We've changed houses more in the last 10 years then I would like to admit, but we have officially been in our own home for 1 straight year. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy changing our home without having to change our home. You know what I'm saying?
We've had to be a little bit patient at times with the changes we've wanted to make, but that only helps me appreciate this place that much more. I figured it was time to do a recap of all the amazing things we've John has done.
This is what our home looked like in February 2019, just a few days after we purchased it.
By the time we took possession of the house in June, the snow had melted leaving us with a clearer picture. Though the interior had been updated beautifully, the yard consisted of healthy thriving weeds and spotty patches of grass.
There was a shed in the southwest corner of the yard that we tried to turn into a picnic area, which for the better part of our first summer here, we fondly referred to as "The Swamp."
During those first couple of months, we spend hours outside trying to dig up all of the weeds by hand.
We could tell that there had once been a garden on this property and we were determined to re-establish that as soon as we could.
Once the weeds were gone, we tilled a garden and scattered grass seed.
The last thing we did last summer was to create a temporary patio/picnic area just off of our deck. We knew this would be temporary because that happened to be the worlds most deadliest, most poorly built deck, but this makeshift patio was enough to appease me for one summer. ;)
And Finally, our last project during that first summer in the house was to close the back yard by building a fence on the west side of the house. It doesn't match the rest of the old fence, but Jessica was thrilled to point out that with an enclosed yard, we could now technically have a dog.
After all of that, we sat back and hunkered down, waiting comfortably for fall, winter, and spring to pass.
After a very tumultuous early part of 2020, and despite the challenges of this past few months we've once again gotten to spend some priceless summer days making this place our own. This year we had so many goals for the yard that I broke it all up into various phases.
Trees, bushes and flowers
We planted trees! I LOVE planting trees.
In the front yard, we planted an Amur maple (which is supposed to produce beautiful red leaves in the fall) as well as two Dogwood bushes that John dug up from a ditch and relocated for me. (I also repainted our front door. I like it much better!)
In the backyard, we planted to Evans Cherry trees as well as a Lilac bush. We ditched the ugly shed (sold it to a neighbor) and tried to create a little nook that I hope will one day be a private little grove.
The Garden
It was such fun to garden again. Oh, how I have missed this!
We planted corn, cucumber, radishes, onions, chard, beets, lettuce, asparagus, dill, tomatoes and rhubarb.
Along the east side of the house, we dug up some of the grass planted last year and made a space for Raspberry canes. John had helped Grandpa thin his patch, as he does every year, and felt inspired to bring some over here. I love it!
The local Hutterites sold me 75 strawberry plants, which we wrapped around the south and west sides of the house.
Storage Shed
I never wanted to be those people who owned so much that we needed a shed to store things in, yet here we were in July, ripping out part of the fence built last summer to make room for a storage shed. Though it pains me to say it - we love having a cleaner garage as all of our "out of season" belongings now live!
Deck and Patio
Finally, after all that, we tackled the last, most daunting project, which happened to be the very thing the home inspector told us a year ago would need to be done. He had mentioned that the deck was in "bad shape" but only once John began dismantling it, did we realize that it had never really been in good shape. We were shocked to find that the stairs had been attached only with two screws, and the beam that connected the floor of the deck to the two outer posts had never even been secured to anything at all. The entire deck floor rested on a large beam that freely sat atop two posts.
It was definitely time for a change.
John worked for hours and hours and days and days on this deck. None of us could really help him, or so he said, but we sure looked on in awe.
In just over a week he'd built a beautiful new deck AND ...
...a patio!
(Which included a windbreak so we could actually enjoy our evenings outside without blowing away.)
It all came together so nicely and I'm so grateful for all of Johns hard work!
We have decided that we should now build a front porch, and we will need a new furnace down the road, but perhaps those things can wait until next summer.
For now, we are oh so content.
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