First Impression

I have always loved a red brick house with black shutters, a black door and a fabulous door knocker. So very Beacon Hill. So I was very excited when Ryan and I bought are charming brick rambler last fall.

One of my upcoming projects will be to paint both my door and shutters black. I debated just buying new shutters, but my current shutters are a great width of 18". All of the new shutters I have found are between 14-15" wide. Since I am not willing to give up almost 4" per shutter, I decided to paint them black.

For my front door, I am going to use this highly-recommended paint from Benjamin Moore for a true low-lustre black.

I am also on the hunt for a vintage door knocker. When I was in Florence I fell in love with the oversized and gothic door knockers. Here are some of my favorites...

I can't wait to post before and after photos soon.

Green Thumb

So last weekend my "Saint" parents came over to help us completely transform our front yard--have I mentioned my mom works for a landscape architect and my father is a leading Botanist at the Smithsonian?

Since moving in last fall, we haven't done anything to our yard, except for the occasional mow. Overall we bought 36 annuals, 10 bags of top soil, 12 bags of mulch, 8 knockout roses, 1 Crepe Myrtle tree, 3 peony bushes, various tools, and chic suede gardening gloves. Knockout roses are popular because they stay in bloom through November.

We spent a 8 hours on Saturday, and 7 hours on Sunday (yes that's right...15 hours) ripping out old bushes, out-of-control ivy, and digging new gardens

It was grueling work, Ryan and I both completely passed out early Sunday morning and could barely move for the next two days. But it felt amazing to work so hard and see the front of your house go from an overgrown mess to a charming bountiful yard! I have to smile every time I drive up our driveway.

We still have much to do. Including:
1. Painting the shutters black
2. Power washing the brick
3. Painting our front door (I am debating between black and raspberry)
4. Having a large maple or holly delivered and planted in the front left
5. Finish weeding the right-hand side and planting hydrangeas (I love that one side will be all peonies and the other side all hydrangeas)
6. Planting knockout rose bushes on the other side of our walk
7. Planting bushes (not sure which kind yet) all up along our walk
8. Making another walk way from our porch to our driveway

...and then we have to start on our back yard :)

Here are some photos...

Before

After