Home Improvement Report #1

As many of you already know, both Brian and I enjoy doing home improvements of all sorts.  In 2009, we are really excited about working on the outside/landscaping of the house in addition to the projects we are working on “inside the walls.”  So, to catch everyone up to speed, I am going to show our first “outdoor project.”  It actually was completed in 2008 shortly after Brian took possession of the house.  As you can see from the picture below, the original owners had a U-shaped gravel driveway in the front yard of the house.

The house is laid out in a unique way because of the lake.  There is a regular driveway off of the regular garage on the side (east) of the house.  But since the front of the house faces the lake, so does the walk-out basement.   With the walk-out comes a unique single car garage with gravel driveway attached the the U-driveway.  My guess is that the original owners felt this was a good turn-around point or that they wanted to provide extra parking for guests.    Brian had decided early on that a front yard would be much more attractive.  Thus, the first outdoor project was born!   The contractor helped scoop up all the gravel and laid some dirt.  Brian and I had some fun laying all the seed and then we added straw to the top for protection.  A few things to say about straw:  1)  It helps keep the ground moist which is awesome but 2) it encourages weed growth like you wouldn’t believe!  We had to remind ourselves that the first goal was to get growth and then in the Spring/Summer 2009 we could working on getting all the weeds out.

It is only April and so far it looks pretty good!  Our neighbors have a GREAT looking lawn and we are taking in all the advice we can get!  Looking forward to report on our next project.