Project People - Front & Back

6 years ago this last weekend we bought our house, a house we knew would be a lot of work --- Peri had no idea how much and Kevin swears he knew. The house was built in 1950 and had minimal updating in the 70s and only one occupant, the same family lived here for 56 years.

In the process of redoing our house we became project people... we now have at least one project going at all times, and there is always the "when we have time list" in the background. When the day came that we thought we were done Peri was all of a sudden bored with the master bedroom paint, the original flooring just was not tolerable anymore, and we found out we were having a baby --- so there you go, Round 2 began.

With much of our family not yet having the opportunity to visit we thought doing a house tour here would be fun and allow a preview for when they can come on by. This post will include the renovation of the front yard and the backyard, and future posts will go through the rooms of the house.

Curb appeal was not what drew us to this house... but it became an instant goal when we closed escrow. This is the before picture of the house, sold sign still standing!

We did not like the flat roof so we had it raised, installed central heat and air, removed the 2nd driveway to the right of the house, painted, added a brick path, and re-landscaped. For the first year or two of renovations we pretty much ignored the front yard --- neighbors we still apologize for the travesty that our front yard became, but we love the current look!

And now on to the backyard, currently one of our favorite spaces. 

This space also became a travesty during the interior renovations, but when we had a special party to host we got our acts together and created a backyard that will allow us years of entertainment. When choosing an after picture we could not pick just one...

The lovely deck and lots of benches for seating and storage.

Space for eating.

Room to chat, fire pit coming soon.

Hanging herbs, keeping the goods from the pups.

K's built-in bbq with concrete counters, one of his fav projects to date.

We are waiting for the summer to return so we can host a BBQ and get back to enjoying this awesome space with our son.