Hello, amazing friends! I’m back from our family beach vacation! Even though it was in a house only ten minutes up the road, it was so nice to have my siblings and their families all under one roof! Now, I’m refreshed and ready to get back to it!! Today, I’m sharing our front yard landscaping progression over the past nine years! I took photos after putting down my mulch before our vacation, and I thought it would be fun to share how much everything has grown!

When we first moved into our home back in 2017, it had been a rental for many years, which meant the landscaping had been quite neglected. The following summer, we pulled almost everything out and started fresh.

I’ll share the before, the first year update, a 2021 update, and then the most recent photos, so you can see how much everything has filled in.

I’ve included a few affiliate links so you can find the products I love.

Front Yard Landscaping Progression

2017

Here is how our home looked when we moved in back in August of 2017:

You can clearly see how much the landscape had been neglected. The grass appears green, but it is nothing but weeds.

My husband did not want to buy this house because it wasn’t well cared for at all. For what we were spending, he wanted a home in pristine condition. I get that, but it’s a good thing I can see past all the neglect, because underneath, it was amazing!

Y’all know I do not mind putting the work in, and I also knew that at least that allowed us to redo it completely with our own vision in mind!

2018

In 2018, we pulled everything out except for the Japanese maple on the right corner and started fresh:

You can see more of that transformation as well as what we planted HERE.

Look at all those plant babies!! It definitely looked a little naked after, but still SO much better!  That was mid to late summer and we had an unusually dry spring the following year, so it seemed that the growth of just about everything was really stunted.

In 2019 though, things started to finally take off.

We didn’t do much with it that year or in 2020, other than freshen up the mulch. In 2021, I finally got out there and made some adjustments!

2021

And here is how it looked then:

It had so much more life to it!

If you’ve seen our old home’s landscaping, you know that we had more of a garden, which we planted from scratch, and I absolutely adored. It suited that unique home perfectly.

For this home, however, I wanted more of a structured landscape that was easier to maintain.

2026

And here is this view now!

Everything has grown so much and finally looks mature!

The Front Entry

2017

This was the welcoming front entry when we first bought our home in 2017, complete with blinds dangling by a thread from the arched window up top:

This is what my husband had a hard time getting past when we were buying this home, but I knew we could make it beautiful again!

2018

And here is what it looked like after the initial Phase One redo:

It really did look so naked compared to the before but so much cleaner and much more welcoming!

2021

And here it is in 2021:

Much more welcoming than where it started for sure, but everything was still so small!

2026

And here is how our front entry looks now:

 

I always like to have a US flag hanging, but I went a bit more patriotic this year for our nation’s 250th anniversary, including my wreath:

I found this at Home Goods with the greenery and white flowers, but I added the red flowers and the bow from another wreath…

The Porch

2017

Here’s my attempt at adding a couple of things the fall after we moved in…

I soon added a bench in 2018:

See more of our Outdoor Christmas Tour HERE.

2021

Here it is in the spring of 2021. The pillows and bench have stayed the same over the years…

2026

And now!

I keep it pretty clean and simple up here, but I’ve since added a rug, and I often swap flowers for ferns from year to year…

These are the same planters I brought with me from our old house nine years ago. I just spray paint them every few years.

Not bad for Walmart planters!

You can find that runner HERE.

This cutie came from HomeGoods a few years ago, but I have seen more there since, including this spring.

 

More flowers just around the corner and another rug…

And more cats!

The side porch

2018

Our side porch is a good sized space that used to look like this back in 2018:

Those chairs came from our old house also and got a makeover, complete with brand new SEW EASY cushion covers.

2026

And now…

I ditched one of them for a porch swing!

The rug cozies up this area and I did redo the cushion cover for that chair earlier this spring with some of that striped fabric I had left from the first covers. (Super easy tutorial HERE!) I also replaced the green buffalo check pillow covers with the same exact ones that had become quite faded. You can find those HERE.

And here is the view from my swing:

I love to sit out here in the mornings, and I often eat my lunch out here when the weather is nice.

You may remember I salvaged these chairs off the curb across the street when my neighbors were moving several years ago…

I gave them a fresh coat of spray paint and they have done great up here. I bought the bistro table on Amazon to make it a set.

A look back from the porch…

2017

When we first killed off all the weeds before attempting to landscape..

2026

My hubby finally mastered the grass:

Looking at the porch from below

It wasn’t easy to see past all the overgrown everything when we were house hunting, but one thing that really stood out was the porch. I loved this porch, especially the large space on the side!

2017

Here is the view of the right side of our porch when we bought it:

2018

Here it is after the first makeover:

Plant babies!

2021

And this is what this side looked like in 2021:

I shared another look at our porch from 2021 in this post if you want to see more.

2026

And here it is now:

Look at the privet trees on either side of the steps! They are Japanese Waxleaf Privets, and are often used for privacy hedges, but I love them shaped into small trees!

The bushes have all really filled out too! I’m trying to get a unibush going back there at the back lol…

I added the Hostas in 2024, but I need to add another to balance it out.

The Window Boxes

One of my favorite things is my window boxes that I added in 2020.

2021

Here is what they looked like in 2021:

I used to love Petunias in them! However, they do require watering almost daily in the heat to keep them this pretty, so I have switched to Rios in recent years (I used pink ones last year) which are much more tolerant of the heat.

2026

This year, I copied my girlfriend who likes to mix up the flowers in her planters, and I love the variety:

I mixed the Rios with Caladium and Vincas…

So far, I’ve been watering them about every three days, and they’ve done great!

The walkway

2018

I didn’t have an original 2017 photo of this walkway view, but here it is after the first makeover:

I had opted to use the same chestnut mulch as we used at our last house, but I didn’t love it at this house at all.

2021

In 2021, I went with the darker brown which I did like better…

 

2026

But in 2022, I switched to black mulch, which is my favorite! I love the contrast of the black mulch against the green! This is the mulch we used HERE.

Here is this view now from a bit further back:

 

 

Under the dining room window

2017

The area below our dining room window started out like this:

2018

And after removing and replacing what was there…

So naked ha ha! I love the look of knock out roses, but I do not love pruning them, so they had do go!

2021

And in 2021…

(That is the window where the skeleton dinner party happens at Halloween!)

2026

And here is this area now!

What a difference, right??

Our Most Recent addition

In 2021, our main project was to add another bed with a tree to the left side of our yard.

2021

Here is the before from that corner:

And the progress I shared while creating this new area:

And here is how this view looked when I was done:

2022

Here it was one year later in 2022…

It’s always a relief when things survive lol.

2026

And now:

Wow! Our Crape Myrtle has really grown!

Do you spy something in the tree?

Patiently awaiting the next Halloween!

We forgot to take him down one year and then just never did.

I wish I had taken a photo of the tree where the mailbox is. It has gotten huge!

Under the Garage Windows

2022

This bed has never been my favorite. I moved things around and replaced a few things in 2022, and I added some purple Petunias for a little more color over here.

2026

Here it is now…

Still not loving it, but I do like the Hostas I added there a couple of years ago, and they seem to like it there too! Except, they’re bigger than the boxwoods behind them.

They were blooming when we came back from our vacation:

The Street View

2018

Here is the front view of our home after the first phase:

2021

And in 2021:

2026

And now:

It finally feels like it’s where it’s supposed to be! I need either another lariope for the front right there or another Hosta to balance it out, but overall, I’m happy with how our landscape is evolving.

Here’s a peek at our side yard to the right…

Aside from the grass, I’m in charge of the front landscaping and my hubby has free reign of the back yard.

Another peek at one of my favorite things, the planters on the porch:

I found these window box planters on Amazon HERE. These are the 36″ ones.

They add SO much charm!

And one more far away view:

I hope you enjoyed seeing the progression of our front yard landscaping today! I always share it for Halloween, but it’s been a while since I’ve shared the pretty version!

You can visit my final garden tour of our old home also if you like. It was even worse before!

See what we did with it here!

I’ll be back on Thursday with my Furniture Fixer Upper crew sharing how I redid this hutch:

Hope your week is off to a fantastic start!

UPDATE: While I didn’t hate the red, wait till you see it now HERE!

XOXO,

 

 

 

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