Landscape upkeep

When we moved in, all of our flower beds were overgrown and not in real good shape... I don't have any photos on the "before" for the front yard but have a preview of what it looked like in the back - which is all very similar. 

We did a lot of weeding, rock picking, paver leveling, and planting. Used different sprays, preen to prevent more weeds, mulch, and bought  A LOT of perennials so we just need to take care of the up keep each year - hopefully next spring isn't so time consuming :)

Front yard: 

The front isn't quiet done as you can see - a lot of overgrowth also meant a lot of weeds. Currently tackling those, filling weed spots bit by bit, and doing a lot of fertilizing. The two trees in front are slowly dying, so next year we will be taking those out, replacing, and redesigning some of the pavers/replacing them with something a little more nice than cinder block pavers. 

Enjoy!

e.l.l

Living Room Renovation: Part 3

Part 3 is our last and final reno for the living room space - there's a few more finishing touches I'd like to do and we'll get around to doing, but for now, I LOVE the space and spend a lot of time in this room... 

All of the pieces that are tired together from our few years of living together and can be found here:

Side tables: Brownie Furniture

Entertainment center: Slumberland furniture

Couches: Parents

Chair: Slumberland

Lamps: Home goods

Mirror: Home goods

Baskets: Michaels

Ceramic Pots: West Elm

 
 

Enjoy!

e.l.l

Living Room Renovation: Step 1

As promised (a few months ago...) it's time to start showing off some of the work that we've been doing in the house!

We decided to start in a room that we're knew we'd be spending most of our time in - with each other, family and friends. After shampooing our living room carpet (multiple times) it  became pretty clear we weren't going to get the dark, dirt embedded square out of the center of the room and it was time to replace it, open up the entry way by tiling it so people aren't walking in on nice carpeted floors, and it could use a real good paint job (the trim is next on the list for painting, but for now, we're trying to enjoy the last of our warm weather!). 

Materials:

- Ceramic tiles

- Cement backer board

- Thin set

- Drywall screws

- Grout mix 

- Spacers

- Mixing bucket

Tools:

- Power drill

- Trowels (2)

- Tile saw

- Sponge

- Rubber grout float

This project took about two weeks - not because it was real grueling, but on days that it rained we focused on inside work and of course once we started this project, the beautiful weather kicked in! We looked at a few different DIY tutorial and talked with my dad who just finished some tile work at home too - this was the DIY tutorial we followed most closely:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/step/0,,221776_156354,00.html

Here's the step by stop process in photos:

Previous carpeted floor

Our nice surprise!

Tile lay-out process

Tile lay-out process

Spaced out tiles

Finished product... Could not be happier with it! Especially with our fresh walls, new carpet, and decor! --- That post will be next ;)

 

Our "to-do" list is still about a mile long, but this project was great to do together and I am so looking forward to turning the rest of our house into our "own" with the help of our family :)

enjoy

e.l.l.