Thursday, September 20, 2012

Redoing the Front of My Cape Home

I don't know why I keep telling you guys what I'm going to write in my next post,
 'cuz I always change my mind.
I was going to start showing what I've been doing to my niece Miriam's chairs.
I even told a really nice fellow blogger, Lisa, who shared some great tips with me that I would write about the tips and show her blog here....
BUT THAT IS FOR THE NEXT POST, or the one after that.....
 (unless something else comes up.....)

However.....
I've had several requests to show the outside front and back of my home up here in the north.
Now that I think about it.
This is going to be a multi-post story.

Let's start with the front.
'cuz that's what you see first.
Unless you're breaking in, 
and then maybe you'd be coming in the back.....
Below is what it looked like when I bought the place.....
I had the stoop enlarged so I could place a bench next to the door.
This is important.
You needs a place to set your groceries when you comes home from the market.
Also, 
being the klutz that I am.....
there was a good chance I was going to fall off such a small stoop
 one of these days.
Then I had the front re landscaped.
Then, half the stuff died, so I had to do it again.....
The first time, I had Shamrock Inkberries planted as the main foundation plant.
That was (I think) 3 years ago.
Then we had a hellacious winter with tons of snow, and they were annihilated.
As were the euonymus planted along the path.
And some of the boxwoods.
And then 
the perennials that I thought were nicely behaved started spreading and taking over the planet.
Watch out for Fake Indigo!!!!!
It turns into a massive garden sucking hog.
Sooooooo.....
It's now at my brother's house, where there is room and it can stretch its legs.
I replaced the inkberry with rhododendrons which have been very happy to come and live with me.
I edged the path with hosta, pulling out the dead euonymus, which I never liked to begin with, but allowed someone to talk me into it.
I know, I know, there goes my rep for being a hard @$$
In between the rhododendrons and the hosta I filled in the space with pink and white knock out roses. 
If you want a no fail rose bush. These babies are the ones to choose.
I decided that I was not around early enough in the spring to control perennials, so I set a variety of annuals around the roses, and they filled in nicely.
So that solved my problems for the front flower beds, and created the English cottage garden effect I wanted.

Next, I got permission to change the color of my front door.
Oh, yeah, and I changed my front door,
The red one was metal and dented and crummy.
The green one is fiber glass and not dented and not crummy.
And I changed the screen door to one that closes, and works, and all that good stuff.
And I added a door knocker.
I am now going to go take a picture of it, and it is night, so the picture is going to be crummy......
See, I told you it would be a crummy shot. Check out the shadows.....
I put a nice new door handle and lock from Baldwin on my nice new door, too. 
Then,
I added a trellis to hang next to the door for the Clematis vines I planted.....
The vines are there.
I see them in the spring.
They grow a couple of feet.
Blow me a Bronx cheer, and disappear.
Oy, OY, Oy, OY.
But I like the look of the trellis, even without any plants on it.
So there!!!!!

This past spring, I splurged and had a drip irrigation system put in.
Then I had new know out roses and annuals put in.
WOWZER!!!!!
Water is just amazing.
Who knew plants needed it?????

So that's the front of my home in Massachusetts.
I still have the back to show.
There's actually stuff to see back there.
Weeds.
Bugs.
My parents.

Latah, Gatah
Photobucket

8 comments:

Lee said...

Hello there. I am a new follower (I was going to say lurker but I don't want to scare you...). Since I am retired and time on my hands, once I read your blog for the first time, I found I needed more smiles and decorating tips so have spent many hours in the past few days reading your older posts. Jeeze Louise, you work hard for being retired! Now me...I tend to sit and dream and fall asleep and plot how to change thing in my home. Also always n the search for mor stuff! You have turned my interest to hobnob glassware as well as vintage furniture. Are you sure you found those great things on ebay?!
Anyway...thanks for the grins. I have mentioned you to others and they think I am goofy now

Connie@Connie Nikiforoff Designs said...

Ah the joys of landscaping! :-) Having just moved into a different house, we inherited some perennials. I like them, but they offer nothing in the way of texture after they're dormant for the long winters we have. It's so hard to think of taking them all out and planting something else. At our former home I spent 25 years getting the landscape to have something worthwhile to look at in all seasons. {sigh...}

I commend you for re-landscaping! Eventually we'll do it here..but we'll have to do it ourselves. You probably hired someone ;-) It's beautiful now by the way!

Anonymous said...

Betsy, I need your advice very badly! I bought a vintage sofa last week and after having it in my home over night.....the smell was awful! The fabric looks great, but the seat cushions smell very musty...which I know means mold! Help.....do I need to just change out and get new cushions or do I need to redo the entire sofa in your professional opinion? The back cushions and the rest of the sofa just smells old....but not like the seat cushions. I hope you have some experience with this....I am at a lost as to what to do. It cost me $600, but that is not as important as having us get sick from that sofa and the mold!

lin ....lbprich@bellsouth.net

Nutbird said...

Hey Anonymous, air out the sofa. Move it into the garage every night. See if the cushions have zippers. Unzip. Check the contents. Foam might be crumbling in there. Replace the contents. Spray Febreze on the fabric. If it is really bad, you could have the cushion covers dry cleaned. They might not match the other parts so you could paint the whole sofa. See Hyphen Interiors Blog. Don't give up!

office furniture said...

Good work…unique site and interesting too… keep it up…looking forward for more updates.

April D said...

You always, ALWAYS make me laugh! "who knew plants needed it"!

Just wanted to tell you that your posts on your office were SO inspiring to me, I've embarked on another rearrange in my home. Now my husband is looking for the person who made me do this AGAIN for the second time in three months! (I'm not telling! hahaha)
"MY" room is going to be beautiful. and flowery. and MINE MINE MINE. :)
So thanks. For the laughs and the inspiration.
~april

Amy Chalmers said...

I have to say I did notice the front garden as I stood on your nicely sized stoop waiting for you to come to the door...it really is very pretty and welcoming.

Unknown said...

What an adorable post, made me smile, youre such a happy and positive person! :D

hugs,

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