A whole new yard

Those readers that have been around long enough know that CP and I like to work outside on our house.  In CT (other than taking down big trees- we obviously leave that for the professionals), we enjoyed completely overhauling the front of our house, organically trying to revive the grass on our front lawn, making and installing raised garden beds, making and installing homemade greenhouses so that we could have winter crops, and working on an amazing garden.

So when we bought our new place, we were looking forward to beautifying the outside, as well as the inside.  But as time wore on, we realized that there is so much that needs to be done....so maybe hiring professionals was the way to go.

I can honestly say that the work that our landscaper and his guys did in the past four days was nothing short of amazing.  It would have taken CP and I MONTHS to do it ourselves (especially with CP's travel schedule).

BEFORE- Front of the house.  The first weekend we chopped down the large bush on the left.  It was so big that when we would back out of the driveway we couldn't see if there was a dog, kid or adult so we were really worried that there would be a bad accident.  

AFTER- This is from a different angle, but here is the new front of the house.  I wish that the boxwoods were a little bigger and that we had the money to put some more plants in, but this will suffice for the winter.  This weekend I plan to plant tulips for the spring too.  :-)

BEFORE- Back of the house.  Yet another overgrown bush (that the seller used to meticulously TRIM WITH SCISSORS), nasty and overgrown ground cover (in the shadow), and overgrown lilac shrubs on the left.

HALFWAY- Ugly evergreen shrub is gone!  Lots of concrete pieces found in all of the ground cover/overall mess though.

AFTER- Who knew our patio was that big?  And although the lilacs look sad, they should come back just fine in the spring.

BEFORE- This was the "view" of the backyard from our sunroom and the patio.  I never understood why someone would plant four large evergreens making it close to impossible to get to the backyard.

AFTER- Ground cover, stumps (CP and I cut down the four evergreens back in August to give the dogs access to the backyard) and all of the other crap GONE.  Sod and mulch put down.  Fuzzy Britches was literally jumping up and down with excitement because now she has a place to play.

BEFORE- Everything is overgrown in the backyard.

AFTER- Holy crap I can see the neighbor's fence.

AFTER- I can see the back fence too!

BEFORE- Yep, more overgrown crap on the side of the driveway.

AFTER- A blank slate for spring.

Yes, this work did cost money but if you ask me, it was desperately needed and now the landscaping makes me happy instead of anxious (just thinking about everything that needed to be done made me tense up).  It definitely needed some TLC and the landscapers did a fantastic job.  I can't wait to fill it in with flowers and plants!!