6 Tips to Get your Front Porch & Yard Ready for Spring

Springtime is here! This is my favorite season because everything is brand new, flowers are starting to bloom and there is a newness of life everywhere. But spring also comes with yard work! I don't know about you, but after a nice winter break, I am just itching to get my hands into the ground with planting flowers and pulling weeds. Now, come summer, that'll be a different story, but for right now, I love working in my yard and getting it in shape!

Back Porch Tour

Do you remember the tour of my old house? The one that I started last July? Yes, its almost been a year and I'm finally, finally doing the very last post! This one is for the back porch and yard. Some things that I love about this house is the big backyard, all the large trees, and the wooden privacy fence. Three things that you don't always get in my area of the country.

Bedrooms and Hall Bathroom Tour

I never quite finished with the 1st house tour, did I? Nope! Not in the least bit. I showed the front yard, porch, living room, kitchen, dining room, den, and master bedroom/bathroom but have yet to share the other bedrooms, hall bathroom, and backyard. So today, I'm sharing 2 bedrooms and hall bathroom.

Master Bedroom and Bathroom Tour

I'm picking up with the tour of the old house, showing the master bedroom and bathroom.

Dining Room and Den Tour

Today I'm showing you the dining room and den of the 1st house. Here's what it looked like at the home inspection. Lovely with all it's cream with pink undertones colored walls, brown trim, and wall to wall cream carpet.

Living Room and Kitchen Tour

Empty. That's how I felt a couple of weeks ago when I would go over to the house to clean and water plants. Empty and hollow. It was our first house, the one where we brought our first baby home, where we learned how to paint, how to tile, how to replace a light fixture, how to decorate, show hospitality, and how to keep a plant alive. There were so many good memories made within these walls! I'll miss this little house and it will always hold a sweet spot in my heart. But at the same time, I'm so excited to be moving on to the new house! It'll able us to do so much more. I guess it's a bittersweet feeling. So before I get too carried away with my feelings, I better continue on with the house tour. Here's some before pictures taken during the home inspection. 

Front Porch and Yard Tour

I thought that I would do a before and after picture tour of the first house before moving on to the new house. You know, because we've been doing renovations on it since 2009 and that was before I started blogging! This may take a couple of blog posts, but it'll get done and then I'll start showing pictures of the new house. You can see the before and after house posts now.

Front Yard

I love springtime! There is just something in the air that makes me want to get outside to plant some flowers and do yard work. This year was no exception to that. It seems like I'm continually going to Lowes to buy flowers and potting soil during this time of the year. Side note - did you know that Lowes has fantastic markdown prices on their plants/shrubs/flowers? In my area starting around the last week of April they'll mark down things 75% off. You can get really good deals on plants if you're patient and check back often. The good stuff goes FAST! Check it out if you're looking to save this spring on plants or flowers. But back to the house. One thing that I love about my house is my big front porch. To me there is just something inviting about an open porch. I like to fill mine with flowers, plants, white furniture, and pretty pillows. I already showed a picture of my front door last week so here is the rest of the porch/front yard this year.

New Porch Light

I've been finishing up some projects recently and this one was a quick and cheap upgrade! Ever since we bought this house, I've been wanting to do update the front porch light. Here's the before. Pretty, right? 

Bathroom Tiled, Grouted, and Painted

As of Sunday night, the bathroom floor is tiled and grouted! That means that today we installed the sink/counter and toilet but I still have to take those pictures so these of the bathroom floor will just have to do for tonight. I do think that this has been one of the faster projects that we've taken on. What's helped so, so, so much has been breaking it down into 2 more manageable phases. Although, the husband is pretty motivated and we've been working super fast in here. So, without further ado, here is a look at our new bathroom floor. 

Bathroom Update

Checking in real quick for a small update on the bathroom remodel progress. The walls are being primed and painted today and we will be laying the tile floor later this afternoon. The tile only needs to set for 24 hours, so if all goes well we can grout Sunday evening! Then early next week we can install the new cabinet/sink and toilet. I'm really liking doing this remodel in the different phases. It is making it non stressful and not seem like such a huge undertaking - defiantly a big plus in my book!

Bathroom Remodel

The main bathroom in my house is the one that I lovingly refer to as the "blue bathroom".  After living in this house for almost 4 years, we decided that it was finally time to re-do it! Here it is when we first bought the house.

Weekend Progress

As promised, here is the next update on the big patio project. We were able to get the 2 large rectangular areas done Friday afternoon right before the rain hit. Here is what we have left to lay - the circular walkway!

Patio Paving

The hubs and I worked on laying some pavers last night, this morning, and afternoon for a little while each time and I'm excited to say that one area is 90% finished and another should be 90% finished this evening! All finished except for some cuts that we'll have to make around the edges. Then all we'll have left is to re-do the walkway around the tree! 

Patio Update

Yesterday I left you with this look at our patio project and since then we been digging, digging, and digging some more. Here's what it looks like as of right now 

Patio Project

This past weekend, the hubs and I decided to do our first big home improvement project of the year - extend the patio! Here's what it looked like when we first bought the house 3 years ago -

All Tiled Up

This week the hubby and I were able to fix our shower leakage problem! The old tile had to be ripped out, the curb fixed, new tile laid, and last night I was finally able to grout. I'll seal the grout lines tomorrow than on Monday, we'll have the shower door re-installed. The finish line is in sight and I am so grateful that this can be crossed off the to-do list!

Bathroom Update

So like I shared yesterday, the master bathroom shower curb needed to be fixed so that it will not  leak water anymore. The guy that installed the shower door came by yesterday afternoon and took the doors off, then the hubby and I ripped the tile out. Here is what it currently looks like: