Landscaping Part 2

While we haven't done much inside the house lately, we've been working on the two beds in the front. Our friend Mary of Pinnacle Lawn Care designed the beds for us last year and suggested a few things for the front bed: a Japanese Maple and 3 false cypress. After considerable landscape stalking (wouldn't that make a great name for an HGTV show?!?), and validation from our friend Mary, we went to work filling in the two beds with a variety of other plants and flowers.

Now, when I say we "landscape stalked" I'm serious. We drove around, walked our neighborhoods and searched the internet to get ideas. We consider our house to have a modern look - not quite mid-century but has some mid-century features. We wanted our landscaping to have modern features as well. We tried to educate ourselves on what would work in each bed - one gets mostly shade the other is full sun. We also wanted things to complement each other and the house. It's still hard for me to believe how much reading I did on landscaping - never thought that would happen!

Let's just take a moment to remember what the front looked like when we bought the house...this was taken early April 2009.

Here's what we have as of late May 2010. I must say we are pleased as punch with how it looks so far.

We now have allium, false cypress, blue fescue and palace purple coral bells. Not only is it amazing that I planted most of them, but it's hard to believe I actually know what they are!

Then we have the south side corner...

More tufts of blue fescue, 2 different types of sedum, morning light maiden grass and a goldlace juniper.

The beds are connected by more beach pebbles, with 2 different types of stonecrop scattered throughout.

So there you have it...all the front landscaping we finished this Spring 2010. In fall we plan to add a few bulbs (various types of allium). We're looking forward to seeing how this all looks in a few months, too. (and if we manage to keep it all alive)

Now our attention turns to the porch...fixing the railings, painting the railings and decorative metalwork, painting the front door, replacing the light and adding house numbers.

Landscaping Part 1

We've realized we have a lot of catching up to do on here. Even if no one else reads this blog, it's been fun looking back at our previous posts. It helps us remember all the work we've done, and it's a good reminder that we still have a lot to do. So that is my motivation to update more regularly (seriously).

The past month and half we have been doing lots of landscaping work. As you might recall, our entire house was surrounded by 40 year-old yews when we bought it. We quickly ripped those out, did a ton of grade work, and were left with excellent drainage but nothing else. Our good friends the Barnes and Wieses gave us a beautiful Japanese Maple, but that was about it. Let's take a look back...

So here is the house as it looked when we bought it. This was taken in early April 2009...yews everywhere and a square bed with white stones near the front porch.

Close-up of the front porch...

Then we had all the yews removed, and the house looked pretty crazy. Notice how spotty the grass looks and all the rocks around the trees.

We decided pretty quickly that we needed to soften the angles of the front porch and the straight lines of the house with a curved bed in front. Aaron got to work...early May 2009.

We added beach pebbles along the house and finished the front bed...

By fall 2009 we had the maple and added mums and pumpkins to make it look like we had something going on...

By early April 2010 our grass had filled in (thanks to aeration and overseeding), the rocks around the trees are gone...

and we also began planting the beds in the front.

I am happy to report we have planted 2 of the front beds, added some more beach pebbles and replaced the mulch. BUT...we have to replace 3 grasses already, so I will have to show you how everything looks in my next post! Stay tuned!

Have you seen our basement?

I've been struggling to wind down tonight and thought I'd put a couple pics of our basement up. Thanks to our friends at Cameron's we have a nice new basement. The table was a present from Sarah...she even had it delivered and assembled right under my nose. I was literally upstairs when they assembled it. Although, I had the flu and was not quite with it.

Oh, and then we have my play area:

This is actually a little old, as I have a 1968 Gottlieb pinball machine called Royal Guard.

Pretty cool architecture in KC

After touring Oklahoma City's modern architecture, I was inspired to check out some local spots here in Kansas City. I've discovered we have a pretty nice selection of modern homes in our neck of the woods. A KC architect named Donald Drummond designed over 1,100 homes in the KC area and Oklahoman Bruce Goff designed three homes here as well. One cool thing I learned in research was that there was an NBC show in the fifties called The House That Home Built that documented 20 architects from different metros who designed and built 20 modern homes as viable options to more traditional homes of that era. The show did not last long, as only 11 of the 20 architects completed their 20 homes. Drummond was one of two architects who finished on time, along with California architect Eichler. Sarah and I stumbled into a Prarie Village, KS neighborhood around 98th and Belinder on Aberdeen Street. Out of nowhere appeared a midcentury modern ranch-a-thon consisting of over a dozen homes. They were pretty incredible. Here's a sample of Drummond's work in KC:

Anyway, we'll be visiting the Goff homes soon and keep you posted on what we find.

Oh yeah, we have a house too. And it's looking great. We've landscaped this month and plan some outdoor painting of our front door and metal work. We also have commissioned a local artist for a backyard sculpture. Thanks Dave.

Aaron