First impressions are everything. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. Before this little "front porch fixer upper," our home's first impression was not so good.
From the time we first looked at the house, I knew I wanted this area changed. It didn't fit my style of landscaping and overall, it looked like a mess. Fast forward a month later when we moved in and our movers dodged the bushes and thorns for the duration of their load-in. For me, that was the final straw.
The pathway leading to our front door was a jungle of unkept knock-out rose bushes that the previous owners let get out of hand. They were 5 feet tall in places and a totally tangled mess. It was hard to walk along the path without snagging your clothing on the bushes or getting a nasty thorn in your leg. Below is a wonderful BEFORE photo that I snapped when we moved in on May 12th, 2017.
To start the process, I sat and planned out step-by-step how I wanted this demolition to go down. JUST KIDDING....I grabbed a pair of clippers and started cutting every branch in sight.
It sounds way easier than it was, trust me. I ended the day with cuts from my head to my toes. The worst part, honestly, was dealing with the brush from the rose bushes AFTER they were cut down. Per Austin regulations, we were required to cut them a certain length and then tie them together with twine before putting them out on the curb for pick-up.
After getting most of the las cut back, it came time for Eddie's portion of the project: digging up the roots. Because these had been planted since the house was built, the roots were a tangled deep mess. Eddie used both the chainsaw and many hours with a shovel trying to get everything removed.
Once that was complete, I was able to hop back into the mix and start planning/planting. Below I listed the plants we added to our new front flowerbeds.
- Japanese Boxwood: evergreen shrub, tolerant of summer heat, plant in sun/partial shade, medium/large in size, water once per week.
- Croton: outstanding in color, plant in sun, water 2-3 times per week until rooted.
Below is what it looked like about a year ago. Sadly, some of the plants didn't make it in the Texas sunlight/super weird cold front we had last winter. We ended up adding a few new types of shrubs instead. (see bottom photo for updated look!)
Follow along with our renovations and DIY projects on social media with the hashtag #BeechnutBungalow.
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