Amping Up Our Garden Game

Well, it seems that since Nolan arrived I've jumped back on the blogging bandwagon. I'm not sure how often I'll actually be blogging, but I hope to share a lot more of what we're up to this year. We really have accomplished a lot, I've just slacked on sharing it.

Some of my favourite projects that B has tackled (being totally  honest), are the updates he's made to our front yard. We obviously loved the curb appeal of this home from the moment we first saw it, we just thought it had the potential to be so much more...

This was the year! Two years after buying and moving into our home, we decided that we needed to step up our garden game! B ripped out the four rhododendron bushes by the front porch, removed the red lava rock and expanded our garden space. We wanted it to be pretty, but still functional, so we have a nice mix of pretty flowers, and edible plants as well.

The "Welcome" sign, I made last year. The wood is a piece of pine we bought at ReStore for $3. I stained it using leftover stain from our dining table, then hand painted the letters. We sealed the sign with a spray poly just to ensure it wouldn't suffer too much from the elements (even though it's under an overhang).

The wood planters we bought at a local farm store last year and B put in some decorative grass he bought at our Farmer's Market, along with some marigolds. Our hanging baskets we bought on Mother's Day at a sale that was being held by the local Cub Scouts. We just couldn't pass them up.

I love our wildflowers that B planted right at the front of the garden. They are all so tiny and pretty and add so much colour!

This rose bush was only planted the other week. B's Dad bought it for us from our farmer's market. It probably won't stay in this garden forever, as we are learning what works where and how everything goes. I just couldn't resist this colour though! It's so vibrant.

I'd say that our corner garden and picket fence have added the most to our curb appeal this summer. If you follow along in Instagram you may remember the photo of my Mom helping B to build the fence a few days before Nolan was born. He hand cut all of the pickets using scrap wood we had and painted everything before putting it together. The black caps are solar lights and came as a pack of four from RONA... so we have a spare if we ever need it. This garden is definitely more full...

We have tons of marigolds (lots more in the yard) as B saved all of the heads from last years flowers for seeds. B used a bunch to edge this garden and they add some nice colour.

This lupin is the center of our little corner garden and it's so beautiful. The colour and flowers are so unique and are apparently edible. We'll need to do a bit more research on harvesting and cooking before we do anything. From what I understand, we will want to soak them for a while before we eat them.

It's definitely coming along nicely out there! A big improvement from our once barren front lawn. Now if only we could get a little bit of rain out here to keep our grass looking green... yup, serious lack of rain on the so-called "wet coast". We have water restrictions in place already and fire bans in place too - not so good for camping season.

And just for some extra eye candy - my handsome hubby and sweet boy kicking back on the porch swing that B built for us last year...

Has anyone else been working on their gardens this season? Trying new plants or layouts? What are some of your favourite flowers or edible plants?

Upon Arrival

While I've been plugging along inside and making some good progress in our rental, sadly, we've left the outside feeling rather neglected. It really isn't the most inviting looking home from the outside, especially when so many of the other homes in our neighbourhood look so manicured. 


I won't scare you off with photos of the exterior of this place, but why not take a look at some of the things that are inspiring me to make our little place more pretty and homey for the time being. 


One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of sprucing up our front yard, is to add some pretty planters by the front door. They are the perfect way to add some colour, and when we are ready to move on from our rental, it can all come with us. It's a win-win situation. Something like these lattice planters, available at The Home Depot, would be perfect!

Or maybe something a little more simple that I could decorate as I please. I think that these Square Cedar Planters would be a great little project, and at only $31.61 each - they don't break the bank!

Aside from our planters, we have a small garden bed off to the right of our front door. It lies directly beneath our dining room window, and at the moment is empty... with the exception of some weeds. B and I have been discussing planting something in there to pretty it up a little and I'd like something that does well in the shade, and won't need a ton of attention from us. I'm leaning more towards a leafy plant that can add some colour, rather than flowers whose blooms can die off anyway. After flipping through a slideshow over on Better Homes and Gardens, the Coleus really jumped out at me...

I love the bright shade of green and red together! So bright and pretty, and no flowers required!

Then of course there is the obvious step - a seasonal wreath! Though I know that a floral wreath is pretty traditional for the summer months, I'm not much of a floral wreath type of lady. So when I spotted this lemon wreath on Pinterest... I was sold! After checking out this great how-to, I think this is a legit project that I would like to tackle soon...

I think this about does it... enough typing and time to start working! I'm feeling highly inspired to get things spruced up out front. Time to go out in search of supplies!

What are your best tips for prettying up the exterior of your rental? Have you been doing any of your own exterior projects recently? I must say... all of this talk about curb appeal, really has me missing our lovely little front porch back in Toronto...

Yup... definitely feeling a little homesick for that tiny home every now and again....

The Garage Facelift

After returning from our long weekend getaway last week, B took the remainder of the week off work to accomplish some projects that we had on the go... as well as start a few others. Now that the weather is finally warming up and we hope to be entertaining and spending more time outside, we've finally turned our attention to our backyard. Here's a shot of what it looked like last spring when we first started cleaning up that disaster area...

Ummm yeah. We're pretty embarrassed by it... all of that dead grass, the weeds and our worse for wear looking garage. Yuck! Last year we did address the dandelions (right after this photo was taken actually), but they always seem to come back hardcore. Our neighbours recently told us that our yard has ALWAYS been bad for weeds. JOY! B has a plan to tackle this issue, but that wasn't quite what he was getting up to last week.

Instead, last week B took the paint we had once used on the front of our home, and mixed it around a little in order to give our garage out back a bit of a face lift. The white needed some love, and the wood was just drab and boring to look at....

... and after B worked his magic...

The grey on the garage is actually the peach we used out front mixed with some white and blue! Glad we were able to use it!


The garage door still needs a coat of the blue to brighten it up, but we're already feeling better about how it looks. Thankfully, B laid some grass seed and fertilizer back in late April, which has helped the grass come in a lot thicker, and last night he got some Scott's Eco-Sense Weed-B-Gon to help rid us of the awful dandelions. 

You'll notice in the first after picture above, a grey patch in the bottom right corner of the photo. B has started to dig up the grass where our new larger garden will eventually go. Like I said, we have some big plans for a gorgeous deck and new landscaping - with most of it to come probably next summer. 

For now, I'm trying to decide what to add to the right of the garage door to spruce up that space. Maybe some sort of planter? Or hang something on the wall itself? What would you do? What outdoor projects are you working on at the moment?

A Little Bit of Privacy

I'd say that yesterday afternoon's post was a pretty good lead into what I wanted to share with you today. With that situation going on next door (and yes, the garbage was not piled on the sidewalk when I got home... thankfully), we wanted to add a little something to our new front garden to give our eyes a break from the whole disaster.

Last Friday we had a small window of glorious weather before the continuous rain hit (it pretty much rained from Friday evening until yesterday, here in Toronto). B and I agreed it was time to start some of the landscaping in our front yard. It's not that much better, but we must say, it's better than what we started with last fall when we began our whole curb appeal transformation...

You've seen the above picture a million times (if you're a regular reader) - but looking back at this always reminds us of how far we've actually come. Before our Friday gardening adventure (okay... mostly B's work, as I'm having a hard time bending over), our front yard was looking a little like this...

On his way home from work on Friday, B made a stop into Costco to pick up 5 cedars. We knew we wanted to add them to the side of our new front deck to give us some privacy from our neighbours front door (as well as hide the ugly that we are forced to stare at). While B was digging and planting, I did what I could to try and clean up some of the weeds from the front lawn. Trust me, that's a huge contribution from the woman who can barely bend.

Three trees went in beside our deck, and two went into the planters we purchased a few months back (also from Costco), to add in front of our home. Here's what we were left with afterwards...

The trees next to the deck have a bit more growing to do, and I've started to look around for some options for an address plaque to add to the left of our front window (and yes... Christmas lights still need to come down....). What I love most about this time of year, is the fluffy pink blooms that appear in our front yard. I only wish they would last longer than they do! 

Have you had any time to get outside and start sprucing up the landscaping yet? Or have you been suffering from cooler temps and never ending rain as well?

Signs of Spring

First off, thank you all so much for your sweet comments on our dresser yesterday! We're both so thrilled with the outcome, and it's exactly what I had pictured for our little girls nursery! So thank you for you stopping by, checking it out and taking the time to leave such nice comments. 


Today, I am taking a little break from the nursery. I have a few more updates to share this week, but wanted to take a chance to head outside and show you what's been popping up in our garden... mostly the front since our backyard is an absolute mess.


For those of you in the GTA, we all know that spring was a little late showing up, so as flowers start to bloom in our garden I'm getting more and more excited. Here's what's been sprouting in our new garden by our front deck...

... we also have a some tulips pushing through the soil by our dogwood on the front lawn...

It's so nice to come home to our nicely finished front entry, with blooms popping up through the ground... and some pretty little buds showing up on our dogwood as well! I can't wait until it's covered in all of those gorgeous pink flowers!

Oh yes... and that would be our new ride parked in the driveway. We'd only had B's work truck for a while, which only had one bench in it, so we needed something that we could safely transport baby in. We opted for the 2011 Hyundai Sonata... and we love it!

Speaking of signs of spring, B and I attended a lovely spring wedding this past weekend and were able to get a picture of the two of us (and the peanut) in front of my parents magnolia. Another tree I cannot wait to see in full bloom...

What signs of spring are you seeing and loving where you are?

Also, a quick shout out to one of my blog friends and fellow Torontonian Heather, over at Interior Groupie who gave me a blog award yesterday! 

My job is to now pass along this award to three blogs with less than 300 followers! My three choices are...

Brittany from Gallery No. Eight, who always has the best inspiration to share!

Chanele from Design Bliss Inc, also a fellow Torontonian AND interior decorating student (at the same school... but we met through blogging). She's been sharing her beautiful loft, as well as some pretty inspiration!

Brittany from My Daily Randomness. Britt and I have been long time blog friends, and she always has a great variety of posts... not to mention she also has a great little shop where she sells her beautiful digital prints!

So head on over and check out my girls and show them some love! They all deserve it... and you won't regret paying any of them a visit either! 

Our Very First Crop!

Back in April I posted about us starting a veggie garden in the backyard. It's now almost August and we're starting to see some progress out there. Mostly with our tomato plants. Check these bad boys out...

There are two regular tomato plants, two roma tomato plants and two cherry tomato plants. That one that is taller than B... yeah that's a cherry tomato plant. Has ANYONE ever seen one that big before? (He's 6'0", and I realize he is bending his head... but still)

Of course, having that many large plants means we have a whole whack of tomato's getting ready to turn! I can't wait to start harvesting them and have some fresh tomato's in our salads! Shouldn't be long now...

So now you'r thinking... so what exactly did you harvest from your tomato dominated garden?? Well, this of course...

Yup! Just one individual green bean. Absolutely perfect. So, we'll have to cook just ONE green bean and enjoy the first crop from our tiny Toronto veggie garden!

Coming Up Roses

When we moved in last July we were thrilled with the two large rose bushes in the front yard. Right outside our front door there were gorgeous mini red and white roses. 


This past spring I spent a full day outside cleaning out the garden and pruning back the plants to allow for new growth. Just over the past two weeks the bushes have absolutely exploded and we have a ton of gorgeous roses decorating the front of our little home.

This past Sunday morning B and I headed out to the dollar store, at my request, and found exactly what I was looking for - a fantastic small square glass vase for only $2. When we arrived back home I snipped a few blooms, and clustered them into my new little vase. 

Love the way they look sitting on the pass through between our living room and kitchen. What's even better is that it only cost $2, as the roses we absolutely free! It made me think, I'd like to go back and pick up a few more of these small vases to use in other rooms around the house.

Have you been enjoying any blooms from your own garden recently?

Veg Out

I've had a bit of an extended absence from blogging - mainly because we've spent the last few days trying to complete a number of projects around the house. With everything that we got done, I'll break our projects up into a variety of posts that I'll share throughout the week.

I wanted to start out with a small project that we started Saturday afternoon. Nothing huge, but a project B and I are both very excited about. We're finally ready to do something with the mess of an area next to our old garage in the back yard (which will also hopefully get a face lift this summer!)

Yeah - I know. Gross right?? Not for long!

After running a few errands on Saturday, B and I headed out back ready to clean up the area that will soon become our own little vegetable garden! Well - B did, and I started on another project that I'll share later this week!

First things first, the little tree's back there had to go (sadly). They were growing through the fence since they were sapplings, so it appears that the fence had actually become part of the tree. We also needed to create more sunlight for our new little veggie patch.

B got to work, cutting and chopping, and later I was in charge of cutting up the trees into manageable sizes for bundling.

With the trees out, B got to work lifting out and moving all of the old patio stones that covered the whole area. Once they were piled up, we laid out some wood to mark out the area that our veggie garden will occupy. A nice large area to allow us to grow all kind of delicious things!

Not too bad right... with the exception of all that junk piled up along the left hand side. Not an issue... B took care of that too!

You can tell by the difference in lighting in all of the pictures that it was a project that took much longer than it took for me to write this post. We're not quite done, I'd like to make the area a little more private from the neighbours - and we plan on changing out the metal fence and gate in the yard with a nice wood one... at some point in the future! We also have some more soil to buy and mix in before we begin planting. I can already taste all of the delicious veggie's we'll be growing and using this summer. I'll keep you posted on our progress!

This was probably the "least exciting" project we tackled this weekend. I have a few more coming this week that I am very excited to share with everyone - so keep an eye out for what's to come this week!