I prefer the editor role, sitting behind a computer and proofing what Matt writes. But alas, he has forced me to draft a post myself. Which is only fair since the work I’m about to showcase was done by my mother and myself, no involvement from my dad or Matt whatsoever (teaser for an upcoming post – they had bigger fish to fry).
The Issue: The front of our house looked drab, boring, like it was just emerging from the 30″ of snow we got last winter.
The Solution: Plant stuff.
While I love the color green and love seeing green, I fully admit I don’t have anywhere close to a green thumb. I’m lucky if my plants survive 2 weeks. Thus, I enlisted a woman with a true knack for plants, with years of knowledge on landscaping – my mother.
We started our Saturday looking for some true inspiration. Pinterest to the rescue.
First step, measure the front yard area and evaluate what kind of flowers I liked. Good news, I’m easy, I just like it to bloom.
Second, venture to Home Depot where everyone and their mothers (literally, it was Mother’s Day weekend after all) were stocking up on plants and outdoor doohickies (there were gadgets and gizmos aplenty). After starting with the essentials (10 bags of mulch, 6 bags of top soil, 3 bags of potting mix, pattered gardening gloves, a new hose, weed blocker, 53 pavers … all picked up by hand) we were ready to move onto the real decisions.
We spent a good hour looking over every plant, evaluating their height, size, color, seasonality… if it’s not obvious at this point, Mom and I don’t mess around–we were doing this once and needed precision to ensure our vision was correctly executed. Feeling good about our decisions, we pushed/pulled/cried over our numerous carts.
Back at the house, we placed the plants in their eventual spots and got to work.
We proceeded to remove all of the old bricks, pulled all of the weeds from the existing flower bed, dug up half of a tree root (hidden gem), shoveled all of the mulch/rocks, laid weed blocking paper, placed new pavers that gave it height and hid some cracks in the concrete, repainted the wall that was peeling… I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves at this point.
And the big reveal!
Hopefully the perennials hold it together and come back for years to come. Shoutout to my mom who spent her Mother’s Day working with me. We did at least pause for a delicious brunch!
Editors Note: Brunch iems don’t generally look nearly as delicious in photographs as they were in real life. This was QUITE a brunch spread!
Matt & Lauren Flip Their House 