Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Spray Paint A Mailbox

Remember when John met his frog friend (well, technically his toad friend) here?

Cypress Frog

Well, this time around we made a new neighborhood acquaintance…

Mailbox Snake

… a snaaaaaaake! And we were skeeeeered. But not to scared to take a picture. Thankfully he was just a harmless garter snake.

Why were we outside? Yard maintenance. We figure our exterior will need a whole lotta small phase projects if it’s going to ever-so-slowly transform like our last one did, which went from this…

Front Yard Unclipped

… to this (over the course of 4.5 years)…

Final Exterior After

So since that’s nothing we’ll ever be able to accomplish overnight – or even within a year – we’re all about breaking that humongous task down into much smaller bite sized pieces to tackle slowly over time. So here are a few little outdoor undertakings that we’ve recently checked off.

First on the list: spray the mailbox and our house numbers with ORB (oil-rubbed bronze spray paint) so they would look a little more refreshed.

Mailbox10

The most fun part of the process was when John brought it to me using rubber pot holder thingies because it was literally too hot to touch from sitting out in the sun out front:

Mailbox John With Potholder

Up close and personal, she definitely wasn’t looking so hot (even though she was literally quite hot):

Mailbox On Brick

Mailbox Gross Close Up

So I wiped down all the bird poo with a wet cloth (I live a glamorous life) and used my favorite ORB spray paint (hi my name is Sherry and I have an ORB problem) to apply a few thin and even coats (you can check out some spray painting tips here). I also sprayed the rusted tops of the screws for holding the mailbox in place and our brass house numbers.

Mailbox House Number Screws

Oh and for “drop cloths” I usually use an old fabric one (or cardboard from the recycling bin) but this time I decided to use the same few big black plastic bags that I’ve used for other ORB projects as of late (I just ball them up after they’re dry to be reused since I’m such a spray painting fool these days, and hate to toss them after one go).

Can’t show you all of our house numbers of course, but the mailbox is looking mighty shiny:

Mailbox Sprayed ORB

Oh and I did this on a Sunday so as not to confound the mailman. By the end of the day everything was dry and I was able to screw them back into place. And while I was up there I snapped a few shots of the flowers since we had some requests for updated pics to see how they’ve grown.

But first, here they are before, back when we planted them:

Mailbox10

And here they are now, paired with the freshly sprayed mailbox (we photoshopped out the newly painted house numbers on the post though):

Mailbox After2

Isn’t it amazing how much they’ve filled in? And it’s worth noting that we only watered them once (when we planted them) and it’s been scorchingly hot so I’m extreeeeeeeemely impressed. Wave petunias are the way to go, it seems.

Mailbox Flowers Close Up

Even Lord Squirrelio is enjoying the expanding flora:

Mailbox Hidden Squirrel

Oh and as for the mailbox post, we’ve considered painting it but kind of like how it blends into the landscape thanks to the old weathered wood. A landscape designer friend of ours has a theory that you should never bring attention to your mailbox or post itself, just keep it neat and let it be what it is (so it doesn’t stand out/detract from the yard around it). That natural wood post definitely does that. We still might paint it down the line, but for now we’re happy to leave it au naturale.

Mailbox After2

But I digress with all of the mailbox updating. Back to the title. Here’s why we’re those neighbors again. Remember when we admitted that we had a bit of a mailbox problem (before we weeded, laid down landscaping fabric, planted some flowers, mulched, and removed some extra signs on our mailbox post) which made us quite the embarrassed new family in town?

Mailbox 1

Well, we also have this insane side yard that doesn’t look like it’s ours, but it is. Yup, everything in this picture is our lot:

Mailbox Natural Area From R

Even the crazy shaggy stuff on the left.

See, it’s a whole lotta don’t-know-what-to-do-with-that-but-don’t-want-to-have-to-mow-or-weed-or-otherwise-maintain-it space to deal with, so we decided to see if we could naturalize it (the neighbors have some naturalized land on their lot next to ours so we thought it would “go together” nicely).

Oops. Total failure. It just ended up looking crazy and overgrown:

Mailbox Naturalized Cut

Not only wasn’t the overgrown grass doing it for us, a few well meaning neighbors actually mentioned that we might want to mow it before “we get reported to the neighborhood association.” Talk about embarrassing. We muttered something about trying to naturalize it like the lot to the left, admitted that it definitely wasn’t working out the way we hoped, and vowed to at least cut the grass in the front for less of an unkempt appearance from the curb.

But it meant that we had to attempt to mow that wayyyyy-too-looong-to-easily-mow grass. Thankfully big strong John got ‘er done! It didn’t take five minutes (more like about an hour of slow back and forth maneuvering and turning off the mower to get clumps of grass out every ten minutes or so)…

Mailbox Mowing On Slope

… but slowly but surely…

Mailbox John Mowing

… we went from that crazy overgrown embarrassment to a slightly more manicured-up-top look, thanks to just moving that front strip:

Mailbox Mowing After Straig

We like how it actually looks like it’s part of our lot now, even if it’s obviously the more naturalized portion of it:

Mailbox Mowing After Angle

Now it looks like the area down the hill is intentionally wild (hooray- no weeding or incline mowing necessary down there) but the area up top is a bit neater from the road. You know, as opposed to looking all sad slash abandoned.

In other small-things-we-tackle-in-the-hopes-that-in-five-years-we’ll-blink-our-eyes-and-love-our-exterior news, we also planted three more evergreens in the back area of our house to hopefully provide more future privacy from the back (and to pay the environment back for doing all this clothespin driving).

Mailbox Three Cyprus

We went with three more of the same fast growing evergreen trees that we planted on the side of our house (so you can check out more on how that all went down here).

Next we did a little weeding. Or should I say big weeding. We don’t know what the heck is in the soil here, but check out the size of some of the weeds springing up around the someday-we-hope-it’ll-look-naturalized-and-wooded side & back yard:

Mailbox John Giant Weed

Yeah, that’s a giant dandelion. And yes, it felt like we were suddenly on the set of Jurassic Park and would soon see a pterodactylfly by or something.

Sure we want some areas of our side and back yard to look woodsy and naturalized someday, but for now these big ol’ weeds were more that a little embarrassing. So we dug them out and marveled at their shrub-like proportions. Crazytown.

As for our outdoor checklist, it’s waay too long to share in its entirety, but we’ll jot down a few things that we did (just for the satisfaction of crossing them off) and list a few more objectives that we hope to tackle over time:

  • weed the side of the carport (done here with some mom help)
  • limb up the giant magnolia (done here)
  • build a side patio (done over the course of about four weeks here)
  • weed, mulch & plant the embarrassingly unkempt mailbox area (done here)
  • plant three fast growing evergreen trees on the side of our house for privacy (done here)
  • make some mini porch updates (done here)
  • upgrade the mailbox and our house numbers with some ORB
  • plant three more fast growing evergreen trees in the back of our house
  • weed the side and back yard areas, so they naturalize with trees (not giant dandelions)
  • avoid snakes (so far so good, but this is an ongoing initiative)
  • transplant the tree that’s planted ON our house (seen here)
  • remove/transplant a ton of bushes and shrubs that block our front walkway & our house in general (in multiple phases)
  • paint the front door
  • frame out the round country-ish columns on the porch
  • remove the also-country-ish scalloped header on the porch
  • build raised bed gardens in the back
  • add a wood compost bin in the back (right now we use this slightly less handsome compost method)

In short, we’d like to slowly tame the jungle that is this in a bunch of not-too-intimidating phases:

Can%27t See Porch

Because let’s be honest, you can’t even see the porch. Le sigh.

What about you guys? Do you completely “gut” your yard and rebuild it all at once, or are you one-project-at-a-time folks like us? Have you ever seen a sneaky little snake? Or a giant person-sized dandelion? Or been told to mow your lawn by the neighbors? Oh man, we’re still kind of blushing.

Comments

  2. heather says

    I really like the look of the ORB on the mailbox. I wish around here we could get away with a normal mailbox mounted to wooden post, but no dice. Come winter the town plow would take it out without a second thought. Ours has to hang on a short chain so if they do hit the box it just swings and doesn’t rip off. Right now (from previous owners) it’s on a metal post thing a ma jig (think like yours in shape – but metal pipe). It’s ugly. No, it’s fugly. However…it has yet to be demolished like many a neighbors from our ever careful plow driver.

    Reply

  3. Wendy says

    Just remember, mulch and pinestraw are your best friends. Good luck with all that wild stuff. We’ve got a natural area in our front and back yard and the previous owner covered it with mulch and pinestraw, took out some of the trees to open it up a bit and planted a couple of azaleas (apparently they are the only thing that grows well in shade) and it looks ok. I still have to pull up random weeds and plants here and there, but we lined it with monkey grass to give it a nice edge, which works well. And we used the sticks and limbs that fall from the trees to start our fires in the winter. The mulch and pinestraw help keep it from looking too out of control.

    Reply

  4. Elizabeth says

    That video of Burger is hilarious…my parents’ dachshund used to run in circles through the house like that. My dog is too lazy to be bothered!

    As for snakes…I live in Florida…I see them all the time in my yard. Usually just black snakes, but once a juvenile corn snake that was actually very pretty.

    Once a snake was on my screened patio (I leave the door open for the dog) and I went out there to move it back to the yard, of course my dog was running around the patio going crazy trying to get to it so the snake coiled up and played dead. I closed the dog in the house and then swept the snake (still coiled up and not moving at all) out the door and as soon as it hit the grass it uncoiled and was GONE! Poor snake was traumatized!

    Reply

  5. Andrea says

    Yes, I too have Jurassic size dandelions and other 4-5 tall things. We have a bunch of rose bushes so some mongo weeds like to grow up through the roses so that we can’t even get to them without getting scratched! Smart weeds. The first time it happened I treated it as a curiosity – how tall can this dandelion get?! Is it a guiness world record? Can I charge money for people to come see it? Will it start singing songs and murdering people?!

    Reply

  6. Alissa says

    I’ve looked in awe at the pictures of your old and new houses and their in-the-woods feel. We’ve got coniferous trees but not so many deciduous, and wild shrubbery and undergrowth just doesn’t happen unless you’re really close to water. (“Naturalized” here is just wild grasses.)

    Overall, Colorado is more brown than green. I was feeling jealous, until you posted that picture of the snake. I’m willing to sacrifice the green if it means I don’t have to worry about as many snakes in the bushes. :)

    Reply

    • Rebecca says

      I love how “in-the-woods” it looks too! Is that what Richmond suburbs look like? It looks like you live on a couple acres down a country road! Maybe it’s just the photo but wow! I love those big wooded lots!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      There’s definitely a huge range of houses in Richmond. Some are new communities with a lot less tree cover and some art old 50’s developments like ours with the whole wooded thing going on. We definitely appreciate the tucked away feeling!

      xo,
      s

  7. Melissa Arlena says

    We’ve been in our house for 5 years now and this was the year of outdoor projects! We were finally able to reside the house, add a new front door and I planted a huge flower bed in the front. It looks like a brand new house :) I love it!!! We still have a couple projects to tackle like the mailbox and front walkway but our list is almost done!

    Reply

  8. rachel says

    My backyard needs an overhaul. I’m hoping we can get it done next spring. It’s really small so it shouldn’t be a huge ordeal…. famous last words.

    Oh and several months ago a small snake got in the house. I ran out and called anyone that might come to my rescue. Not fun.

    Reply

  9. Lauren says

    We felt like those neighbors when we first moved into our house especially since most of the people in our neighborhood have beautiful yards. The previous owners hadn’t been living here for several months and we moved at the end of spring (weeds were large and in charge at this point!) It’s taken us 3 years to get the yard into decent shape and we’ve been slowly working away at little projects. I’m excited to see how you transform your yard!

    Reply

  10. Irene says

    We are definitely one project at a time people. The first thin we did last year when we bought our house was get rid of the poison ivory. That was unpleasant to say the least.

    Then We got rid of the concrete someone dumped on our property. Again, not pleasant.

    The I started with the front yard, adding azaleas, pachysandra, begonias, and hydrangea to one side. The the other side I added Yes, hosta, and an 8-foot evergreen.

    This past weekend I started working on the tiny strip of grass on the side of the house so I can plant something else.

    Anyway, it’s all a process. One year into owning house house and we are still moving forward, even if it is slow.

    Reply

  11. Kia says

    WAIT ONE SECOND! We have wave petunias on our porch in planters. THEY ARE DYING! Is twice a week watering a problem? I swore the little tag said water daily. And I live in California where it’s hot all the time. Gah.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh man, I’m not sure. Anyone know? Ours bake in the sun but seem to do ok on their own. Which is awesome because I thought we’d kill them for sure! Haha.

      xo,
      s

    • Elizabeth says

      Plants in containers are very difficult to keep watered properly. The ones planted in the ground will almost always do better as they have more natural access to additional moisture when needed.

    • nancyo says

      you should get that fancy Black & Decker plant tester that Katie Bower just blogged about. You know, the plant/soil/water tested that looks like a prego test… but for soil

    • rachael says

      make sure you have holes drilled into the bottom of your planters, otherwise the water has nowhere to escape and your soil will become soggy, and your plants will die.I had that problem with some hostas, my hubby put three holes in the bottom and now they’re thriving! If yours do have holes in the bottom already, try putting your finger into the soil before you water it. If its wet one inch down then don’t water. Or, heres another tip: After you water your planters, if you can, lift your planter, you’ll feel how heavy it is. Lift them later in the week and they’ll feel so much lighter, thats when you know if they need water again. If they’re still heavy, then you’re fine! We have wave petunias in the blazing sun and we’ve only watered them once and they are huge! Good luck.

  12. Molly P-H says

    Y’all have me loving the ORB. Hadn’t ever heard/thought of it and now I love it. Our backyard jungle held every southern shrub known to man, planted w/o an inch of space between them and left to grow out of control for decades. It was the only “major” project that we’ve paid someone to do at our house. My sweet husband LIVES for our pool and backyard — he says it’s his “room” in the house. We got so-oo lucky with the deck and pergola part of things. It was the height of the real estate crash and these local custom home builders and phenom carpenters took the job and that deck and pergola are AMAZING! You can’t see a single screw or plate holding the pergola together. The shrubs are base plantings and we’ve got to get more color out there. Still, though, we look at the “before” pictures and can’t even believe it. The only thing that I miss is that we had the most lovely bridal wreath spirea out there. Sniff. But I’m going to work it into the front yard somehow :). Molly in FL

    Reply

  13. Shima says

    Somehow a ‘baby’ snake got in our house. We didn’t know until my cat started freaking out and attacking it in it’s hiding place. My husband (hero!) whacked it til it stopped moving and got rid of it. We’ve checked everywhere for how it got in, but no clue. I don’t care about how it got in, just that it was IN MY HOUSE. Would it be an overreaction to sell the house and move? Also, are snakes pack animals or are they loners? I would hate to think there’s a second or third one somewhere.

    Reply

  14. Meghan says

    I love how you guys respond so much to comments- you’re both such friendly bloggers :) I absolutely LOVE your blog, and you have inspired many things around my house. I just wish I had enough time to do everything I want to do… anywho, just wanted to chime in that I did a mailbox spray paint makeover last month, and I love it! We have a little skinny mailbox attached to our house, and it went from rusty white to textured black. We have white siding, so it’s so nice to finally see the mailbox, instead of seeing a strange growth protruding from the siding… Over the past year we’ve completely gutted our landscaping too. We had monstrous yews that were threatening to swallow our house. We had to hire guys with a backhoe to rip them out (don’t worry, we called 811 first :))! I now have a lush, diverse, up-to-date assortment of perennials. It’s crazy how much it changed the look of our house, and I absolutely love it. Keep up the great work! You are an inspiration to so many DIYers :)

    Reply

  15. Ashley says

    We live in Charlottesville, and I swear, there is something in the water here too. Every summer without fail, we come home from a week-long vacation with a notice to mow our “unkept lawn”! Crazy how fast it grows!

    Reply

  16. Carolyn says

    My favorite items on your to-do list:

    1. Compost! I want to build one like that too and could use some inspiration : )
    2. Painting the front door, because paint is just exciting, and you don’t get to do it on the exterior too often (and I’m also debating what color to paint our door)
    3. And of course just the overall woodsy effect taking shape, while still keeping it manageable. Nice challenge.

    Thanks for the updated backyard tour!

    Reply

  17. windylou says

    We have a “naturalized” patch in our back yard that I haven’t decided what to do with yet. I bought a few packets of wildflower seed mix and some cosmos seeds I saved from last year and threw them back there. No one has complained yet, and there are at least a few nice flowers poking through the weeds. Some of the weeds are quite pretty to me, so I hate to till it all out.

    One project at a time – CL helps – I can’t count how many free plants I’ve given and received. Definitely use CL for budget friendly yard filler – people in my area are always offering free plants. CL is also great for free landscaping materials and patio bricks!

    Reply

  18. Katie says

    We’ve been in our house for 4 years & it’s taken us this long to get the outside looking the way we want it. We’re about 80% there, but I forsee it taking another year or so until it feels “complete” (or whenever we change our mind about something…whichever comes first!). And if it makes you feel any better, we got a written notice from the city for chipping paint on the outside of our house (fix it in 4 months or we get fined…ouch!). Darn our 102 year old cedar shingle house. I’ll take your long grass any day!

    Reply

  19. KimT says

    Love the mailbox. And you do realize your new snake friend is after your frog friend, right? We get little frogs in our area, and then the garter snakes come right after…(you can start humming The Circle of Life now)

    Reply

  20. Kami says

    I need to do two things from your list: paint the front door and frame out the old square busted columns on the porch. Cant wait to see those posts!

    Reply

  21. Emily says

    OK snakes…my mom’s beautiful antique store sits against a wooded hillside in her mountain town, and every now and then, she will find a snake IN her store! I have seen her call this caricature ‘snake man’ who wears snakeskin boots, has a snake emblem on his belt, and i swear he even drove a cobra. He apparently is the best in town, and even animal control calls him!

    P.S. i also make lists just to cross things off :)

    Reply

  22. rachael says

    I love the size of your lot! I can’t wait to see what else you end up doing there. We’ve never been told to mow our lawn, but last summer when our baby was born, we’d go for a walk and find pulled weeds on our yard from the beds that lined the sidewalk. Someone was giving us major hints!! I want your opinion on something though: Do you think that your door handle set, light fixture and mailbox(if its on the house) should all be the same color?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, good question! I think brass seems to “clash” with other finishes (like brushed nickel or ORB) but something like a cast iron or black lantern and an ORB handle or even brushed nickel can layer nicely- just eye it and see what you think! Oh but as for the mailbox something bright is fun (ex: red mailbox on house with orb lantern and door knob).

      xo,
      s

  23. Lauren says

    We are in summer #7 of the one-project-at-a-time journey with our yard here in Indiana. I’d say we still have 2 or 3 more summers to go before it’s completely “done”.

    Reply

  24. James says

    By the way — it looks like you’re mowing that super-tall grass with the mulching plug on left on the mower. I’m all about mulching grass clippings, but if you have tall grass, it’s often easiest to take the plug out and put in the guard on the side, so the grass will shoot out and keep from bogging down the mower’s engine. Then you can rake up (or mow over) the long clippings to keep them from killing the grass. Or you can leave them, because maybe killing that grass is best!

    Reply

  25. Jen says

    Learn from our mistake- remove that tree that is planted “on” your house ASAP! Just yesterday I posted about our experience removing a tree that was planted too close to the house. Unfortunately, we waited too long and it did permanent damage.

    Reply

  26. Krystal says

    Have I ever seen a sneaky little snake? No. Have I ever seen two gargantuan snakes? Yes. My parents recently bought 11 acres of vacant land and one weekend while working on the cleanup my dad found this rusty metal box in a pile of wreckage. He picked it up and two giant snakes came slithering out. I estimate that they were about 10 and 12 feet long. I screamed and ran. I have no shame.

    Reply

  27. sophie says

    You know, neighbourhood associations are just like police. Instead of being there to ask if you need any help, they’re there to hit you on the head with your various infractions (or to tell you that you’re not allowed to hang your laundry outside). So, so glad that we don’t have any in our city. I’ve heard too many horror stories from others.

    Reported to the association, indeed. Honestly. If you really want to be neighbourly, you offer to help if it looks like something is getting out of control. You don’t offer veiled threats. sheesh.

    Reply

  29. Anne says

    Eek. That’s a little too much au natural for me! I’m just getting over my previous place. It was a nightmare and my landlord’s/ roommate’s responsibility to take care of the yard which she never did of course! So our house was ” those people” in the neighborhood. Our grass was overgrown which turned in a haven for weeds, snakes, and rodents. No thanks! I started mowing it and it got a lot better, but when I moved it got twice as bad I guess.
    And what is pine straw? Like pine needles? Is that a landscaping groovy out there cause here we are trying to get rid of it. No one likes it here. And it of course falls of the trees naturally and can be a big fire hazard here for us. Just curious why eastners like it, just baffles me :)

    Reply

    • Rebecca says

      Yep, it’s pine needles, beloved as mulch by Southern gardeners. I don’t know about everybody, but I like it because it is supposed to be very eco-friendly. It lets water drip through to the ground steadily, so it doesn’t pool up in puddles like some mulch does. It breaks down into the soil eventually. It isn’t made from hardwood, so no chopping down trees. I have been told that it doesn’t run the risk of importing termites to your house like you might with wood chip mulch. And it does not contain dyes/colorants/chemical treatments commonly used on wood chip mulch. And although pine trees can add acid to your garden (sometimes bad for other plants) the pine straw does not have that problem. OK, this is a lot of info on pine straw. I’m not usually this excited about mulch. My post-lunch coffee must have kicked in! :-)

  30. Laura says

    We were totally those neighbors….

    We bought our first house in the winter and didn’t own a lawnmower working long hours in the big city didn’t allow for much time to get to a store to buy one and our neighbor actually mentioned that the town can ticket you for now mowing. We got our mower real quick!

    Reply

  31. Rachel @ Common to Moms says

    “So I wiped down all the bird poo with a wet cloth (I live a glamorous life) and used my favorite ORB spray paint (hi my name is Sherry and I have an ORB problem)”- you are too funny! And the mailbox and flowers look great- the squirrel is such an awesome touch, so much better than what we inherited (a weird swan with a hole to plant things in and a frog that was NOT cute).

    We also have weeds growing all around our house. We have lived in our house for 3 1/2 years and haven’t gotten around to replacing weeds with actual pretty plants. But we also have never had any neighbors say anything to us… Although once a neighbor mowed our lawn for us (it’s small) while they were mowing theirs since it had been so long since the hubby had mowed it last… haha! I guess they took the non-confrontational route. (Just remembered that) :)

    Reply

  32. laxsupermom says

    We’re definitely one project at a time folks mostly because we’re mostly empty wallet folks. We’ve found a couple of snakes in our yard, but they’re just garter snakes. And we have gargantuan weeds, too, but no neighbors suggesting we tidy up, because there’s no HOA here.

    Your mailbox looks great, as do your petunias! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  33. Meg says

    Hi Sherry, thanks so much for the spraypainting tips! I have used the same ORB spraypaint that you used on a few items around my house and also our front metal gate. My question is, when you put your ORB spraypainted things outside, like your mailbox or patio furniture, did you notice that when the sun hits it particularly bright, it gets this, um, sparkly look? Like really glittery sparkly? Not sure if I like this effect or not and wondered if you noticed it too?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, it has sort of a dulled and subtle metallic shine, but most of the time it looks like glossy chocolate to me. Maybe you just get some intense sun and it’s magnified? Sounds pretty though. Like glittering Edward from Twilight. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  34. val says

    We could all use a little more nature in our lives. This morning, I watched a hummingbird feed on Agastache, Monarda, and native honeysuckle. Then I saw a sparrow eating bugs in my vegetable garden and watched a goldfinch eating the seeds on my coneflower. I felt like I was in Bambi–all of this in a small urban backyard.
    Kudos for considering a more natural approach (and especially for not killing the snake). It will save you time and money in the long run, and you have SO much land to care for!
    Maybe a garden center or native plant society can provide some resources for how to deal with that side yard without the neighborhood scolds taking offense. I really didn’t think it looked that bad, but as you have seen it isn’t as easy as just letting it do its thing–we have too many exotic species that take over faster than a natural succession would take place.
    So many older neighborhoods are losing their older trees, and they often do not get replaced. That is an issue here in northern Virgina, but I have the challenge of a huge vegetable garden that I don’t want to shade. At the same time, I value the 100 year old oaks and maples that make up my view tremendously. It is a really a big responsibility having a yard–I am just glad I don’t have a neighborhood association looking at my “grass” (mostly weeds). It is not even remotely on my priority list.

    Reply

  35. Jody says

    Awesome updates! Love the survivor hosta, they are so hardy!
    Do you know what the bushes are lining the walkway to your front door? Have you considered pruning them? I am working on a small boxwood hedge to frame my rhododendruns, annabelle hydrangeas and ivory halo dogwoods. Its a low, neat and petite hedge that frames the plants in nicely. I was a little worried about my shearing skills but it was simple to do, i am looking forward to doing it again actually! It might be fun to try it out before you spend hours and hours digging them up and transplanting them! I transplanted a black lace elder earlier this summer and it didn’t tolerate the move very well. I see signs of life but it won’t be pretty to look at until next summer at the earliest.
    Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Most of those bushes will have to be transplanted (they’re boxwoods, so they’re semi-hard to cut waaay back, and they’re way too big for where they are) but we’ll definitely keep ya posted if we find a way to go with pruning instead of digging! We’re huge fans of posting you-dig-them-and-they’re-yours ads on Craigslist so the bushes get to live on and we have a nice cleared area without doing any labor. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  36. Wendy says

    Oh good grief. The photo of the snake gave me chills. Any idea what kind it is or if it’s poisonous?

    We’re a one (or two) projects at a time kind of family. We don’t have much of a yard since we live in the city, so I can’t even imagine how much work it must be. It’s looking great! Keep up the good work.

    Reply

  37. Audrey says

    My husband and I bought a house two years ago with ZERO existing landscaping (just a few trees and grass). We are definitely taking it one phase at a time. We have so many ideas but it’s not a great time to plant right now in the 100 + degree Texas heat! Ready for Fall. Thanks for the inspiration!!

    Reply

  38. Maggie says

    I used to live in Northern Virginia, and people who had a lot of overgrowth could rent a goat for bush hogging (goats even eat poison ivy). You might see if that would help get some stuff under control. Plant wildflowers where you are naturalizing (Virginia bluebells are my favorite wildflower), and neighbors will be happier. I once had a bullsnake appear in my house. It was about 3 feet long — non poisonous, but I had to push it outside with a broom. Boy, was it annoyed!

    Reply

  39. Jane says

    Your post came in a perfect time. We have to replace our mailbox due to new restrictions by our HOA. I have studied the mailbox and decided to spray pain and save some money. But I cannot figure out how to “unmount” it from the post. Where are the screws located? Mine seems to be exactly like yours, so give me some tips on how to take it down so I can spray paint. Thanks!

    Reply

  40. Whitney says

    How about your neighbors mowed your lawn for you? Yeah that happened to us. Embarrassing. To our defense my brother-in-law had our mower and we were gone for a week prior. Still feel like a dork.

    Reply

    • sophie says

      we were thinking of mowing the neighbours’ lawn, but not because we felt it loooked out of control. Rather, to make it look like they were home – they’re travelling for three weeks and a freshly mowed lawn gives that ‘we’re home’ signal. Just after we discussed it, someone came to mow it for them – they must have asked a relative! But we would have done it, just as we pick up groceries for friends with new babies or empty mail for others or mow for people who are just dealing with too much.

      Much nicer than ‘hinting’ about being reported.

  41. angel p says

    Several years ago we had a pair of Coach Whip snakes living in the weep holes of our house. I thought it was hilarious but my poor husband could barely stand to come into the house for fear they would find a way inside. After a few weeks of irritating them they finally moved on and found a new home but not before jumping at my husband as he mowed the grass and nearly giving him a heart attack. hee hee.
    As for grass, we are in Texas with scorching temps so our grass is now approximately 1/2 dead in our front yard and will need to be replaced in the fall so we aren’t even having to worry with mowing at the moment to much. About every 3rd week is covering it which is perfect with my husband.
    Love your new mailbox redo. Looks great!

    Reply

  42. Karen says

    My yard is the size of a postage stamp and it’s still an overwhelming project. I can only imagine the projects in a yard your size! I’ve been working on it one project at a time (and blogging about it of course). Our latest yard project was exorcising oversized bushes from the front yard: http://yearofserendipity.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/curb-appealed/
    My best snake story happened when I was in middle school I think. I looked out my bedroom window in my parents house and saw a baby garter snake looking back at me from the bush. He was perched like you see the cartoon snake tamers with his front half ‘siting up’ and we apparently had a staring contest eye-to-eye. Not the scariest, but definitely NOT what I was expecting to see outside my window.

    Reply

  43. Gracie says

    Oh, I hate snakes. So scary! We started raising chickens a few years back and now see tons of snakes every summer. The worst one was when one of those suckers got on top of our screen door. It was crawling across the top of the door and would slip every now and again and almost fall into the house. I completely freaked out. My husband was out in the pasture at the time and I didn’t know how to get his attention. I tried to raise the kitchen window to yell out to him, but I was so panicked I couldn’t get the window up (our windows have lead weights in them so they are really heavy). I just started pounding on the glass and thank God he heard me and came running up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t forewarn him about the snake, so when he opened the screen door to run into the house that snake fell right on his head. I’ll never forget that day and I’m sure he won’t either. Poor guy.

    Reply

    • Jenn says

      I had to reply to this because this is the only other “snake fell on my head” story that I’ve ever heard aside from my own, so I feel better that I’m not the only person on the planet who has had such a random encounter. My flying assailant was a black snake, and while I know they are the “good” kind of snake, anything that comes at me via aerial attack is going on my list of things that must die immediately.

      That said, I live in Florida now and plenty of friends have had close encounters of the slithering kind in their lawns and driveways. Down here, they get water moccasins, which you have to kill, as they are one of the few kinds of snakes that’s very aggressive and will come after you unprovoked. I call them the “roid rage snakes”.

    • Ashley says

      Oh my gosh, I have a story like this! One day I opened the screen door on my back porch and a little snake fell right on my head. No one else was home at the time. A few hours later when everyone was there, I told them what happened and while reenacting the whole scene, I opened the screen door and THE SNAKE FELL ON MY HEAD AGAIN. He had crawled right back up into his spot. I just stood there stunned…of course everyone else thought it was hilarious, haha.

    • Ashley says

      Oh it was crazy funny, I was just so shocked and dumbfounded that it had happened AGAIN that I just stood there with my mouth hanging open for a solid minute while everyone else laughed. :)

  44. Anita says

    Bugs and frogs don’t freak me out but I hate snakes :-( Watch out for copperheads! I remember one of my neighbors found a nest of them in their backyard when I was growing up in Northern Virginia.

    Any plans to remove the fern-y plants lining the left side of your driveway? Looks like a good hiding place for slithery things…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have that monkey grass everywhere- not sure where we’ll keep it and where we’ll dig it up, but we’ll share all those details as we go. And cross our fingers that nothing slithers out to surprise us in the meantime. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  45. Marianne Firth says

    I just wanted to tell you I appreciate you photoshopping out your house numbers! I am always surprised at how many bloggers tell all about their homes, the layout and so forth. Then tell all about their kids and then let everyone know the exact address! You guys set a great example of how to use common sense. I wish more bloggers would follow suit. (I’m looking at you Nie Nie.)

    Reply

  46. Keri Beth says

    Whoa…if John and Sherry could get “reported” to the neighborhood association, what chance do we regular folk have of staying on top of the house and yard? I hate to weed, don’t like to mow, and am fantasizing ways to cut down on both jobs in my yard. Giant berry patch? Black weed-preventing fabric in all the beds?

    Reply

  47. Tara says

    We moved into our first house last fall and it is very obvious that the folks who lived here before us were retired! The backyard is way over planted (seriously, we have a 3 square foot plot of grass in our entire, albeit small, backyard) and the front is being taken over by we-desperately-need-to-be-divided fountain grasses.

    I have all intentions of gutting the back yard (they have some ugly bushes and a spindly pine tree) and making it into a little girl’s butterfly paradise for our twins. But we moved in on Oct 1 and the twins were born on November 1! Needless to say, I’ve not exactly had the time, energy, or ab strength to gut the yard yet. Someday. And then I shall blog about it!

    I did recently attempt to tame some vines growing around our front door. I mentioned it (and Sherry’s Pinterest Challenge) briefly here: http://cottage1910.blogspot.com/2011/07/general-maintenance.html

    Reply

  48. Bboss says

    My back yard here in Charlottesville is very similar to yours. The things I hate about it are tons of leaves in the fall, sticks that fall during wind storms and MOSQUITOS! I could care less about the occasional toad, snake, bat or even deer. We (royally speaking, of course) just maintain with occasional bursts of energetic projects over the 7 years we’ve been here.

    Reply

  49. Jaime says

    Have you ever thought of clearing your “natural” area and deliberately planting prairie grass or some other wild grasses? Could be a more controlled chaos. The development we used to live in had wild grasses growing everywhere and it was lovely.

    Reply

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