03/27/11

backyard updates

I am in the midst of gathering estimates from landscapers for our backyard. The general plan seems to be to put in a catch basin at the part near the corner of the house (and where the foundation is cracked) to collect all the stormwater, and then send it in underground piping to the creek at the back of our property. We also will grade the entire yard and either lay seed or sod.

Lanscaper #1 came on Friday a week ago, and gave me an estimate. It included underground pipes (also hooking the two downspouts to the pipe, sending all the runoff to the creek), killing all the weeds in the yard, grading everything, then laying down fescue sod. He said that they have to lay fescue no later than April 15th, so we can’t dawdle on the decision. Another option is zoysia grass, but we’d need to cut down some of the branches that make our backyard so shady. Since we don’t want to spend the money on that now, we’re fine with fescue.

Landscaper #2 came last Monday. He was 45 minutes late and didn’t apologize at all. He suggested a ditch of sorts (he called it something else, but I’m blanking right now) and of course grading. I can’t remember whether it was sod or seed. He promised a quote by Wednesday, but I have yet to receive it. I wasn’t as impressed with him, so I don’t think I’ll try to follow up. (I don’t understand why people take the time to come all the way out, and then never give a quote.)

Landscaper #3 was supposed to come on Tuesday. I waited 2 hours but he never showed, and I had to run errands. He gets crossed off in my book.

Landscaper #4 came on Wednesday. He was very nice, and very approachable with all my questions. He said something similar as Landscaper #1, but he looked at our foundation and said we shouldn’t put our money towards sod right now. He suggested seed, and then we’d reseed in September. He was very concerned with keeping our price down. He called with a verbal quote later that day – about two-thirds of what landscaper #1 said. I’m sad, though – I had visions of a beautiful yard, of being able to play out there before the weather got too hot… I guess the smart thing is to lay seed, but I selfishly wanted to make something really nice! Oh well. He promised to send over the written quote, but I haven’t gotten it yet.

Landscaper #5 is due to come on Wednesday of next week. We’ll see what he says; hopefully he’ll have a solution because I really like to have three estimates to choose from. We had the same trouble with the foundation – I searched for companies but ended up with only two estimates. Others came by but either said they couldn’t help or they never sent over their quote. Again, I don’t understand that, but Landscaper #4 told me that it’s common in the business. I guess the economy isn’t that bad for them!

Hopefully we’ll get this taken care of before too long. It’s been storming badly today and this evening, and I just imagine the water washing away more important dirt from the foundation. We also need to put up gutters along where the sunporch used to be. I know, we’re terrible! It’s so hard to keep on top of all the things we are supposed to be doing.

I will update after next Wednesday, with hopefully another estimate. :-)

03/22/11

the big reveal!

I am so excited about this! I worked hard all last week on raking, painting, and other miscellaneous things to improve the curb appeal of our house. My in-laws, who were visiting, also helped a lot. I have been waiting for a cloudy day to take the “after” picture, but I forgot on Sunday and we have had lots of sun since, so I decided to go ahead and post the picture with the shadows from the trees. (Watch it be cloudy tomorrow!)

Here is a picture I took of the house two months before we bought it. It was taken in July, so the green stuff was at its peak. I wish I had a picture of it the day we closed!! The weeds were taller than Paul in places.

This picture was taken a few months ago. We had taken off the shutters from around the front door because I thought they looked weird, only to discover that it was the house’s original color underneath (yellow). It remained like that for the next 18 months because after a while, you don’t even notice the flaws anymore.

Over the winter, I started noticing the shutter colors in other houses in the neighborhood, and I realized that very few houses had the same color for the shutters and the window frames. I thought two different colors would really help set the windows apart – before they just looked weird, in my opinion. After taking a careful survey of house colors in my neighborhood (especially the houses that caught my eye) and consulting with many people, I decided to go with black shutters. I also needed to touch up the paint around the front door. Here is the result:

What we did:
* Painted the shutters and the railing by the front door black.
* Painted the entire front section of the main level of the house. I was just going to paint around the door, but the paint was so slightly off in color that it looked better to paint all the way across. It really brightens up the house!
* Painted the front stoop to match the house.

I noticed a few things about the house when I was up close, painting. For one, the color used to be yellow. The shutters used to be teal green. I am pretty sure the brick section was the original brick color until the previous owners painted the house green in 2006. (I’m currently researching ways to get paint off brick – I’d love to return it to that original state, since I love, love the look of brick on a house.) I think at one point, brown was an accent color, since it is the color of one of the stoops in the carport and the stoop outside the sliding glass door in the back. I am also looking into getting a paint sprayer, because after looking at what needs to be done in the back and also the shed, I think a paint sprayer would be worth the money. That project will come later, though; maybe this summer? Depending on how the budget runs.

And I meant to get a picture of the 14 bags of leaves, pine straw, and pinecones sitting by the curb, waiting to be picked up last Monday. I am happy to report that I did my 30 minutes a day, and it was wonderful to force myself outside and also so satisfying to see the leaves in the bags and not on the ground.

Trust me, it looks soooo much better. Paul got the lawn mower working and cut all the grass/weeds – they were getting pretty tall and made the yard look so ragged! Overall, the yard looks much better than it has, but overall not much different from when we bought the house – we didn’t really do much yardwork last summer.

Next on the horizon is the backyard, which we are currently collecting quotes about that.

03/18/11

it’s a gorgeous day for painting!

The weather has been perfect for us to complete the painting projects I have in mind. It’s warm, but not hot, and most of all the pollen hasn’t gotten bad yet. Here in Atlanta, we have the joy of having our entire city turn yellow from pollen every spring. :-) That will probably hit in a week or two, so for outside painting projects this is the perfect time.

I started early and pretty much painted all day. My in-laws are visiting and both helped paint and watch the toddler so I could paint, which I really appreciated.

I tackled the shutters first, then while my father-in-law got the upstairs shutters I painted the railing on the stoop. I painted around the front door yesterday, and today I decided to paint the rest of the wall because while the color is really, really close, it’s not an exact match and the slight different was bothering me. :-) I also started on the front stoop, but had to stop because I ran out of paint. I hope to run up to Lowe’s for more later this evening, and finish the stoop tomorrow. I also need to take the blue painter’s tape off from around the shutters, and then I’ll get a picture of them. I will say, it looks awesome! I am really, really happy with how everything has turned out! Can’t wait to share “after” pictures!

03/16/11

dirt under my fingernails

Well, I just came in from completing Day 4 of my challenge! I’ve done pretty well. Sunday, Paul and I both spent about an hour outside – he cleaning pine straw off the roof and cleaning out the gutters, and me picking up pinecones and sticks. Then I raked for about 45 minutes on Monday, and took yesterday off because it rained. Actually, the rain let up about mid-afternoon so I *technically* could have picked up pinecones at least (yes, we have that many!), but it was also rather chilly. Today I continued raking. All total, we put six 30 gallon bags of leaves out for the trash on Monday, and have collected seven more so far.

Certain areas of the yard look great, but overall it still needs a lot of help. :-) It feels good to see so many bags of leaves at the curb, knowing that my hard work is making a difference!

03/15/11

Groupon fail

I mentioned last July about being excited about the Groupon I bought for a lawn care service. I called last July to redeem it, but they were completely booked through the end of August. (Wow, that was fast!) Then I called in September, gave my name, and the guy asked me where I lived. I told him my city name, and he said, “Okay we’ll be there on Thursday.” And hung up. I was confused, and as I suspected no one showed up on Thursday. Then a few weeks later, he called back and left a message. I was out of town and didn’t particularly feel like dealing with it at that moment (and it was already October, which is about when our grass went dormant for the winter), so I never called back.

This past weekend, we tried to mow our ~~grass~~ weeds, but our mower wouldn’t work. So I figured it would be a great time to redeem that Groupon! Since I’m in the process of doing other things to my yard, I thought I’d also see how much they charged for those other things as well. I finally got a chance to call them today.

When I mentioned wanting to redeem the Groupon, the guy told me they are no longer accepting Groupons, and that I needed to contact Groupon for a refund. Crushed! I was so looking forward to something like this, and I’m really bummed about this whole situation. This was the first Groupon I’ve ever purchased, and it makes me wary about buying more in the future. Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

Reading the discussion page for this deal on Groupon’s website, it sounds like everyone has had trouble. Not a good advertisement for their business, in my opinion! I’m still bummed, though. I hope Groupon refunds my money soon.

03/14/11

landscaping!

Spring is here and curb appeal is on our minds. :-) (Can’t you tell? After this post and this post? :-)) The weather has gotten warmer and the spring rains are upon us, and my attention has turned to the backyard as our next big project. We’ve been debating for months about which to do first – the backyard or the foundation. The foundation is very important, but the issues in the backyard are contributing to the foundation problems.

We ultimately decided to take care of the backyard now, because we are concerned that the foundation will continue to get worse while we are saving up the money if we don’t fix the cause of the problem. The good news is we have the money now to take care of that. The bad news is it will put us that much farther back in our savings for the foundation repairs. Isn’t that life?

I have turned my attention to finding a landscaper. Here’s what we plan to do:
* debris/brush removal and grade the entire backyard
* install some sort of drainage solution to divert the stormwater away from the house and into a creek at the back of the property
* plant grass or sod to create a kid-friendly play area in the backyard

The result will hopefully have added benefits of reducing the mosquito population, and giving us a place to spend time outdoors. The backyard is mostly fenced in, so it’s a safer place for toddlers than hanging out in the side yard, as the road that runs by our house is fairly busy (especially during the early afternoon when parents are headed to and from the elementary school that’s two blocks away). Also, when this is done, I hope to put up a clothesline for some eco-friendly clothes and diaper drying!

Now, just to find a landscaper that does all that.

03/12/11

30 minute challenge

Okay, I am going to attempt a challenge for myself this week. We’ll see how this goes, as in the past I’m not very good at challenges. :-)

For the next 7 days (this upcoming week), I am going to spend 30 minutes a day outside, picking up pine cones, small branches, and raking leaves. (Yes we never really raked the leaves from last fall. I know, our yard looks terrible.)

Picking up pine cones and raking up pine needles is an endless job in our neighborhood, and I get bummed before I even start. I’m hoping that by breaking it into 30 minute increments, I’ll be less overwhelmed and the yard will look *that* much better.

The only exception is if it rains, which should just be Tuesday. Otherwise, I’ll be outside every day for at least 30 minutes. This counts as exercise, right? I’ll try to remember to take before and after pictures, in case there’s a noticeable difference. (I filled four 30 gallon bags of leaves this afternoon and you can hardly tell.)

03/11/11

let the painting begin!

I have been watching the weather, anxious for it to be warm and dry enough to paint the outside of our house. It looks like next week is our week! After rain on Tuesday, here is the forecast for the rest of the week:

I will see if I can wash the area I’m going to be painting on Tuesday. It needs to dry for a full 24 hours, so after we pass that mark I can start painting. Here’s the plan:
* I’m going to touch up the paint around the door. I bought some paint that, according to the paint chip, is an almost exact match. We’ll see how it actually looks when it’s dry, but even if the color is slightly off, it has to look better than what’s there right now.
* I plan to paint the shutters a high-gloss black. (I still need to buy that paint.)
* After consulting with my aunt who has a talent for these things, I decided I’m going to paint the railing by the front door black as well. (Here is a picture of our house if you’re wanting to see it again.) I will paint the stoop the green to match the house, but I won’t be painting that until I see how the color looks around the front door.
* I am going to paint the front door a deep red, to bring attention to it. I probably will leave the storm door white for now – I think it would look odd painted red.
* There are two other things that need touched up, if the green is right. First, the wall behind where the sun porch used to be, and second the shed in the backyard. I’m excited about painting the shed because it is a very bright yellow right now, and sticks out like a sore thumb. :-) Of course, this is going to require the most paint so we’ll have to save up for it.

03/6/11

new name for this blog?

I am thinking of changing this blog name, since I just ripped off an existing title, and now that’s starting to bother me. I am terrible at coming up with names, though. Anyone have ideas?

03/4/11

upcoming project: painting!

One project that really needs to be done is touching up the paint around our front door!

I don’t think I’m up to painting the whole house, nor do I really feel like putting the money into that much paint right now. (My neighbors said the house was painted when the previous owners bought it, in 2006. That yellow was the original color of the house.) Ideally, I should probably paint at least the whole front of the main level of the house, but to be honest I doubt I’ll get to it. So, my desire is to match the paint as close as possible and cover the yellow, then in a few years we’ll paint the whole house. (I’m thinking of changing the color then, too!)

I went to Home Depot and found a color that was pretty close. I’d like to check out Lowe’s, as well, to see if they have the exact match.

I’ve been doing some research about painting the exterior of a house. I thought this article was very helpful. The most important right now is to watch the weather and find the perfect warmth and non-rainy time. I’ll update with some “after” pictures when I finish!!

From Hovel to Home

Our journey fixing up our 56 year old house

Author Archives: Ashley