Foreboding, Meet Charming

When we first bought our tudor house, the outside looked
 like this ------>

Kind of abandoned, a little sad, and very overgrown. The whole look was a bit foreboding and not at all welcoming.

We started with just clearing and cleaning it up. Bushes were trimmed back, grass was mown, and that horrid little bed in the forefront of this picture was torn out. It was surprisingly difficult. There was an odd metal stand, designed to hold some sort of plaque, that was super deep and almost impossible to remove. And some roots were very attached to the location and put up a serious fight.

 

Mid-way through, it looked like this. The ENORMOUS magnolia in the front yard helps. There are small concrete sections on either side of the door, so I put these pots with hibiscus on them instead of tearing up the concrete and planting something.

Then the door got a face lift. It's rosemary from Benjamin Moore. I painted the window box the same color. Now you can actually see the iron scroll-work and the doorway looks significantly less cave-like.










I also tore out the existing flower bed along the driveway and removed all the irises. I hate them. Other people love them, but I've never been able to stand them so they had to go. I planted seeds and they looked like this.

I find this significantly more cheerful.

I'd love to put a black wrought iron fence around the front and do some more landscaping. If I ever get that done, I'll take pictures and show you. :)

 This picture was taken in February of 2015 after it snowed.  Fun, huh?