About six weeks ago I posted an overview of our big 2013 home improvement projects in response to the Daily Prompt: Weekend.
If you have read my About page or Hello widget you can see I mention right away we love gardening and remodeling our home. In fact one of the reasons I started this blog was create a space to document and share a few big home improvement projects that have been slowly working their way up our to-do list. When we bought this house four years ago it had a lot of features I was happy with (location, space and privacy in the yard) and two major ones I wanted to change right away (dark brown paint and a rickety, narrow front porch). In our first year we put on a new roof and finished two interior rooms but the really big items on my “must have” list have had to wait… until this weekend when they finally reached official planning and scheduling status.
Our project got a jump-start last summer when the Utilities District let us know our large Cedar Trees in the front yard were too close to the power lines and needed to come down. They gave us a fair amount of money to use towards replacement plants but losing these trees meant we had to rethink the entire yard since what was once an established shade garden is now sitting in full sun. We talked through our ideas over the winter and this spring hired a Landscape Architect to help us with a new comprehensive plan.
We are also working through the measurements for a new porch, deciding on door styles to convert our car port to a garage, selecting more decorative window trim and finding the perfect house colors. It is going to be a busy summer but I can’t wait! Every few weeks I plan to post photos, including some really awful before shots, and if all goes well we will have a finished project with a lot more curb appeal by fall.
I can finally report (de)construction began this week! I will post updates every week in at least one of our three in-progress categories: front yard. deck and driveway, paint and trim. This is a big job, wish us luck!
Northwest Frame of Mind 
If you run out of things to do, I have an extensive list for our old house.
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Oh wow, I think we just set up a plan that will take years to complete… busy times!
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Good for you. I remember my parents started a yard project in Bellevue that turned into a party with all the neighbors….;)
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A party sounds like fun. 🙂
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Good luck! I hope it all runs smoothly for you. So exciting working on a project (or two, or three…) we are still looking for that house to buy! I look forward to following the progress 🙂
Jude xx
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Thanks Jude! I will post regular updates and good luck with your house hunt. 🙂
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Good luck on this big project! Can’t wait to see progress photos.
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Thanks Nancy! I’ll have some new photos ready for next week!
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I am looking forward to seeing your photos as your progress. How fun to turn your home into your vision!
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as you progress
It drives me crazy when I type the wrong word 🙂 Occasionally, I can walk away from it. It’s rare.
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It bugs me too, no worries!
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Thanks! We have a lot of work ahead of us but I can’t wait to see things come together!
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Oh good luck!! It sounds so exciting!!! 😀
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Hey, thanks! We are really happy to start. 🙂
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Wow, it’s not a yard you have, it’s a forest!
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Well, it was like a forest… now it is a huge mess of dirt. 🙂 New plants were delivered yesterday!
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Ambitious. Now I want to see the finished product in your newer posts.
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Thanks Janice! Believe it or not we are still working but I definitely need to add a new post. I will call it the last days of our landscaping project. 🙂
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