Let's Go Out Back

If our first front porch wasn't welcoming enough...then mosey on into the back.

Gulp..

See that screened in porch?  

It actually wasn't even a screen but more like a "cage" built with hog wire.

There were two abandoned raised beds, a neglected paint job, no window screens, no grass..you name it ..it was neglected.

Here is the side yard..Gotta love my pose and the really grainy photo! Photography has come a long way in 10 years for sure.

This is what it looked liked in the middle of our demo of the inside of the house....Talk about gratifying and overwhelming..Nothing classier than a toilet in the back yard;)

And here is the "view" looking back across the yard from the other direction

And here is the transformation!  

We removed the "screened in porch", painted, added solar screens to the windows to cut down on the morning sun(an prevent flying creatures from coming to live with us), built a deck, added an outdoor fan and planted tons and tons of drought resistant plants(and some that weren't native to central texas or drought tolerant that didn't do so well).  We babied what little grass was present and it eventually filled in really nicely.

Through this process we definitely learned what kind of plants work well for us and which don't.  If something wasn't doing well where we put it then we would move it and try again(if it wasn't too late).  Another thing that we learned with this yard is how to "not" space things.  We have a tendency to put things too close together and underestimate how big they are going to get.  I have a feeling this yard is a bit overgrown now..We haven't lived there in 4 years and before we left we noticed that several of our trees were getting a little cramped where they were placed.  Oh..we also added trellis to the top of the fence in order to block the "view" of some duplexes right behind us.  

Here is hubs tilling up the ground so we could add compost and provide a healthy base for the St. Augustine to spread.

You can also see that he added new taller posts to the back fence in preparation for the lattice that we added to block the "view".

Here the lattice is up, we have made a curvy bed along the back fence and planted the big players in the  yard...the trees, rosemary, agaves and such.

Here is how it was looking before we build the deck.

Amazing what a deck can do for a space!

Didn't the hubs do a nice job?  I think a deck makes all the difference in the world..It pulls you out into the yard to enjoy all your hard work!

Sadly I don't have a picture of the side of the yard but I promise we got rid of the toilet and it was looking might fine.  We also had a huge garden on the other side and I don't have a clue if I ever took pics of it or not.  I sure hope I come across them some day.

I did find a pic of this awesome that hubs built as an entry to the side yard.  I'm a lucky girl.

That's a carving of a tree in the circle on the top of the gate..

Cool huh?  

We LOVED this yard and spent many many hours drinking coffee(yep I am officially old and addicted to it) and grilling out here.   Can't wait to see what kind of deck we can design around the new casa in in the near future!  Hill Country View..Yes Please!

Linking to:

Houseography

Savvy Southern Style's Blog Party

Meet Mr. Stinky

I know I know that isn't a very endearing name for your first house. The first home you and your husband purchase together, the first home that your first pet as a married couple came home to, your first child's first  home,  your first big time project. He really was stinky and a bit sad when we bought him though. That doesn't mean that we didn't grow to love him. Maybe that is why I had to have him! Seriously as we started walking away from Mr. Stinky with our realtor upon the first showing hubby was quite surprised when I said "we can make this really nice and it is cheap in our price range!".  Although I have to admit I did shed a few tears of fear when I got a good grasp of what we had gotten ourselves into. .  So over the next several posts I will share a little about how we turned our sad little sittin on the market forever house in 2002 which was unheard of in Austin at the time house (I am really good at run on sentences..are you following?) into a let's put it on the market oh my goodness we have a few offers where are we gonna move house in 2007!

Oh these bring back some crazy memories!  We were so excited and so overwhelmed at the same time.  Little did we know we would be even more overwhelmed as we dug in and realized there would be very little that we could save.  We bought this puppy with 0% down for a reason...we had no money..

 So you might wonder why we would buy such a fixer upper?  I don't know..cause I wanted to!  I was ready to do all that fun stuff they did on Trading Spaces and we ended up charging a lot of it (which I don't recommend for most people) but I am one of those people that wants to pay off a credit card bill before I even receive the statement.  I can't stand it and I will move around that debt to every 0% offer I can to avoid paying interest.  We are also super thrifty and bought the best value for the least money kind of stuff..if it looked good of course!  Thankfully we don't have to operate that way anymore but I am glad we took the plunge and did it.  It all worked out in the end.  We had a house that we loved that sold quickly for a profit..what more can you ask for?(oh how the market has changed!)

Here is a sneak peak of how it all turned out.

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