yard of the month coming in 2015

At least that's what The Fox is telling me these days. We recently sodded our yard and we've been watering. And watering. And watering. I've never in my life had to water so much. And leaving me in charge of keeping plants alive? Not the best idea. But apparently, The Fox trusts me enough for when he has to go to football games... I digress.

The yard wasn't horrible when we bought the place in April, but it wasn't "Fox-approved." And part of his "I sold my house" celebration was taking the foursquare yard up a notch. And we have.

We started by tilling up the lawn on Sunday. By the following Sunday, we'd sodded, watered and planted some fall-hearty flowers; not the most pleasant of projects, but rewarding if nothing else. If ever you weren't sure you had back muscles, do some yard work, you'll find 'em...

Nonetheless, I'll give The Fox credit. It does look better.

When we bought the foursquare, the front yard looked like this.

Again, not terrible, but it was in need of a little love. So, that's what we did!

First step: till. Thankfully The Fox had a friend who let us borrow a tiller. Such a lifesaver! And thankfully x 2, we had good, soft soil, which made for much easier tilling. After the tilling and sifting to find clumps of old grass, it looked like this.

Second step: Lay down sod & plant flower... I didn't get a picture of us doing these tasks. And frankly it wasn't pretty. But this is the what it looked like after!

Pansies up the walkway.

Side yard.

We also fluffed up the front bed and added a corner one (but, shh, don't tell anyone - we ran out of sod and this was the natural solution. Thinking cap, on! :)).

And finally, our porch planters - still going strong from the Summer. The two with the geraniums will soon be switched out with some pencil holly and snapdragons for Winter, but I didn't have the heart to trash them just yet since they are still producing beautiful blooms. 

There you have it! Nice and purdied up before Winter. Stay tuned...maybe next Summer you'll see one of those fancy "Yard of the Month" signs in our yard! 

And in typical, Ebonn fashion, I forgot to take a picture of the entire yard. So, I've mashed one together for you :).

Happy Fall!!

it's fall, y'all

The weather has been a little cooler these days (although, in SC, you never know what you're gonna get). And cool weather always brings along changes in a decorator's home.

I'll keep this post short and sweet. Here are my fall additions to my favorite foursquare.

The front porch:

Those large pumpkins were cheap, cheap at the farmers market in NC. It was crazy!! Also, my mum hasn't completely bloomed yet...but you get the drift. I also tucked in some dried hydrangeas for texture. 

And here is my dining table. We will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. Ekk! Here's to hoping we have enough room!!

Those candlesticks were 5 bucks! At a yard sale. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I wait to find at sales. I couldn't believe it! They would easily cost $50+ in West Elm or the like. Solid brass and oh so cool! The rest of it was stuff I had, and thanks to Mother Nature for providing me with the leaves and chestnuts. 

That's it! I don't go overboard with decorations...I guess I'm just too lazy to change it all out :). 

Happy Fall, everyone! Won't be long before Christmas is here!