With spring finally arriving in New Jersey, we are all itching to get outdoors. Especially IronFish. He groans occasionally about having to mow the lawn, but I think he secretly enjoys it. Last fall he started pulling out sections of the lawn filled with grubs and crabgrass and reseeding it. Over the winter, he watched YouTube videos on lawn care! As soon as we had one nice weekend, he informed all of us, we would be helping him relandscape. And while I love our house and all the work we’ve done so far, it really could stand to see some improved curb appeal, especially the front porch.
To DIY or Not To DIY?
If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of DIY. There are very few projects I shy away from. The same goes for IronFish. When we bought our first house, while house hunting, we talked about what we would do in each home. For two years we looked for our new house, waiting for the one that felt like home the minute we walked in. IronFish finally understood why I could be patient and wait for the right house. Without even seeing the whole house, he looked at me and said, “this is it, isn’t it?” As soon as our offer was accepted, we started planning and dreaming about the projects we would do to make our home reflect our family.
Now, going into our second full summer, IronFish is ready to continue his quest for a beautiful yard. He’s already chopped several overgrown bushes and trees down. Cleared the overgrowth encompassing the air conditioning unit (and hiding more mice than I want to know about). Mowed and edged the lawn to keep up with the neighbor’s mowing schedule. And more I know I’m forgetting.
But, we decided to have the front steps and walkway redone by a professional. Over 40 years of weather had taken its tole. The sidewalk had sunk, causing water to pool and sometimes get into the basement or create a mini ice skating rink. The concrete was crumbling and cracking creating an easy pathway for critters into our house.
A New Look
IronFish just wanted it replaced with new concrete. My design plan included a gray brick herringbone. Thankfully, we were able to compromise. Our mason, Earl, poured everything in concrete and then overlaid it with my gray brick in a herringbone pattern.
Plus, he took my request for making the front porch a little larger and went to town! I wanted the porch extended to be the same width on both sides of the front door. Earl recommended we make it deeper as well, cutting off the corner at a 45-degree angle for the steps.
The walkway was also widened to 48″, much more comfortable for two people to walk up the path together. Along the flower bed, he removed the stacked bluestone and used coordinating gray edging.
Front Porch
While I have laid a few patios in my life, it was the right choice to have this professionally done. We would probably still be working on it if we tried to do this ourselves! With the front porch and walkway finished, we can work on landscaping the rest of the yard.
The compliments are still pouring in, everytime someone comes to our front door.
Each time I pull in the driveway, I get excited about how great the front porch looks too!
Yea, I did remove that snowman right after I took this picture! But, now you can see we obviously have our work cut out for us in the landscaping. IronFish is planning on using more of the gray brick pavers we used around the mailbox along the edges of the flower beds.
When IronFish said he had a plan for the landscaping the whole yard, I thought we were set. Then he said, and we can plant whatever you want… yeah, he only has a plan for the hardscaping! Me and my black thumb have to figure out what goes into those nicely trimmed flower beds. Otherwise, we’ll have lots of new brick and mulch but no pops of color… Especially since much of the old plants have either been drastically chopped back or removed completely!
Wish me luck!
Improved Curb Appeal
As always, feel free to pin and share.
Here’s how we made the side of our house look so much nicer and hid the garbage and recycling cans
7 Comments