{The House} Front and Side Yard Clean Up

Who doesn't love a good before and after? This one is mostly a time and weather issue but I did have to go in and clean up a bunch of the overgrowth I allow to stay for the winter months. Why do I do it? Because it provides food (flower seeds), shelter, and nutrition for the ground. Once I see bugs moving around, I'll clean it up and send some off to the local landfill (yard waste only). Some goes into my own compost. 

Among the pretty growth of my perennial flowers, you'll notice the switch of pots. I took all my blue pots and grouped them on my back patio. These two matching pots look nice here with the arbor and then I added some new white and black pots for my front porch. I'll do a separate post for it as it still needs some work. 

Unfortunately after I took this photo, we had a hard freeze so I'm not sure how my sweet potato vines are doing. I may replace them this weekend if they don't perk back up tody and toorrow with the warmer weather. I cut off the brown leaves and they aren't completely dead yet. The rest is looking great though! I plan on updating this photo often as the plants continue to grow and bloom. I need to take out a lot of my purple coneflower and replace my butterfly bush I lost a few years ago, but that'll maybe happen this summer. 

Check on my Instagram account - thebrickbungalow - for more photos as I work on the yard and show off what's in bloom. 

 

{Kitchen Remodel} Paint!

 

{Kitchen Remodel} Drywall

My dad, working on my house. I wouldn't have any of this without him! He's amazing and I'm a lucky, lucky daughter! 

 

{Kitchen Remodel} Added Depth for Insulation

 

{Kitchen Remodel} Destruction, Part 3

 While I'm working, my parents sometimes send me pictures. The top two pics are some they've sent. The first one is from under the back door as they took it out and replaced it with a new one. They put it back as it worked perfectly but it was cool to see a name on it. 

Then my dad sends me this photo and jokes about taking the rest of the day off, leaving a giant hole in my house. Luckily he replaced the window and made my house more energy effiecient. 

And yes, I'm fully aware of the perks of keeping old windows. Trust me, we debated it all. However, our windows aren't all the cool, original ones (some are) but had damage, cracks, and were definitely not energy efficient. 

{Garden} Before and After Shots

HappyWednesday friends!!! I was on my computer this weekend and found this old shot. It's about the first "before" photo we took of what is now known as Lily's Garden. But let's imagine it without the foundation stones and that stump of a plant was more like 8 feet tall. 

 Just a bit farther down the driveway (you can't see where the rose bush used to be) but you can see all the progress!

I guess I feel the same way about this garden as some bloggers do about their home's interior. I look at this garden multiple times a day, work on it whenever I can (a lot in the summer) and truly enjoy watching things grow and trying a few different plants. I've added a few this year but I really just like watching what's here grow. That's the plus side of having a lot of perennials!

I won't ever say this garden is done but the majority is definitely done. The foundation stones aren't moving, the brick edges are done, the rock path has been in place for awhile now and the majority of plants are staying where they are. Only a few spots for annuals and my container collection still grows, but now it's just time to watch things grow!

I'm working on finding more before and after comparison shots, so make sure you come back and visit!!! 

{Bathroom} Catch Up

Let's play some catch-up, ok? 

I've been a bad blogger lately. It's a good thing that this isn't my job (or will it ever be, in all honesty). But that's life. Last week we took a trip to Kansas City to see Doug's parents, watch a Royals game (a win!), go shopping (hello World Market!), and then go to World's of Fun with Lily. Talk about busy!

Then reality came back to us in the form of work, meetings, classroom set up, lesson plans, etc. 

Needless to say, the posts are lacking. So maybe I can make it up to you? 

Here are my beautiful new floors. I'm in love. Insert big smiling face and hearts shooting from my eyes. 

The door casing, before we puttied the holes and started painting. Notice how I said started? Yeah… the trim's not done. There's this thing called work. And kids. And life. Yep. But really, isn't it going to look so great once it's done? The bright white craftsman style trim next to the paint color? Swoon! 

This is in Instagram photo (follow me @thebrickbungalow). The window is frosted (from the manufacturer) to add privacy. This is the bathroom, after all! And our neighbor's side deck is just outside the window. 

And then here's the beast. I lovingly call it that. My dad and Doug may have other names for it. It's one solid piece, weighing in at about 250 lbs. True story. Black granite countertop, under mount sinks, soft close drawers and cabinets. This is missing the backsplash piece. 

I bought a double bar, hard mounted shower curtain rod. We decided to push it back in towards the tub just enough to make it still feel huge on the inside but not take up too much floor space. The directions wanted the black holder to line up with the edge of the shower. It just seemed weird. Maybe we're the weird ones? 

And the toilet is in! This was during the installation as we had to go back for a different size hose hook up.

So those are the only pictures I have right now. My big camera's battery died, so it'll charge and I'll update with new photos soon. I'd like to get the trim painted this weekend. There's some minor touch ups on the walls too that need dealt with. My dad is working on the medicine cabinets and we need to hang up one more light. 

Although there's stuff still to do, it's minor in comparison to what has happened. I absolutely love this bathroom. The color combination, how we enlarged it, changing the layout, and everything new is just so nice. 

Want to see what it used to look like?!

Now, let's remember this was when we bought the house - I soon removed the wallpaper (white dots on ceiling, border, and decorative piece under lights), painted everything, and replaced the shower curtain. 

{Garden} Butterfly Bush

So until a couple of days ago, I thought our miniature butterfly bush was dead. Luckily, on the day I was going to rip it out, I checked under some dead leaves and mulch and much to my surprise, it had growth on it!!

Now I don't need to worry about replacing it and can dream of the day it looks like the below picture again!

Are you working in your garden? Do you have a garden?

Now that Lily's Garden is pretty much done, minus a few tweaks, I'll be moving onto our backyard finally. It's a hot mess of a semi-removed tree (all but the stump), a bunch of weeds, some grass, dog paths and holes bigger than me thanks to a 100 pound dog who wants to dig to China.