Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 388 Comments

Digging Up A Dated Row Of Bushes

We did it! Over the course of two nice long Clara naps (and with a little help from a friend) we managed to open up our front yard in what we like to call “Phase Two Of Ten Million” when it comes to slowly transforming our front yard. Why so many phases? Well it started out looking like this:

Front Before

Much like our first house’s yard, we figure it’ll take a few years of tweaks to get it where we want it, so this phase was just about clearing things out for a you-can-actually-see-the-house-now effect (Phase One was limbing up the magnolia). In short: we dug up/transplanted/removed a ton of bushes (with the help of a friend of ours who took home some boxwoods in exchange for helping us get a bunch of them up). This post is full of photos, so I’ll let them do the talking. Without further ado, here are the before and afters (we tried to take photos from the same angle for comparison). First there’s the AFTER to the before above (don’t mind the black feather wreath out there on the door for Halloween):

Front After

Here’s another BEFORE for ya from the driveway:

From Driveway Before

And another AFTER from the same angle (a little further away):

From Driveway After

Another BEFORE:

Driveway Side Before

And the AFTER:

Driveway Side After

Here’s a side-angle BEFORE:

Side Driveway Before

And an AFTER from the same POV:

Side Driveway After

Another BEFORE facing more towards the street:

Corner Before

And the accompanying AFTER:

Corner After

Here’s a BEFORE from the other side (the bushes used to completely stop the eye so our yard felt way smaller):

Side View Before

And here’s the AFTER from the same angle:

Side View After

Yet another BEFORE:

Side Angle Before

And another AFTER:

Side Angle After

Here’s how it looked from the front porch BEFORE:

Looking Out Before

And AFTER:

Looking Out After

The only drawback? I got me a blister. So in that aspect it was exactly like Phase One (seen here). Totally worth it though. No pain, no gain.

Blister

As for where we put the bushes that we transplanted, we just dug them up…

Transplanted Bush

… and planted them in the naturalized parts of our side and back yard (and our friend who helped us dig made off with the rest of the healthy ones). Sadly some of the bushes were dead…

Dead Boxwood

Dead Bushes

… so those just got removed with a sawzall (aka this reciprocating saw by Skill). Which was probably more fun to use than it should have been (it was actually our first time sawzalling, so we took turns and grinned like fools the whole time). And you know we loved the fact that this big curb appeal makeover was f-r-e-e (well, I guess it cost us a few boxwoods in return for some helpful friend labor, but it was foliage well spent).

As for our future lawn plans, we’re definitely just getting started out there – so there are a lot more phases on the over-the-next-few-years agenda. We’ve got plans to:

  • dig out some ivy/monkey grass
  • lay down some grass seed in certain areas
  • layer in some low maintenance native (and less vinyl fence-like) plantings to soften things up around certain areas of the perimeter
  • landscape around the front of the house (there are hardly any plants on either side of the porch – so it’s just sort of a mud pit in those areas)
  • do a million other things that are slipping my mind at the moment (one big one: convert the carport to a garage)

So this step was just about clearing things out to make way for some less house-obscuring choices and opening things up to let the eye travel a bit further in certain places. Feels nice to let the house breathe a little. And the neighbors have all been saying such sweet things about the change. Whew! Has anyone else been up to a few exterior tweaks? Do you do them during baby naps with the monitor outside on full blast so you can run in at a moment’s notice? Do you hold your breath until the neighbors approve? We totally do.

Psst- We’re over on BabyCenter talking about a Halloween surprise that we discovered on Sunday night. Let’s just say Clara’s in love. Here’s the story.

Comments

  1. Debbie says

    we have four acres of property that our MN log cabin sits on. at least three of those acres are wooded and we have about 500 feet of frontage between our cabin & the lake that is solid cedar trees. there is an access road to the lake, but we wanted a path straight off of our 2nd & 3rd story wrap around deck. so we (our G.C.) called the county, submitted the engineered drawings, paid all the permits & built a 200′ paver path that leads to 300′ cedar boardwalk that winds its way through the trees to the lake. its simply gorgeous. since we have so much property, we didn’t worry about our nearest neighbor who is a couple acres away. besides we werent doing anything wrong. we spent close to $55k on the project, but we followed every letter of the law. turns out we should’ve been at least wary though. people do tend to be petty. we have motion cameras mounted everywhere on our property to a)catch the many different types of wildlife in action & b) because its a vacation home in the 3 million dollar mark that is only inhabited a few times a month, for security. so we were a little shocked when we downloaded the photos & saw our neighbors trespassing on our property w/ camera, tape measures, etc.. “inspecting” our boardwalk. we immediately contacted the sheriff who paid our neighbors (who are full time residents) a visit. he questioned them as to why they were there & at first they made up some story about how our boardwalk was illegal & they intended to have the county make us rip it all out. we anticipated this so we provided the sheriff (who happens to be our G.C.’s dad) w/ all the documentation & told him that we’d be filing charges (trespassing is taken pretty seriously in that area). then the neighbors changed their tune & said that they were jealous of all the improvements that we had made to our property & felt that we were de-valuing their property (which they were hoping to sell next spring) & they were just trying to gather information to go to the rest of the residents on the lake in hopes of getting a petition started that they could ultimatiely take to the board. they said they first hoped to intimidate us & admitted that they hadn’t looked into any of the statutes & regulations to even find out of what we were doing was illegal. we could’ve let it go at that point w/ a stern warning from the sheriffs dept, but we are not the types of people who are bullied. so we exercised out legal right & i believe their first court date, where I’m sure they will make some sort of plea deal, is later this month.

    Reply

  4. Margaret says

    Holy smokes! That’s one of the best transformations so far! I mean, I know you did a LOT to the inside, but I’m seriously impressed with these before/afters!

    Reply

  6. Amanda says

    Wow! It looks so much better… I can’t help but think that those few tweaks probably boosted your home’s value a bit. (Homes are so much more sell-able when people can actually see them!)

    Reply

  8. Jen says

    What a difference!! I love that you can see your house now from the street. If I was your neighbor I’d probably need to a do a double take, like a “wait, when did that cute house get in the neighborhood?” way to go you guys!

    Reply

  9. Katrina says

    Like you said, you definitely gained some breathing room in the front! It looks great so far. And I still drool over your driveway whenever it appears in pictures.

    My husband and our almost 3 year old daughter cut down a dead bush in our front yard this weekend. Our daughter was so insistent on helping her Daddy with the cutting – it was very cute to see her “sawzing” with his help. I have a feeling that Clara will be doing similar projects with you guys soon!

    Reply

  11. Devon @ Green House, Good Life says

    What a difference! It looks like you live on a totally awesome lot in a neighborhood now, instead of in the middle of the wilderness.

    We definitely held our breath while we were building our house, hoping the neighbors would approve (especially because we didn’t technically comply with one or two of the deed restrictions). We figured it worked in our favor that we were replacing a burnt-out crack house, so anything would be better…. (My husband hates when I call it a “burnt-out crack house.” It wasn’t a crack house. But it was definitely burnt-out.)

    Reply

  14. Sarah says

    Love it! It’s so very inspiring – now if I could only figure out what to do with our yard – we have the opposite problem. I just need to figure out what to do with the empty bed below the big window on the front of the house.

    Reply

  27. Carolyn H. says

    Wow. It looks so much better! I feel sorry for the people who took the time and effort to put those bushes in; they must have had a different result in mind. The yard looks FANTASTIC without them.

    Reply

  28. Lindsay says

    Wow that made an awesome difference! I was hoping you would get rid of those ugly bushes. Are you keeping the tree? I bet your neighbors feel like the street got brighter now that they see that yellow front door!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’re on the fence about the tree. We hate to cut it down but there’s a huge circle of dirt under it that won’t grow grass or anything really since it’s so shaded – so we wish it was a small feathery tree like the one in front of our last house (a pretty blooming cherry tree).

      xo,
      s

    • Devon @ Green House, Good Life says

      If I get a vote (which I think I don’t, but I’m going to say it anyway), you should keep that lovely magnolia! I’m jealous of anyone who can grow them. We have some in Austin, but they’re really not suited to the climate. What about some kind of shade-tolerant woodland flowers under it? I don’t know too many plants, but columbines come to mind as a possibility, and I’m sure there are others that would be so pretty under the tree. If you just want more grass, you might try seeding it in the spring and see if it grows better now that you’ve cut all of the low branches that really blocked the light.

    • Meagan says

      It looks like now that its limbed up, you may get enough sun underneath to get some grass to grow. Looks like in the Before side picture that the dirt circle under the tree is getting some sun!

    • Jen says

      The grass may start to come in a little bit (at least to make the dirt cicle smaller) now that you’ve limbed up the tree. And some hostas or other shade tolerant, low maintenance plants may work under it.

    • Jenn says

      I vote pro tree too! There are pretty shade loving plants… maybe a fern garden? or bleeding heart? a bed of impatients or double begonias?

    • Jill says

      I’m no expert, but I think hostas do pretty well in shaded areas, and they’re pretty easy to maintain I think. Loving the yard changes!

  30. Sherri says

    I had to take a double take, because this did NOT look like the same house. WOW! I think you just increased your property value!

    Reply

  31. Sarah E. says

    that looks amazing!!! For some reason, I thought your house was much further back from the road. Not it looks like a part of the neighborhood! I love it!

    Reply

  32. Courtney says

    Your yard clearing project looks amazing!! So much more space. What do Clara and Burger think??

    Our big outdoor project this fall has been repainting all of the badly peeling painted trim-work on our 1920’s brick bungalow- as well as adding some scalloped shaker shingles! It has been a lot of scraping and our arms are soar, but the color scheme is finally coming together and I hope the neighbors can appreciate the huge improvement!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They seem completely unfazed! They’ve been out there running around as if it’s always been this way. No appreciation or open-mouthed gawking to be had! Haha.

      xo,
      s

  33. Lindsay L. says

    That looks awesome!! We are definitely the red necks on the corner in our neighborhood. We try to mow our yard with regularity and spruce things up but the other neighbors are always more quick about it. Doesn’t help that last year’s San Diego county yard of the month winner lives across the street! Anyway, way to go friends!!

    Reply

  34. Tania says

    Wow! It looks great so far! Lots of hard work but it’s worth it! Sawzall to take out the dead stuff is genius! I have one in the garage somewhere and now I can’t wait to take out my lovely prickly bushes! Thanks for the constant inspiration!

    Reply

  35. Maggie S. says

    Looks great! We pulled up ten bushes along the ten in our backyard in preparation for some smaller ones with less maintenance.

    How did you get them out of the ground??

    Reply

  36. Miranda says

    WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!!! Way to go, guys!!! It’s fabulous! And coming from someone who knows just how hard and how long it takes to rip out some bushes, bravo on a job well done! Especially with only a single blister!

    Reply

  37. Courtney says

    Wow, what a difference that makes! And your view?! So jealous – looks like you live in an urban parkland.

    We aren’t clearing anything out but are adding things to our yard. Our house is a new build so we are in the long (and expensive!) process of landscaping. My husband just built two beautiful cedar raised garden beds and by next summer we should have grass and a fence.

    Reply

  48. Kelly says

    Oh my gosh, this is amazing! I didn’t realize you guys had so many neighbors until the after pictures! Looks absolutely great!

    Reply

  49. Juliana says

    looks awesome! we just did the same thing to our yard and our house went from looking like locked up fortress to welcoming home!

    Reply

  50. Meagan says

    Wow! Such a big difference, I think it looks great! Makes you wonder why the previous owners planted all the bushes in the first place?

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *