One Year Later

I was out watering the flowers and bushes in the front yard yesterday when a neighbor from down the street stopped walking her dog to introduce herself and tell me how much she loves what we've done to the house.

"Everything! The new color, the windows, the white rockers and blue cushions, the garden...all of it!"

That was so sweet! 

It's been one year since we moved into the Fixer Upper house. That's a good time to step back and take an inventory of all that we've accomplished, just on the exterior alone.

Here's the house we moved into in June 2015.

And here's the house this morning!

Here are the weeds and overgrown bushes that constituted our garden.

And here's the front garden this morning!

Here are the windows that perpetually rained on the inside.

And here's a whole house full of beautiful, functional windows now.

Our side entry was so sad to look at before, but now I pull into the driveway and have a much happier view.

The garden that was full of thistle and weeds nearly five feet tall? Well, it's still a cottage garden, and you will find a weed every day if you look for one. But it looks much neater now, and the plants and flowers are no longer being choked out by the weeds.

Dead limbs and dead bushes have been removed. New trees and bushes have been planted. Overgrown bushes have been pruned.

In essence, it's a house that is now cared for and loved.

A work in progress, but progress has been made.

More to paint. More to plant. More to update.

It's been a busy year.