Ch-Ch-Changes

When we bought our house, the inside was liveable. The guys who owned it before us flipped the house, so we didn't have to do much to it. Our furniture matched the dull beige walls (boring!), the trim was all painted white (including the windows, which were painted shut), the carpet was new (and white...seriously, who installs white carpet on purpose?), and the laminate flooring was okay for now. Man, given that list, it makes me think about how much I need to shampoo my carpets (again) and give my windows a workout so they might actually open this summer.

Because the inside was okay (or just plain overwhelming), we decided to start making our house a home from the outside in. Because we moved in with crazy, high-strung, neurotic Holly, we knew that the side street next to the house could be trouble. We also knew that Ellen would be drawn to the street, along with the neighbor kids.

Our first major decision was to put up a fence. This was a big decision because the starting point didn't have anything to do with a fence. We needed to start with the second (coal) "driveway" that went right into our kitchen window. While a drive-thru might sound appealing to some, we decided against it.



Since we no longer depend on coal for those cold winter nights, the need for a path leading to the house had to go.




We couldn't believe the amount of concrete that we needed to haul out of there. To save money, we used my dad's trailer, which involved many trips down the highway.

It was such a great accomplishment to get this done. We ordered a bunch of dirt to fill in our concrete holes, and thanks to Chad next door, aka "The Grass Whisperer," we had new grass coming up right away.

With that project behind us, it was time to put up a fence!