4 lake drive exterior reveal

hey friends!! long time no chat! things have been so crazy around here lately and I haven’t really had a chance to do any fun furniture projects. I do have a before and after to share with you though… another house update! Things have been pretty quiet on the home renovation front since the big kitchen makeover and the guest room makeover, but today I’m so pumped to share the transformation of our front yard. This has been almost 2 years in the making and I’m really excited with how many changes we’ve able to make on a shoestring budget.When we moved into this house I must admit, I HATED the front yard. It had an overgrown Christmas tree that took up about 50% of the yard and made it impossible to back out of the driveway or get any light in our front window. Here’s a picture from google maps which really shows the scale of the monster:
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We lived with this beast for about seven months before we could save up to mullah to have this sucker as well as a few more in the backyard taken out. When I came home from work that first day I was like “OMG, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the actual front of my house!” Pretty crazy!

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My next immediate thoughts were: OMG how are we going to level out this yard? OMG how are we going to grow grass? OMG we need to pull those bushes out. OMG our windows are ancient. OMG I FEEL NAKED.

It took about another month or so but with the help of my father in law and Jeff we got the front lawn re-graded and planted new grass seed (sod is way too damn expensive.) With so much tender love and care we were able to finally start seeing some grass after a few weeks.

Once Spring hit I painted the front door in Friendly Yellow by Sherwin Williams, switched out the door hardware and added a beautiful address plaque from Wayfair. That instantly added some personality which made me so happy!

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Then a few weeks later I found the PERFECT blue barn star for the awning over the front door and living room window at Luckett’s Spring Market. I sprayed it down with several coats of all weather poly and had Jeff secure it with waterproof screws. I can’t believe how perfectly it matches the shutters.

Next, we ripped out allllllll the overgrown and dead shrubs under the windows. This was a REALLLLL labor of love.

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My mom actually broke her foot digging out some old roots! Didn’t stop her from being our personal advisor, cheerleader and photo-taker as we planted some new ornamentals.

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In this picture Jeff is saying “GOD, WHY DID YOU SEND THIS CRAZY GIRL INTO MY LIFE?“ ...that or “WHY DID SHE PICK THE HOTTEST DAY OF SUMMER TO DO THIS“ Either way, we got it done.

We finished the landscaping up in late August and then made our biggest purchase to date, new windows!!!! OOOOH this was a big, exciting one! I’m so blessed to have a best friend whose husband is a general contractor and was willing to barter some furniture trading for installation. This saved us BIG TIME. Shout out ARK Contracting LLC WHOOP WHOOP.

The windows were installed this weekend while I was away for a bachelorette party and the anticipation while driving home was KILLING ME! When I pulled into the driveway I shed many a tear of pride, joy and excitement for all that Jeff and I have been able to accomplish over the last 2 years! Sometimes you get stuck in the moment and forget how much hard work and dedication you put into something. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed or frustrated that you can’t do all the things that you want to do – but with hard work, time and persistence it all comes.

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Everyday I feel a little more proud of this home we are creating. I thank my Mom from the bottom of my heart for her patience and expertise and willingness to teach me so much about what to plant and how to care for it, she is truly a master gardener. I hope my landscaping choices would make my Gram proud.

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XO!