Our Landscaping Project: Progress Update

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by Lisa

Progress

Writing an updated post about our big landscaping project has been on my to-do list for several weeks (months) but hey, life is busy and I rarely make it to the bottom of a list.  I didn’t think I would be posting anything today but when I saw that the Daily Prompt was Progress I realized I was out of excuses.  Here is a look at what we’ve been working on this fall.

I know my last project post said we were postponing painting until the end of September due to weather but our surprise stretch of heavy rain was followed by weeks of unusually heavy fog and as a result we couldn’t finish painting until early December.  I couldn’t believe how much moss grew on our roof in just one week.  The short days and cold temperatures left a very small work window in each day but Hans kept going as long as he could and I’m happy to say most of the body of the house is a clean, fresh gray and our newly trimmed windows are sparkling white.  Our front and back door will soon be a beautiful navy blue and the porch is complete with a new set of stairs connecting to the driveway.

Our drafty old car port is now officially a garage with insulated walls, garage doors on the front and double sets of French doors on the back opening to a patio.  We still need to paint the interior walls, hang shelving and apply frosted panels to the glass for security but it feels great to have a covered place to park again and somewhere to securely store all of the outdoor tools.

Most of the landscaping is finished in the front and you can see John’s favorite little sub-alpine fir-tree at the top of the pictures above.  This tree was harvested by permit in the Cascade Mountains and will slowly grow to a relatively small 20 feet.  It’s planted off the front corner of our new porch to add a foundation point and a little screening from the street.  We spent another very wet Saturday driving from nursery to nursery picking out the last of our plants and one October weekend was the time to get the fir, 12 compact laurels for our new hedge and several flats of heather, bergenia, dwarf mugo pines and viburnum.  We selected winter, spring and summer blooming varieties in hopes of some year-round color and I can’t wait to see the full effect as everything settles in and starts to grow.

The side yard was an unplanned project but when our excavator said he could clear the brush and boulders so we could access the back yard without going through the garage we said “ok”.  We were able to reuse the huge granite boulders in the front yard as focal points but we didn’t have time to figure out a permanent landscaping solution for the newly cleared side of the house.  As a temporary fix I ordered a few yards of crushed rock to spread along the side of the house and under the front porch for the winter.  I though sod was heavy and now I know 8 yards of crushed rock is heavy too, especially after a rainstorm.  We have a little more to shovel but the mini-mountain is almost gone…

We have a good list of details to finish in the spring when the weather warms and a winter worksheet that includes more lighting and new door hardware but I am really happy with our progress so far!

If you are new to Northwest Frame of Mind and want to follow this project from the beginning please take a look at my earlier posts in the series:

Daily Prompt:  Weekend

The First Days Of Our Landscaping Project

Our Landscaping Project:  Week Two

Our Landscaping Project:  Week Three

Our Landscaping Project:  Week Four

Our Landscaping Project:  Weeks Five and Six

Published by

Lisa

40 thoughts on “Our Landscaping Project: Progress Update”

  2. My goodness you have made progress! It looks beautiful Lisa! The fir is wonderful and what satisfaction to dig i up and bring it home! You are both very talented!

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  3. Wow! I am so impressed with everything you have accomplished. Great progress! Landscaping is one of the most rewarding challenges my husband and I ever tackled. Yours looks like it is going to be beautiful when it is finished. I love the French doors, and gray is one of my favorite colors for a house. It is great to have a garage (we can’t park our car in ours – my husband has other plans to turn it into a music studio).

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    1. Thanks Rob! We have quite a mix of established and new plants so I’m really looking forward to seeing everything grow in and blend better but you’re right, the process is very rewarding. This is the first garage we have had that actually holds cars but a music studio sounds exciting too. 🙂 We painted a lot of test stripes earlier this year and I love the gray too!

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  4. Landscaping is hard and rewarding work, and I’ve always believed that those who dig holes for pleasure have great character and a strong work ethic. What you’ve done so far looks wonderful!

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  6. Wow! Some wonderful progress indeed Lisa. Love those doors and all the plants. That fir tree is going to be beautiful! 😉
    Great shots and share hon. 😀 *hugs*

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    1. Thanks so much Sonel! The doors turned out great and now we have a nice entertaining space for all seasons. String up some party lights in the garage, open the French doors out to the bbq and the guys will be happy all winter long. 🙂

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  7. I just read all your landscaping posts–you guys are doing a beautiful job with the gardens and the house/garage. Eric and I love landscaping and working in our gardens. It’s SUCH hard work but it’s also so much fun and so rewarding. I hope your baby alpine fir lives a long life. We had a gorgeous one but it succumbed to the drought this summer. We just didn’t get enough water to it, and I still feel terrible about it!

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      1. Ah, the typos happen to all of us. 🙂 I’ll post some new garden pictures when spring comes around and we’ll all get to see if my color plan works! Good luck with your balcony tomatoes, I’ve done that in the past with great success. Green beans were a favorite too. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Nancy, it’s funny how even though we know projects don’t follow preordained schedules we still try to force them into unrealistic time frames. Maybe it is because admitting something will take 6 months is enough of a downer to keep us from even starting. 🙂

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  17. Love french doors, makes such a huge improvement. Great job! We are busy working on building our new farm from bare land to barns, house, pasture, outdoor arena, shop and our home. I will be sharing some on my blog as we move to twenty acres in Sequim, WA in the spring and sell our turn key five acre equestrian farm.

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    1. Thanks, I’m glad you like the French doors! What a job you have ahead but how exciting to build your farm from the ground up. I am really looking forward to following your progress through each blog post!

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      1. Thank you, I am working on a post update right now. So many projects to do. Still we are so excited to get to live on this 20 acres and grow our own hay. 🙂 Thank you for following my blog too!

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