prettified
Our house officially went up for sale today.
So, you might be able to imagine how we spent our Memorial Day weekend. Yes, frantically scrubbing and cleaning and organizing. I was, and still am, pretty exhausted from all of it.
The part I enjoyed, was getting to, as HB says, pretty-fy the house. This was the official ‘last frost’ weekend for our area, which meant that it was the first that it was okay to plant annuals. So, I spent an hour on Monday perusing one local nursery and buying enough plants to fill up some pots that I like to put on the porch. Oh, but I have been informed that the porch is not really a porch, no sirree bob. It is a stoop.
A stoop.
hurmpf.
A porch sounds faaaaaaaaaar more appealing, don’t you think?
So, I will continue to call it a porch.
When I started out my planting o’ the annuals, there was a thunderstorm forecast for 6:00 pm. I’d purchased them before lunch, and had a nice 5 hours in which to decide where things would go and plant. Plenty of time. Except I started hearing thunder at 2:15.
CRAP!
I frantically sped up the pace and strategically did the flower bed and mailbox spot first, with the idea that if it really started raining, I could always lug my stuff under or into our enclosed porch to do the pots. This is where the “joy” of gardening becomes a big FAT chore.
Fortune smiled on me, though, and the big, dark clouds skirted the area and rained somewhere else.
The cool wind and thunder at 4:00 was less of an annoyance, because by then, I was on the clean-up and the bonus/frivolous part.
Here is how the front porch (stoop) turned out.
It is welcoming, yes?
(Here is where you lie to me and tell me any person walking up to the house would instantly feel welcomed and homey at such a beautiful sight.)
The shepard’s hooks, rings, and pots that fit in them where my last year’s idea. I am rather fond of them.
Here is a close up of the right side.
The annuals are still just babies, but they’ll get bigger. And when they do, I’ll take closer pics and identify them for you.
This pic also gives you a nice view of our waterfall maple, european ginger (the round leaves that look like little lilypads), and barren strawberry.
I had a little helper when I first got started, and no, it wasn’t the Girlie-girl.
Isn’t he (or she) cool?
By the way, this close up pic is one of the largest file sizes I’ve ever posted. So, please, please tell me if it loads hopelessly slow for you.
After I finished all of the clean up and crap around the yard… (tangent: why is there always more crap to take care of than you realize? hmmm?)
…I vacuumed and scrubbed the enclosed back porch.
And then I got to prettify it too.
I like how it turned out too. Note the hydrangea in the corner still has some blossoms. Surprisingly enough, the blossoms that were originally mostly white, finally turned the same blueish purple as the rest. And the blueish purple ones turned more green. It has been really interesting watching the progression.
- to be continued -
(I have another house prep post in mind for tomorrow night)
Amber says:
Oh Danielle, you must be super busy.
So scary to move, isn’t it? Have you found a place/church yet? Maybe you’ll end up near us and maybe, just maybe, cross each other’s bike paths. haha.
The weather has been nice the last few days and the pool has opened. My lilies are sprouting and my herbs are growing well. They love the sun.
By the way, cool caterpiller.
And the “stoop” DOES look inviting. Flowers are a major turn on for me.
On the right side of the porch, was is that metal..sculpture…of? It looks neat and I noticed it matches the one hanging on your back porch. Very neat.
Momo says:
Very nice, and soooo homey and inviting! Good luck on selling your house.
Oh, how I wish we had a house for me to pretify… One day!
Danielle says:
Thank you both for buoying up my confidence about our house. I keep waffling between thinking it looks pretty good and angst that it needs more… something.
Yes, it is scary to move. But it was much easier when we were leaving apartments. This is our first house, and hence, the first time we’ve had to try to sell a house. We haven’t yet found a place in the Mnnpls/St Paul area, but I’ll email you about where we are looking, Amber.
Funny you ask about the metal sculpture.
Long story, a couple of years ago, I went through this phase where I really really wanted a sculpture or piece of yard stuff that would move with the wind, but that wasn’t a windmill. I was thinking of something kind of modern. Well, the stuff I found on the internet was waaaaaaaaay over my acceptable price range. And then that spring we visited my sister in Texas. At one store that we almost skipped, the artist had that hanging piece out in a tree out front of his studio/shop. I just liked that it could twist in the wind and reminded me of those lizards that you see with the kokopellis sometimes. So when we asked the artist the price, and he mentioned that he had a second one and would give us a deal on them, we jumped at the chance. Which gets us back to _what_ they are. I referred to them as lizards, and he gave me this funny look and said that it was a woman. Whatever. So, to me, it will always be a lizard, but I guess technically, it has hips which are kind of womanly.
And the other thing hanging in the porch, actually spins in a really cool way with the wind. The inner piece will go one direction while the outer piece will go a second direction. My parents, who knew about my quest for a spinning piece of yard art, got it for HB and I as a Christmas present the following Christmas.
Cristin says:
very prettyful, Danielle. the PORCH is very welcoming. As the annuals grow and start to spill out of the pots (don’t you love that stage?) you will be appreciated by potential home-buyers as a garden queen.
Love the table set up on the back porch too. My aunt is a realtor and she says those ‘extra touches really make a difference.
Good luck!
Closet Metro says:
Your place looks great. The house next door to me went on the market this week too. Want to be my next door neighbor?
Amber says:
That’s funny. I thought it was a lizard, too. A lizard doing some weird twisty backflip sort of thing.
Way too weird. But ultra neat.
LadyBug says:
1. I thought it was a lizard, too. If it’s a woman, she’s veeerrryyy flexible.
2. I LOVE the fuzzy caterpillar. Growing up in Lubbock, the door to our storage building was often COVERED in fuzzy caterpillars. I never see the fuzzy ones here in Small Town. Just the plain, green, un-fuzzy variety.
3. A porch is the area outside your door. STOOP is what you do when you bend over and reach down at the same time. Just my humble (and supportive) opinion.
4. The house looks GREAT. You did an excellent job of pretty-fying it. This is the part where I tell you that, not only would any visitor feel instantly welcome and homey, but a potential homebuyer would just have their socks knocked off by all your attention to detail. *Here’s a virtual pat on the back for ya.*
Squirl says:
I’m agreeing with everyone here. It all looks lovely. Good luck on getting it sold soon.
Danielle says:
Yay! You have all boosted my confidence immensely!
thank you bunches and bunches.
*BIG GRIN*
poopie says:
HONEY…everything loads painfully slow in my dial up world
Your house looks lovely…and I love that critter 
SeaQueen says:
The house looks great! Btw, I always thought they WERE lizards. go figure. had the artist met many women