gabe put together for the kids:

A happy little vignette:

A view of the wall going towards the second walk in closet and master bathroom (which is NOT even started fyi):

At the end of the little hallway is the walk in closet to the left and the master bath will be to the right (currently it houses and locks away the Christmas presents, but don't tell):