Brainstorming....

As I mentioned previously, I sprained my ankle... so I am doing very little around here at all. Simple tasks, like sweeping the floor, and putting laundry away seem giant-like to me. I do them, and then I need to sit and rest my foot for awhile.... but while having lots of time to sit and elevate the ankle....I have been thinking and thinking about renovations.

I can tell I am getting somewhere when the creative juices start flowing.... and that "stuck" feeling goes away. The "stuck" feeling is not being sure exactly what direction to go in design wise. When my creativity becomes "unstuck", it's a great thing! lol! So, I haven't been thinking about the inside of my house, nope I've been pondering the outside. We have a larger farmhouse style home, and while the front is nicely landscaped (it was done by the previous owners), the side and back of the house have almost nothing done to them. Just that weedy grass with tons of bare dirt patches. ;-) And I wouldn't call that landscaped. But because of the size of the area to work with, it always seems overwhelming to me. I can't even begin to figure out what to do, or what to plant, or where to plant it, or how to get privacy, etc. etc. etc.

A few days ago a good friend, called me on my birthday. We had lots of fun catching up and it was good to laugh with her again! She was my neighbor in Pennsylvania, and we would pop over to visit each other's homes from time to time to look at our flower beds, or talk container plants or just hangout together. I told her of my gardening woes, that I had not a single container plant on my deck (which is not like me). And I mentioned to her in our conversation how good she was at working in little sections of her yard. She didn't need to have the entire thing done, but she worked a little here and a little there. Kind of like "putzing around the garden" as we say in PA. Anyway, I was thinking about that conversation today and some brainstorming began to take affect!

One thing dh and I know for sure is that we will be majorly cutting back those cottage roses this year. They are too large, and are not blooming as well. We'll do it in February, and hopefully we won't kill them, but we plan on pruning about 1/2 of each plant! I also plan on planting some begonias in the front to add color in different areas. While I liked the pansies that we planted, they really wilt in hot weather, and begonias are hardy right through fall!

I thought about the back of our house, as my mind looked at what the eye visualizes. You can see right under the deck, and I think I can remedy that with some lattice and some raised flower beds or maybe some climbing clematis. Also in front of a row of tall leyland cypress I would like to plant something else that would bring color to a row of green, and soften the line of the privacy hedge. There are also still a few areas that need privacy, so I think I would like to plant a few more evergreen in a corner of our property, and another leyland cypress.

I'm still pondering and dreaming... but breaking it down into manageable sections of our yard helped me to get "unstuck" and create the beginnings of a plan! So I have my flower and landscaping books out, and I'm just having a marvelous time brainstorming today!

Just a little break...

Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything here. About 3 weeks actually.... It will probably be a little while until I'm ready to post another update on our house. DH and I are in the process of adopting internationally, and right now all the funds that we have are going to that. So, we are taking a break from the house remodeling. We have some expensive items coming up like new faucets, lighting fixtures and bathroom hardware....plus we'd like to fix the window trim mold in the other parts of our house that we have finished. (Like the living room, and homeschool room). But it will have to wait a few months.

Besides that I sprained my ankle badly, and I don't really have it in me yet to begin a remodel. I could be painting the bathroom cabinets, but not quite yet. :-)

So, hopefully in a few weeks we'll be ready to begin a new project. See you then!