our front yard

This past weekend my parents visited from Michigan and we were able to give them a taste of living in "the south". That is to say it was 60 degrees and sunny both Saturday and Sunday. And while we largely worked inside with the windows open, Jeff and my Dad did get outside for a little yard clean up.

Our house sits in the middle of our 1/3 acre lot giving us both a sizable front and back yard. The back is a huge mess with a jungle of bamboo so I am initially turning my focusing to the front which doesn't seem like as daunting of a task. Currently, the front yard is mostly grass with several large trees. I don't know what type of trees we have but I do know they are in need of some trimming - dead limbs and branches hanging too close to electrical wires. The front's main problem area is up near the house where there is a large bed of mixed vegetation (ivy, bushes, small trees etc.) that needs to be pulled away from the house.  Besides looking like crap, vegetation close to the foundation wall puts us at risk for termites so we definitely need to get on this task ASAP. At this point, its hard to know what we really have worth saving or what it will look like once we do a major clean up. So yet again I am turning my attention to an easier space to conceptualize - our property edge. Right now, there is nothing that defines our yard from our neighbors. Its very blah and in need some definition. So I would like to come up with a plan to create a hedgerow (not even sure if this is the right term). I know very little about gardening so I am not sure what will work the best for us but ideally it would be something fast growing and not too expensive to implement/maintain. Maybe something like these examples...???

limelight hydrangeas via Proven Winners

I love the softness of a row of hydrangeas although I think I want something with more variation. Although a row of lilacs is pretty spectacular....

lilac hedge source unknown

This example has nice variation in plant species and height. Might be a bit formal and hard edged for us though...

Red Cow Farm via Garden Drum

Incorporating an edible plant maybe something like these raspberry bushes could be a cool idea. 

raspberry bushes via Martha Stewart

Clearly, I am rather unsure of what I might want/will work. I think probably a good next step is to go to my local nursery and get some much needed advice. Any readers have suggestions?

exterior paint color

It is a very gray wintry day here in Saint Louis. We got a good snow accumulation Saturday and then it rained last night so things are looking quite brown. It reminds me of Michigan in late March - brown, dirty piles of snow and, of course, overcast. The winters in Saint Louis are significantly clearer than I experienced growing up in Michigan but we still get a large number of gray days. And it is on these days that I really notice some one off house colors. That gray that is really purple or the tan that definitely is light pink or our house's beige color that tints green to look like baby poop.....which is to say I have started thinking about repainting our exterior.

As usual, I am not sure when this particular home project will happen but mostly likely it will be during the warmer months. This means, however, that I won't have the opportunity to test colors in the flat, tricky light of winter. As such, I plan to keep an eye on house colors in the neighborhood that I like, research what palettes look the best all year round and then finally photograph our house in multiple lights - times of day and seasons - so that when we are selecting colors I can remember not to select anything that might even come close to looking like it came out of Booker.....

In the meantime, I have gotten the search going by just looking broadly at different exterior color palettes and checking out REMODELISTA and GARDENISTA for related posts. The first two colors I instantly gravitate towards are white and black. A white house is just classic and a black house is unexpected yet timeless as well. 

Or a white and black combo.

The problem with white is that our house exterior is stucco and I am worried about the maintenance as well as how much it will emphasis the rough texture. The challenge with black is that I would have a really hard time convincing Jeff to go for it and it might be even a little daring for me. 

I also like the idea of a really dark green. 

It would have to be just the right shade - not too blue and not too light. It is really hard to find examples of well done dark green exteriors so that makes me a little nervous as well. 

Then, of course, there is the overwhelming idea of doing gray or tan. The two are probably the most popular selections but there are just so many shades of each that I get dizzy just thinking about it.

Clearly this is going to take a while....

from top: source unknown - source unknown - original architectural design by Gerard Colcord and renovated by Tom Boland via Milieu Mag - source unknown - design by Bill Ingram Architects

our home buying experience

This is a post I have been meaning to do for a while now. And seeing as it was last March, when we got more serious about buying a house it is definitely about time. Our experience searching for a home began in August 2013 when we met our amazing realtor and ended when we closed on our house on August 25th of this past year. There were lots of emotions, challenges and lessons learned along the way and I have been trying to think of the best way to put it all down here. I couldn't possibly cover the whole experience in one post so this will definitely be a series. But other than that, I am approaching the whole topic rather fluidly - start blogging and eventually make it to when we signed a huge stack of papers, were handed the keys and then after a year of searching became homeowners. 

This series will be the telling of our unique experience as there is no standard or typical situation when it comes to real estate. Everyone's process will be different and I think its helpful to hear lots of homebuyer's stories as you never know what little piece of information might be useful/help keep your sanity during the many trying times of purchasing a home. So before I get started in telling our story, I wanted to share another bloggers home buying experience. Megan Gilger and her husband, Mike, bought their first home right about the same time we did in Raleigh, North Carolina. Together, they run their business Wild Measure and are keepers of the very well written and curated blog - The Fresh Exchange. Click here to read their story about buying their first home. 

Happy Monday!