I realize I’m about to write a blog post about 1st world problems to the extreme, but this is a blog about me and my general craziness which mainly revolves around my house. Thus I give myself permission for this.
We cut the landscaping out of the budget at the end of the build. I was thinking it would be easier to get someone to do all the work – clearing, dirt work, sprinklers, sod – rather than doing part of it via the builder. More work, more bargaining room, more incentive, right?? What a freakin’ joke. No one wanted to return my calls, give me a quote, or even make eye contact with me. The only person who gave me a quote wanted a significant amount of cash money.
The house has sat unkempt since we moved in March. I can’t even explain the stress and anxiety this caused. The kids had no where to play. The dogs tracked the sand all over the house. All the sand. The inside was impossible to keep clean. The outside was just depressing. I was worried what the neighbors were thinking. Maybe this is why they aren’t talking to us?? I was terrified we would get a letter from the HOA. The letter might even refer to that pink bowl in the backyard. *Hangs head in shame.*
FYI the sprinklers in the back are for the septic. Don’t drink the water!
Fast forward to 6 months later, we are like 1-2 weeks away from not being able to lay sod until next Spring. Anxiety is high around here. Birthday parties are around the corner.
My mother in law gave us a guy’s information. He came out and was less than the other quote, so let’s get this done. Despite having a final grade done by our builder, they needed to bring in 7 loads of dirt. It took a day to do the dirt work and clear the brush at the front of the lot.
We wanted to keep some trees in the front for privacy, but they needed to be thinned out and trimmed up. I was surprised at how much of a front yard we have. I always think of our front yard as the slant down the hill, but there’s a good sized front yard under all that brush.
There was a bit of miscommunication about the dirt work at the front. We wanted to leave the rock and natural look down the hill. Scroll up to see how it was originally. The goal was to leave it wild with the possibility of adding grasses, cactuses, and other low maintenance landscaping later. Then the hill became dirt without my pretty rocks. I wasn’t super upset because I was just so excited you could see the house from the road, and I was getting grass.
Next came the trenching for the sprinklers. Even with that machine in the back, it was a struggle to trench in the rocky terrain that is our acre lot. This was definitely not a job we could have DIY’d. We did think about it for like a second, but what we would have paid a babysitter + materials it would have cost us more and taken us ten times longer.
It took 40 pallets to cover the front and half the back. 40!! Geez. This having land thing is really weird.
We had them lay sod to the brush where the septic sprinklers are. There’s probably about 40 feet of our land at the back that we left natural.
If you’re wondering what the deal is with these 3 white poles sticking up, they are irrigation for our future garden beds. Hopefully this will be a project for the spring. We went ahead and had them sod the area until we build the raised beds.
Hey guys it’s the back of our house. The brown is stucco and the white is painted brick. You can’t tell but the entire covered patio is stucco as well.
There was a 2 part process to flatting out the sod as much as possible. First they had a giant rolling machine they drove over the grass. Then the guy brought this manual roller in and pushed it across the grass. This way he could see if there were any areas that needed extra attention. It was super awkward getting this shot, so I snapped it via my phone real fast while I pretending to be feeding Beckett in the dining room. Sneaky.
It’s amazing to actually be able to see the house from the road. It’s even more visible than this picture shows. Thank you privacy trees. We’ve talked about hating the paint we picked for the exterior, but it’s much less offensive with the grass. I mean we hate it so much less now.
Now I’ll get a little sappy about this, but I took the trash out the first night everything was in and guys I cried. Like real tears. The weight of having the exterior look like it had for 6 months had really worn on me. I mean I stay home all the time. I can’t avoid looking out the window. It was a giant weight of all the things I wish I would have done differently in the house and all that’s left to do (postpartum depression for home building is a thing).
There was a real house under all that mess. A real nice house that I poured 11 months living and breathing its conception. I celebrated and then wanted to invite all the people over.
Of course full disclosure, we have the rest of the brush just waiting to be cleared off our little drop off. I don’t even care. The grass is awesome and I love it. So for everyone wondering what our house looks like on the outside here it is! Nick posted a peek on instagram the other day, so follow us if you haven’t yet!
i just love your exterior! it’s so beautiful- the charming details! i couldn’t see it before. 😉
I know! It’s crazy. We were really feeling like we had messed up architecturally on the outside, but it was just hidden behind the landscaping mess. Who knew grass could bring so much joy?
Glad you decided not to DIY this project. It looks like really amazing progress, and I’m glad it lifted you out of your post-home-building depression. Our exterior is in a sad state too so I know how you were feeling. Send your mother-in-law’s guy my way!
Exteriors and master bedroom have to be the most neglected places. I’m usually really good about neglecting landscaping, but it was daunting this time. Probably because there’s no one to blame but ourselves since it’s not like we bought it like this and are trying to renovate.
Looks great. xoxo
Dude. Been here. First world problems are real and hard. 😛 We had yard drama too. I was like planting flowers around the house to make myself feel better. Lipstick on a pig sort of thing.
I do hope you get it done before I move in with you all this Winter. I don’t want the neighbors talking about me.
Oh they will 100% be talking about you. It’s unavoidable.
I keep thinking I sound so ridiculous when I talk about this it’s grass. It just became the giant “I wish we would have” conversation. Also I have a tendency to fixate on things. Surprisingly severe regret and helplessness don’t breed happy thoughts.
Good sized front yard?!?!? I’d call it huge, gigantic or majestic 😉 you should see mine. I can’t even fit one car on my grass.
Looks wonderful now!
Haha well good size considering the placement of the house on the acre with the hill! Before I felt like we walked out into the brush which I always associated with the drop off at the front. We kept saying I wish we would have built further back on the lot which was the original plan, but we wanted to save on the flatwork and driveway expense. Now I’m glad we are situation where we are on the lot. We have room in the back for all the kids’ junk!
Yay for landscaping. When we built our house, my biggest regret was also that we did not have any plans to do the outside. It looked terrible for so long. Also we were totally out of money at that point.
What a huge difference a little grass can make. And I love how you had the trees cut in front of the house. Looks so good!
Are you going to mow that lawn yourselves ? are you getting a tractor?
Yes, a million times yes, I can relate. We just did not think out the landscaping more than we want it to be Texas Hill Country/Southwestern inspired in the beds. We were out of money and had an unrealistic view of how much it was going to cost because of our building bid. Shocker <---- sarcasm The grass makes the biggest difference. We are going to tackle the beds in spring probably. I want to really think it out and have a plan so things will look good and live. We are not going to mow it ourselves. We would have the large expense of a riding lawn mower that can handle the hill and then invest the time. Plus mowing gives me the sads.
I had no idea you had so much land! It looks great. Don’t feel bad about complaining about the dust and the dirt. It would have driven me nuts too. I bet it is such a relief to have that done!
We have an acre only because if you want to do a custom build out here it’s basically your only option. There aren’t really any lots smaller unless they are part of a master planned community, and there aren’t many of those either. Welcome to the country (as Nick would say but it really isn’t the country).
this is pure AWESOMENESS!!!!!!
Thanks Nichole! I’m still not 100% sold on the exterior colors, but yeah much less offensive with grass!
We still live in a rent house that has weeds and stickers for a yard. I grew up on thick green bermuda grass and it kills me to not be able to walk outside in the yard, like, ever. The day I can walk outside barefoot I’m pretty sure I’ll cry too.
Haha oh girl, Nick was going on and on about how therapeutic walking around in the backyard without shoes is. I was just glad the kids have a place to run around and the dogs aren’t tracking in giant piles of dirt making vacuuming and mopping an endless chore.
I feel your pain. We’ve done minor work to the backyard since our focus was making the front yard and inside look good. I keep telling myself next summer.
Ugh it’s like the project that never ends. Maybe because landscaping is so different from actual design or because it’s just generally unfun for me. Here’s to next summer! 😉
We lived in the house the with the crazy front yard and backyard throughout the beginning of the renovation. I was sure our neighbors were secretly hating us the entire time. I so understand why you were moved to happy tears. You guys have an awesome property!
Haha that’s basically every house we’ve ever lived in, but this time we couldn’t blame the previous owners! Thank you! We absolutely love our lot!
yay grass! I hate it when you can’t even get people to come out and tell you how much of your money they want! We’re there right now with our deck.
It’s the worst. Good luck on finding a reasonable offer for your deck!
I totally cry from relief and happiness all the time when something is finally done that’s been weighing on me.
Love the grass – I can’t even imagine how horrible of a DIY this would be. And your house looks amazing with the grass, now.
But you are totally more emotional than I am Kim!!
I kid.
Oh my gosh could you imagine the blog post if we did DIY this. I could have used the insane workout but I would have been sore for years.
Yay! I’m totally celebrating with you. The house looks beautiful and and I know that’s gotta be the most beautiful grass anyone has ever seen.
It really is. I might be bias, but I don’t even care!
You guys have a killer property.
Thank you! Now let’s just hope no one builds across the street or next to us. Fingers crossed.
Oh it looks SO good, Amber! Our exterior is a hot mess too – not been remedied yet. Hoping for next year. Everything will be covered in 2,673 feet of snow soon so I won’t have to look at it for awhile.
Haha snow seems like a pretty good excuse to avoid working on the exterior! I still want to paint ours, but yeah I’d rather do fun stuff on the inside right now.