Hey everyone!  Since we are officially into the Summer of 22, and it’s been about 2 years since I’ve actually done things in my yard, I decided to put my focus in that direction.  It was in desperate need of attention and I’ve been piddling along with the tasks.  I used to love sharing my gazebo but since that’s gone, the area has been dormant.  In fact I haven’t really done much since 2017 when I spruced up the deck which you can see in this post ….smh.. and then there was the pathway. which I was thrilled how it turned out,  I’m way behind with my yard and am quite ashamed, but hey, such is life.  I had the deck painted black a couple years ago, then decided to have the bottom brick painted black as well since the gray paint was chipping (not mention boring)

That made a big difference as well.

Since Covid, I just hadn’t thought too much about the yard.   As long as the grass was being cut, I would walk through it and just say “one day guys” and head straight inside.  All the perennials I planted over the years were coming back and I had no desire to pull weeds, clear the beds and mulch the yard.  So after foregoing two years, I decided it’s time.  The bbq pit had become a drop zone and was looking like a horrible eyesore

I’m rolling my eyes at this … trust me.. how on earth did I let this go so long.

The white lattice needed cleaning and the steps needed a paint touchup.  The steps needed better lighting so I ordered some from Amazon and after my son installed these step lights, I couldn’t let the yard go any longer without TLC.

I really like how they look lit up at night.

The yard lantern was rusted and need painting

So you see I seriously needed to handle my business on these eyesores.  When my nephew visited a couple months ago, we went plant shopping and I bought the elephant ears plant along with a couple others, but just stuck them in the planters and left them… Thankfully the walkway is holding up.

My first decision was to “black out” the back ..lol..  I painted the lattice black (after taking this picture I decided lattice is needed to bottom portion to camouflage it)

I touched up the steps and deck where paint was chipping.  The bbq pit looks so much better.  The big planter that was sitting in the beds was moved to hide the front and I planted perennials on the other side.

Other than the cost of the mulch, this spruce didn’t cost me hardly anything.  I used paint that was left over from the “brick cottage project” which I’ll be sharing the updates very soon.

I caught a couple plants on sale at Lowes to fill in the space and my “Jazz Lounge” sign points in the music direction.  If you’re wondering about the garden diva flag, those are available exclusively in my Etsy shop.  On the deck I just cleaned it up and laid another area rug.

Also, I try not to overspend on outdoor stuff because it’s going to get rained on and the birds will do their damage.  Overall, I’m glad I spent my July 4th weekend getting this done.  It was time well spent and now I can move on to the rest of my outdoor space.  I don’t do much entertaining outside, but at least I can finally say it looks inviting when you enter the property.  Even my neighbor’s cat “Obi” enjoys paying me visits now.. lol

 

CIAO!