Archive for the ‘driveway’ Category

Staying Classy

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

The house next door has been for sale for awhile after being foreclosed on in November. While buyers have come and gone (three escrows and counting) the property has switched Realtors a few times.

Imagine my delight when pulling into the driveway to be greeted by the newest realtor sign.

Delicious.

Here’s a close-up for your viewing delight.

Landscape inspiration

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Its hot. Like unbelievably hot here at The Brick House. So it seems that any plans for landscaping will have to wait till the end of summer. I’m actually dreading that part of the house rehab. I know nothing about plants or growing things in the desert or how to landscape so it looks nice and not like a sad cactus garden and I can’t afford a designer. (And I surely wouldn’t want to do any book learning to figure that stuff out. Really? Gardening? Sounds B-O-R-I-N-G).

Since we are so close to Palm Springs I thought I could take some inspiration from them…






Sassy.

These images below are definitely fitting into my idea of what I’d like to do.
(**I’m so sorry if I used your image and don’t credit it here. I started collecting them months ago and have no clue were they came from…)

I’m not really sure how attainable this look is. We fortunately (or unfortunately) have about 10,000 sq. ft. of property that needs LOTS of tender loving landscaping. All I see are dollar signs…

God I want that pool so freaking bad right now. Its so perfect – I would totally copy that for my side yard.

Do you remember our fence?

Its so awesome! I look at that monstrosity everyday and die a little inside. So anyhoo – fence inspiration:

I want horizontal wood. Everywhere. Or hard troweled plaster…

Just for giggles…

Above is our sad driveway and front yard…and below some inspiration to remedy that situation:

This project will take FOREVER to finish. It is just so overwhelming in its scope and cost that I’m frozen in fear to even start pricing materials out. I think the fence and driveway are the first on the list to complete…check back in like 3 years and see if we even started, I have a feeling we won’t.

Yard Work

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

The yard has been accumulating weeds and trash…I thought that by doing nothing at all to the yard some magical native plants would grow and make things beautiful. No such luck.

We chopped all the weeds down. ALL OF THEM. Everywhere. Stupid bastard weeds.
I hope the summer desert heat destroys everything in sight so we can start over in the fall. The exterior of the house is upsetting. Its going to take SO much money and work to get it halfway decent, and I hate gardening.

The front yard. Actually looking a hell of a lot better than it did a few days ago – the weeds were (embarrassingly) about chest high for about a month. Then theres that planter box. YIKES is about all I can say.



This is the side yard…with some nice rods holding up the fence. Just imagine a little patio with a fire pit…I know its hard. Then there is what used to be the “dog run”. This is a weird spot behind the garage and next to the fence. We pulled out all wood, trash, dog hair and crap and used the old rods to hold up the fence. Ghetto.



The backyard. Well…it needs some work. I’m not really sure what to do with it.

The stupid driveway. Looking like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. NICE fence!

I hate the exterior and see no hope. Its HUGE and barren and we live in a desert climate. Unless I win the lottery (which maybe I need to start playing) or a chunk of cash in Vegas this weekend (happy b-day to me!) I think its going to look like this for awhile. Someone please recommend my house to a landscaping show…were I don’t have to pay…and I can be a bit of a control freak…and they won’t show my fat butt on TV…