I played around a little more just now, wanting to give you an idea of how much difference a little paint might also make....
OT but I am moving
or a lot of paint, LOL.... this is probably over the top... and you may not want to go much beyond a front door color if your neighborhood is mostly brick with white trim.
critter, you are coming up with some of the coolest things for my house. I love watching you work on it.
Jesse
Jesse,
Can I have the hula hoop on the roof? I think it will go nicely with the house down the road from the one we want to buy with the chair on the roof LOL
Janis
Jesse,
That house is charming! Once you get going it will be beautiful!
CritterO your plans are an inspiration...
When do you ge to move in???
MsC
Sorry Janis but today one of the neighborhood boys climbed the ladder while we were gone and took the hula hoop off the roof and took it. So it is gone. But I sure would have given it to you if it had still been up there.
Thanks MsC. We are already moved in. We still have to paint and fix it up though.
Jesse
Jesse,
That's great that you are already moved in.
Now you get to do the creative part of making it yours & hubby's home sweet home.
That's the best part I think. I've enjoyed setting up our new place & it's amazing when my daughter visited she said Mom you did a great job, it already feels like our old home. :) She liked that I had kept a lot of the same furniture groupings & she liked the changes too.
I can't wait to see how you make it you own. It is such a cute place & has a lot of charm & potential I know you will bring out.
MsC
Jesse does your neighborhood have any deed restrictions on painting and colors ? Does your Landlord ?
If not can't wait to see your colors !
Awww, I wanted the hula hoop! ;-)
OK, I will stop after this, but I wanted you to really think about repainting that front door.... different colors would create a very different look for the front of that house, and I think a punch of color (or a warm, darker color) on the door would make your entryway stand out and look really welcoming.
Red.... more subdued color choice to bring out the tone of the brick...
Green.... the "natural" tone, may be nice with your new plantings...
Pink.... because I just couldn't help myself. You'd be the talk of the block! "The house with the pink door!" would be a landmark. Hey, it does give you an idea of how greatly the color of the front door changes the whole look of the house... :-)
I think I would like to do a two tone color. Maybe the outside of the door could be a deep red and the inner panels could be some type of blue. I'm not sure yet though. But your photos sure have inspired me.
What do you all think about covering the sand with that new reddish color mulch and then putting all kinds of neat things in the yard. There is a house not far from here sort of like that. I think I'll go by and take a couple photos just to have more ideas.
And pink is a great color but not for my front door. LOL And I'm sure we would be the talk of the block. Oh, I have no color restrictions where I live so I can paint it whatever color I want.
Jesse
BlueKat76 put down that reddish color mulch when they redid their front bed. I usually don't like the dyed mulches, but the color did go well with the brick on their house. However, a year or two later, she can't wait to change out the mulch because she is finding it limiting in terms of what plants look good in that bed.
Can you dig down into the dirt in the front yard? I wasn't sure if you'd be able to plant there directly in the existing soil or if you'd have to make raised beds.
I like the idea of using 2 colors on the door, and you might think about bringing those same 2 colors to the trim on the porch roof... some sort of medallion over the door might work too, if you can find something that suits your style.
I have a question. I am going to put some sort of wood around the area that would have the raised beds in them. What I need to know is how deep it needs to be. All I have is sand from years if it being packed down so I'm limited to how far I can dig down. So how deep does my raised beds need to be? Also when we pull the other trees out, what do we put down there to be able to plant some things?
Jesse
When you pull out the old foundation plantings and start digging around, you'll be able to assess the quality of the soil. A few bags of compost or leaf mold won't ever hurt.... but if the soil seems pretty decent, you can just plant and then put down mulch. Mulch is great on garden beds because it gradually breaks down and is incorportated into the soil.
The depth needed for your raised beds depends on what you are planning to plant in them. Herbs would make do with 4 to 6 inches (especially with that nice sand underneath for drainage... heck, creeping thyme will grow in almost nothing). For other plants (veggie garden for example), 8 to 10 inches is probably a better minimum. Shrubs and perennials that will send down deeper roots don't necessarily need deep top soil, especially if you loosen up the sand layer a little with a fork when you dig their planting holes. You might be able to get better advice over in the perennials forum.... but my beds that have 6 to 10 inches of topsoil or well-amended soil over a base of hard clay seem to be fine for anything we've tried so far.
If you are using pressure treated wood around beds container herbs or edibles, try to get the kind that is not treated with arsenic. If you seal the wood with several coats of polyurethane, the arsenic will not leach into the soil... but going with a differently treated wood might give you peace of mind. When we built our deck, we could get the other kind for the decking, but the 4x4's were only available in arsenic-treated wood, so I made sure to give the posts several coats of stain/sealer before they went into the ground. The reports on this vary, but all seem to agree that it's only unsealed wood that is an issue.
Have fun! Are you making drawings and lists of plants yet? :-)