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How Landscaping Changed our 100 Year Old House

Have you noticed how landscaping seems to be overlooked or such an afterthought it doesn’t get much of a budget of time or money? Unfortunately, that lack of priority can detract from a property so much.

Case in point…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

Our 100 year old house had been neglected for several years. In fact when we bought it, it was bank owned and though they had contracted with a company to do the ‘lawn maintenance’ it was such minimal care it was actually harming the trees and everything looked unkempt and a little miserable outside. They had ‘dumped’ the grass clippings into the trap rock all along the East border of the property and had allowed what was once a lovely hedge to be completely overgrown and overtaken with the very invasive weed trees Buckthorns. It was a total mess!

This is a picture of the house trying to look good for the realtor’s pic back when we bought it:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com How Landscaping Made a Big Difference

The shrubs and tree hydrangea hadn’t been pruned or fertilized for ages and showed sadly the lack of care.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

The front sidewalk was filled with overgrown hostas that looked horrible blocking the beautiful wide walkway up to the entrance, and weren’t happy growing in that much sun anyway.

We started by just cleaning and clearing and pruning. There were years worth of half composted grass clippings laying in piles everywhere! The lawn came back nicely with a few treatments of weed and feed from our local lawn maintenance company.

In the cleaning process, I noticed a brick by the front sidewalk under a hosta… I started to dig and discovered the entire front landscaping had at one point had a brick edging that was totally covered up with turf. I spend an entire day one Saturday afternoon sitting with my trowel and bucket and dug up the entire brick border, laid down more dirt and and re-set the brick edging.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

Some of the hostas did stay. 🙂 The ones by the front foundation that are in the shade. However I dug up all the hostas that were flanking the front sidewalk. (split them up planted a few in back by the gazebo and gave a bunch to the neighbor)

I then replanted a hedge of boxwood in the beds flanking the front sidewalk.

I love the look of  boxwood, but up until recently it just wasn’t hardy enough for our climate in NW Wisconsin. (30 miles E of St. Paul/ Mpls) However, now there is this fairly new hardy variety called ‘Chicagoland’. It’s slow growing, so very little pruning is necessary. I’ve had it in now for 3 years and besides very minimal winter kill on a couple of small branches, it’s fantastic!

Besides the boxwood hedge running on each side of the sidewalk, I have Bergenias at the top, by the lions. They are wonderfully hardy, shade loving plants with large round cabbage like leaves and send up a tall stem with pink flowers in early spring.

At the end of the sidewalk, by the entrance I have creeping Phlox, so lovely in bloom and what a great ground cover. And for some height and tall visual interest, I have 2 tall black iron topiary forms with white miniature Clematis growing on them.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com landscaping

Here’s a patience reminder about Clematis I learned: ‘The first year they sleep, the 2nd year they creep and the 3rd year they leap!’ And boy was that true with ours… the first year we thought they were mostly dead, but by the 3rd year they’re amazingly full!

The boxwood in the planters are great ways to bring some greenery up onto the large porch, but none of them are alive… They are all faux boxwood… but they are good fake ones. Even being that close to the real ones by the sidewalk, they look very believable.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

Adding the white privacy fence helped tremendously with the look and feel of the yard and landscaping. It defines the space, sets a beautiful backdrop for plants and structures, like the screened gazebo, and gives a sense of peace and serenity by offering an element of privacy to the yard. (click here to see the moving of the screened gazebo onto the property)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

Of course our big vintage concrete lions add a special touch to the landscape.  (click here to see the before and after of the lions)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

Here is one the Bergenia when it was first planted.

When considering the landscape, it’s important to include the porch in that plan too.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

This vintage wicker was brought to life with some fun pillows and a quick sew DIY cushions. (click here to read the tutorial)

The porch floor which was yucky grey indoor/outdoor carpet was replaced with this composite decking: (click here to see that project)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

That made a huge difference in the look and feel of the porch, which is the entrance guests all use.

Once we pruned and started to maintain the shrubs a little better, they eagerly thanked us with profuse flowers!

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

The tree hydrangea, once pruned properly sends all it’s energy to select branches now and produces humongous blooms that continue to deepen in color all summer and dry beautifully for arrangements. (click here to see how to properly prune a hydrangea tree)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

The final addition to the landscape was this Victorian style arbor and fence.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

We planted hydrangeas along it that will fill out nicely. I love how it defines the front yard from the backyard now and so beautifully adds to the lovely character of the historical home. (click here to see the installation of the fence and with a sod-cutting video)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com how landscaping changed our 100 year old house

I should mention that we also had the house washed and repainted. Even though it was white before and is still white, with a blue door this time and softer color on the stone supports/foundation, but still pretty much the same color as it was before, it is just so fresh and clean now.

Did you know I now offer e-decorating? I can help you with your decorating needs via email, without having to step foot in your home. If you’re interested in more information, visit my e-decorating site: Frame and Frills. I’d love to help you with your project!

Here are more of my gardening and landscape tips and ideas:

Vintage-Seahorse-Birdbath-Re-Do
Dry Stack Stone Planter
DIY Compost Bins
Potting Shed
Backyard Boat Pond
DIY Simple Deer Proofing
raised bed container gardening title
before  after front garden landscaping
How to Prune a Peegee Hydrangea
before  after circular garden
before and after front terraced garden
we had to cut down 13 trees
1-in the garden with water walls and cloches
Ingenious Tips to DIY this Planter
Turtles and Window Boxes
install this arbor and fence in one day
DIY Brick Edging
Transplanting Stella D'Oro Daylilies
spring-planter-arrangement
Garden & Landscape Inspiration
moving-a-screened-gazebo-onto-the-property
2 pergolas  garden update
Humidity Tray for Orchids
Creative-Planters
Window-Boxes-inside-a-2nd-story-porch
rooftop-garden
Creating-an-Oasis-with-a-Water-Fountain
snug-harbor-farm
Tips on Forcing Bulbs Indoors
The-Story-of-a-Blue-Jay-Title-Page
The-Beauty-of-Fences1
What-is-this?
How I re-did these Concrete Lions
Before and After Landscape and a DIY Pergola
DIY Window Well Installation
Growing Grass in a Vintage Scale
DIY Hanging Terrarium
Kid's Craft DIY Miniature Fairy Garden

Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin etc… the more the merrier! And don’t forget to follow SimpleDecoratingTips.com on YouTube too!  I appreciate you stopping by.

This post is linked up at these other sites: Thrifty Decor Chick

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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