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Domestic Imperfection: Curb Appeal

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Curb Appeal

Our house has zero curb appeal. Zero, zilch, none... it pretty much looks like an abandon house surrounded by a gravel pit. Here is a pic from the MLS back in 2008 as proof that I am telling the truth...


Whomever built this house basically dumped white, dusty, limestone gravel over nearly half of our half acre plot. Why, I don't know. Probably laziness or a lack of funds (there were a lot of other corners cut in the house building process. But that's another post.) Anyway, the Husband and I decided that it was time to make it look like people live here. Back in 2009 (when I lived in the house while the Husband was in Iraq) I planted flower beds across the front. It took me days with a pick-ax and Texas toothpick to dig out enough stone and gravel to put dirt down to make a flower bed. Flower bed isn't actually an accurate description, more like a 'whatever the deer won't eat' bed. Point is, those were already there. Our budget goal for this project was $500, though that wasn't based on anything but a number we pulled out of the air. And we all know how well that method works, right?

The first step was to outline a driveway. For this I strung a rope to make a straight line and started lining it with rocks.



Here is my method...a bucket. and rocks. Oh so cost effective!


"Where did you get all these free rocks" you may be asking. Well, here is our property line piled with rocks that we have pulled out of our yard....actually, calling it a yard is definitely be stretching it, but here it is.


Hmm....not satisfied yet? Well, here is the other side...


So yeah, running out of rocks is never a concern.
We planned to fill the driveway
 with decomposed granite, and according to the online calculators I needed nearly ten yards....so of course I decided to order five (hey, it was already filled with gravel!). I also needed 12 yards of dirt. If I ordered 200 yards we would have no problem using it, but for this project we decided to do 12 and just concentrate on a small (ish) area. So I start calling soil and stone places and guess what? The first quote came to $658! Well crap, that is already way over our $500 budget. Let me tell you a little about myself. I love to haggle. Give me a salesman and I'll make him sweat and totally enjoy it. Anyway, I picked three soil and stone places and started working them...long story short I got everything - including tax and delivery- for $370.  That still seems expensive...after all, its dirt. If you live somewhere else it comes with the house. Nonetheless, I was still pleased with myself. Here it is all piled up.


Nap time came and I stared to spread it. I quickly realized that it was going to take longer than anticipated.


Two days later it looks like this. Its 20 feet wide and 50 feet long, so plenty big. I'm so excited to have a driveway! Our house is starting to look like somebody loves it!


 As the Husband spread the dirt (good man!) my next task was to lay our flagstone path. The front porch sits about five to six inches above the ground, so I decided to make it kinda "rampy" to get rid of the step up.



We picked up about $40 worth of flagstone and I started piecing it together. Can you tell its gonna look awesome? I was on a roll until I ran out of flagstone halfway through and had to spend $38 on more.

 
Next step (I know, this post covers a lot) was to lay the grass seed. I'm not totally sure that grass seed was a good idea, it's coming up, but very sparse. Sod would have been instant gratification (and who doesn't love that) but also would have been about $400-$500 more for our small area. So for the budget lover that I am....seed it was. I hand spread the seed and covered it with bagged manure. I only did a quarter or so of the lawn to make sure it actually came up before committing to the whole thing. Plus it took me three nap times to finish that little area...I was tired, its 100+ degrees outside, and my preggo self didn't want to spread anymore manure. So I didn't.


Here is what it looks like now...Such a huge improvement!! Obviously these aren't true "after" pictures because we still need grass, but it the difference is still amazing!








Here is the before picture again for easy comparison...


...and after!


Another before picture - taken during the big Texas snow of '08. The New York part of me was thinking how horribly pathetic this "snow" was...while the Texas in me was more like "OMG...its snowing in Texas..woohoo!"



Now for everyone's favorite part, the budget breakdown!

Dirt and gravel - $370
Flagstone -$78
Buffalo grass seed - $107
Bagged manure - $30

Total - $585

That's over our original budget of $500, but I'm totally okay with that...it was a way low guesstimate to begin with. It's actually going to be higher because I'll have to buy more grass seed. Oh, and all prices include tax, delivery and shipping fees. Let me know what you think!


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28 Comments:

At June 21, 2011 at 2:55 PM , Anonymous Selma said...

Ashley it looks amazing!!! I really really need to learn how to haggle! You did a great job!

 
At June 21, 2011 at 2:58 PM , Blogger Elisa said...

WOW GIRL!!!! What a great job!!! It looks SO awesome!!

 
At June 21, 2011 at 4:53 PM , Blogger Katie said...

Ahhh!! I'm loving it! You guys have done such an awesome job! It looks a million times better already!

 
At June 22, 2011 at 9:35 AM , Blogger Jennifer said...

It looks great!! Would you like to come do my yard next??? :)

 
At June 22, 2011 at 5:47 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

This looks just Texas fabulous. And then I looked at your blogger profile and voila! you're from Texas. So that must be why it is indeed such a fabulous makeover. That's a lot of work girl! It rocks! OK, so I think I'm going to start a category of Texas blogs on my link list. Sound good to you? Let me know what Texas bloggers you follow. I only have a handful (including yours).

 
At June 22, 2011 at 7:32 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

wow! Great job! It's looking awesome :)

 
At June 22, 2011 at 9:29 PM , Blogger Jen @ Domesticated Nomad said...

Looks great. Wow, that was a lot of work! I don't know that I would have been brave enough to take it on, but you really worked it. :)

 
At June 23, 2011 at 10:57 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

That looks SO much better!!! We've been looking into getting some flagstone... after seeing yours now I'm more excited! :) Stopping by from Somewhat Simple.

 
At June 23, 2011 at 7:58 PM , Blogger Katie @ Wildwood Creek said...

I love the lines of your house, and you did an awesome job on the landscaping!

 
At June 24, 2011 at 7:35 AM , Blogger Cheryl said...

Your house is so pretty and your new curb appeal is looks great. It is a lot of work. Thank your husband for his service for me. Thank you for your service as well!

 
At June 24, 2011 at 2:12 PM , Blogger Susan said...

Very big improvement! I can relate to house things that builders/previous owners do that leave you scratching your head. You have certainly done well with what you have though! WTG!

Popping over from 504 Main!

 
At June 24, 2011 at 3:27 PM , Blogger Fishtail Cottage said...

Fabulous transformation! xoxo, tracie Popping over to say hello for the "Blog Party"! i host a garden party on Thursday's & would love to have you come by to peek around or even link up?!? hope to see you sometime! xoox, tracie

 
At June 25, 2011 at 1:31 AM , Blogger Kat's Purrfect Boutique said...

Wow! Are you wonder woman? 100degrees? heavy stuff and pregnant? I was bedridden the last 2 months so I can't even imagine doing all of that. Our yard had tons of rocks when we started our front yard project. They are free rocks at a price (sore back). We put them around the yard in different flower beds. Your yard is going to be gorgeous when the grass grows in.

 
At June 26, 2011 at 8:14 PM , Blogger Sanghamitra Bhattacherjee(Mukherjee) said...

Wow! This is a great transformation! Loved your space it is cute.
Hope to see you on my blog:)

 
At June 27, 2011 at 3:04 PM , Blogger outjunking said...

Hi,
I am follower number 11. You did a great job.
Looked at your laundry room too, looking good.
Lisa

 
At June 28, 2011 at 9:18 PM , Anonymous Handy Man, Crafty Woman said...

this looks fantastic!!! I love it! I'm going to feature it on my blog this week, thanks for linking it up to our Wicked Awesome Wed party. I can't believe all that work you did...in the heat! during naptime. and preggo!!

 
At June 28, 2011 at 11:16 PM , Anonymous Handy Man, Crafty Woman said...

I featured your yard project on our Wicked Awesome Wed blog party this week. Come on over and pick up an "I've been Featured" button if you'd like!

 
At July 1, 2011 at 11:06 AM , Blogger Kim Rosema said...

That looks great! The flagstone actually looks like it's been there forever, so great job! And doing all that while pregnant?? You rock! Ha! Punny =) Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 
At July 2, 2011 at 3:20 AM , Blogger Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things} said...

Wow! Such a great makeover! It looks great!!
Thank you so much for linking it up to {nifty thrifty sunday} last week!
Hope to see more of your creativity tonight! :)
xoxo,
Vanessa

 
At July 6, 2011 at 5:50 AM , Blogger SkinnyMeg said...

That looks amazing! Your hard work really paid off, that is awesome!

Your newest follower,
Megan

 
At July 20, 2011 at 6:31 PM , Blogger Katie Olthoff said...

It looks a LOT better! Great job!

 
At July 22, 2011 at 9:47 AM , Blogger Laura @ Laura's Crafty Life said...

It looks great! I was already pretty impressed, and then when I read you were pregnant while doing all this, I was even more so. It is so satisfying when it is all done and it looks so much better!

 
At July 22, 2011 at 10:38 AM , Blogger Stacy Risenmay said...

All you hard work was so worth it! It looks amazing!

 
At July 25, 2011 at 2:05 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Amazing transformation! You have vision! Found your link over on Centsational Girl today...

Katie
makingittooperfect.blogspot.com

 
At July 25, 2011 at 2:13 PM , Blogger JennC said...

Wow Ashley! Super amazing! And hats off to you for getting it done while pregnant. The only thing I was up for when I was pregnant was laying on the couch and eating Doritos!

 
At July 25, 2011 at 4:21 PM , Blogger Devon said...

Looks great! I feel your pain about the cost of dirt ("soil"...doesn't that sound fancier?). I recently spent about $2,000 on 48 yards of soil and compost to take my yard from a very similar state as your "before." The result? This.

 
At December 28, 2011 at 5:06 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

What a fabulous makeover. I love the way you used the rocks you already had on your property. There is nothing better than free.
Thanks for sharing,
Traci

 
At January 7, 2012 at 4:19 AM , Blogger Jan Elizabeth said...

That looks so much better! I can't believe you did all that when you were pregnant (I didn't do anything while I was pregnant...)

I know how much work this is because we did our large backyard last summer for our wedding, and put in a flagstone patio and two ponds with a flagstone waterfall. It looks great, and feels amazing because we did it ourselves. So, congratulations!

 

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