I set out a little list of things I wanted to tackle, but only got a few of the crossed off the list before I moved on to bigger things. (Bigger things being the Cardinals World Series, Halloween, being a grand marshal in a parade, Ruby and Joe's first trip to Denver and then Thanksgiving and Christmas!) So, lets look at what I wanted to do...
Curb appeal to do list:
- Get rid of that awful aluminum storm door for a sleeker model. (hopefully get a good deal on craigslist)
- Address these color choices. I am so not a fan of the blue.
- Officially rid ourselves of the circle bed and get some grass in there.
- Pump up the sad mailbox area.
- Decide what is to be done about the mudroom entrance. More grandeur? Less?
- New welcome mat.
But by the middle of October I had accomplished one and started on another:
- Officially rid ourselves of the circle bed and get some grass in there. Almost there!
But since then, Joe has added a new front walk bed that is just waiting for the hardened off plants to be planted!
So now I am back to thinking about some more of my Curb Appeal check list. And my first order of business, is #1 and #2 on my list: the storm door and the awful colors. So, I have been spending some time on the internets looking for inspiration on awesome midcentury ranches and then pinning them (because pinterest was invented for that and I am so thankful for it!) to my house board.
Love these colors together, and I am sure it looks even more awesome when the ornamental grass is green (or purple!) and not dead...
Love this idea of adding a craftsman style porch on to a ranch!
This is just beyond dreamy. Shh, let me have my moment of tricking myself into thinking this could actually happen.
Annnnnnnnnnd back to reality. We aren't taking on a huge construction project, or even a huge painting project. But what we can do right now is replace that gross front door and rethink the colors. Or, better yet, get rid of the shutters. Let me show you some door and shutterless options I dreamed up using MS Paint. And while I was at it, I went ahead and digitally ripped out that holly bush and ginormous green square of a box hedge.
We could go au naturale and put in a nicely stained wooden door:
Or we could go crazy with a pink, purple, green, orange or turquoise door!
Man, does that look like a naked house or what? I think we might also need those first two pairs of shutters, but definitely like the big picture window shutters gone better. I am glad I went through the trouble to visually remove those giant bushes. Because it convinced me that we need them there! Well, actually it was Joe who convinced me and then came up with the brilliant plan to have the hedges be the backdrop/anchor/foundation of a garden bed in front. Genius! Off to the internet where I pinned...
Source: dangergarden.blogspot.com via Alyse on Pinterest
Source: blog.doneganlandscaping.com via Alyse on Pinterest
Source: valeaston.com via Alyse on Pinterest
Which just leads me to believe we have a lot more thinking (read: pinning) to do!
