The sun shone brightly at #thetackybrownhouse this weekend and we tackled some small projects that needed doing. On the list was to take down, clean up and re-install the metal shading over the front of the house. There will be a day when these are taken down forever and a porch roof installed, but for now, we’ll re-use, refresh, and recycle the inexpensive method of lowering our air conditioning needs this summer while refreshing up the house. My husband was kind enough to take down the over 8′ long shade, hand scrape, then powerwash, and prime the window cover. It surely made a difference!
While Les worked on the covering project, I hand pruned the weeds from the sides of the monkey grass starts we began late last summer. We had four bags of mulch left over, so after tilling up the side lines for later planting, we mulched the front small area by the front door. We have so much to do, but one small piece at a time, I’ll plan and beautify as we go.
The afternoon was filled with small honey-do’s, Madison worked on keeping us fed well with chicken fajitas and homemade brownies for Dad, and the ice tea flowed for the guys all weekend. It sure helps out when everyone in the family helps out. Chase came out and did some lifting for Mom with the bags of mulch and brought out our powerwasher from the house. We discovered a few of the mums that were not planted last fall were sprigging up again, so we took time to replant them in new pots and look forward to having them bloom late summer!
Last year we changed the single car garage as the base for a master bedroom and bath, the front of the house has not been re-sided yet, so it’s still yuck out front. This weekend though I have decided to bring the above ground boxes to the front of the space and plant 3 of them in front of the house where it’s full sun. It’ll be a temporary home this year until we are able to change the grade and height of the soil there where a drive used to be…but a creative solve that will be beneficial with additional garden space that will be fun to tend. Garden boxes are fun that way to me, for they can be made to look well organized and bright since they are contained space. A little white stone around the boxes and we’ll cover 40′ of yuck with 3 4×8 above ground growing boxes until we’re ready to change the grade of the front side. One.step.at.a.time. Hoping we’ll get those moved from our old home by week’s end.
It is amazing how just weeding, cleaning up, and trimming can do the yard good. Our front and back yards are still a hot mess from recent storms, tree loss, and such but one small step at a time, we’re adding some style back to #thetackybrownhouse.
