Spring Lovin', Spring Dreamin'

Ahhhh, finally, finally spring is here! Are you enjoying a nice warm up in your area? I believe we are suppose to hit near 80 degrees by week's end in our neck of the woods. Glorious!

I was at one of my second homes the other day {Lowe's Home Improvement, the other being Home Depot} when I called hubs to see if he needed anything. I don't know why, but I was shocked to hear my daughter tell me "Daddy's out mowing the grass." Shocked because it finally hit me - Winter is over! This means more work for us, of course, keeping the grass cut and weeds at bay, but at the moment, I'm looking forward to it. It's been a couple of years

I tried to rid myself of my black thumb of death by getting out there and planting a few things...

since we've really done anything with our landscaping and boy, you can tell right now that it needs some major sprucing up! I wouldn't dare show you how dreadful our flower beds and exterior look right now, but a couple of years ago, I tried to rid myself of my black thumb of death by getting out there and planting a few things. There are so many areas around our house that are begging for plants...just so much potential...but I've been reluctant to do much because our time is very limited and any "extra" time has gone to working on interior projects. But someday, I'm going to cut loose and will somehow develop the green thumb I've always wanted! Someday I will have a kitchen garden as well, and I'm thinking about at least starting an herb patch this year. We'll see!

Here are a few shots of our front porch a couple of years back. I used an old dresser as a staging area for some plants. Now the dresser is actually being used as a dresser, so I need to keep my eye out for another...





Last year we installed a new front door that I think better reflects cottage style. I'm waiting to paint it until we get around to painting the exterior of the house. There is a lot of siding replacement and repair to do first, though. Tumble-down indeed!


I had forgotten that we even had a shot of the front of our house. Sometimes people write and ask if I would share an exterior photo so I thought I'd post this. Many may be surprised to see that we live in a normal looking little house that right off the bat doesn't seem like a "cottage". I'm trying to think of ways to add some architectural detail to reflect more of a cottage feel. A porch railing? Board and batten siding? Wooden shutters? Window boxes? A cottage style garden in the landscaping bed? Climbing roses? Tin/Metal roof? Painting the house red?


I thought this house was way too small for a family of five when we first drove past it, but it is a little bigger than it looks. Here is a view from the back. The interior, though, isn't as spacious as it may appear from this view. :)


I feel like I'm being a flaky blogger, but this week is going to be another crazy one. Every day for the rest of the week we have something going on that will keep me from blogging, the main event being a big turkey dinner I'm making for out of town and state family coming in on Saturday. So there is a lot of shopping, cleaning, and preparation {including finishing trim for our new beadboard!} to be done...not to mention excavating our daughters' beds where some guest will need to sleep. I told you their room wouldn't stay tidy for long! Photos from my trip and our fireplace and beadboard progress photos will have to wait a little longer...I was going to post a few today but I think hubs has the little memory card reader thing-a-ma-bob with him, or somewhere!

Have a wonderful, BEAUTIFUL week, everyone, and if you have some exterior ideas for me, please do share!