Garden Transformation: A Happily Ever After Tale

I'm not being dramatic. 

Really, I'm not. 

I kinda shudder at the thought of showing you the before pictures of the little flower bed that was such a nightmare before. 

You see, it's the flower bed in the front yard.

As in, the first thing you see when pulling into our little driveway. 

Besides the green shutters...and cute wreath on the door :) 

And I've been wanting to get my hands on it...rather, in it, for the past three years. 

But it was a project, guys.

And I've never been a plant person. Or much of a dirt person. 

I have a black thumb & plants usually don't survive with me... even when I'm incredibly well-intentioned with them.

But it took my sweet hubby looking at me a few weeks ago and saying 'hey, what are we going to do about that?' and jabbing his thumb over to the eyesore that I had been pretending really didn't exist. 

Shameful look from me. 

"Well...I guess we should make it look better....?"

And we kind of just stared at each other for a minute. 

Should we really tackle THIS project in our first month of marriage? 

Sigh. 

And so we did. 

We waited until it was a random/weird occurance of 80 degree weather last weekend and we ripped that poor area apart...and then put it together again. 

Just like Humpty Dumpty. 

Except for prettier...and with flowers :) 

Are you prepared to see what we were working with? 
Just remember that it really does get a happy ending...

Ignore my hoarders garage and focus on the dying plants :) 

I think we were mainly inspired by the sweet daffodils that bravely popped up among the barren flowerbed. 

If they could stand tall and be pretty...we needed to help them out a bit. 

Mr. Tree was trying to take over with all his roots and those poor azaleas just needed to be laid to rest. 

Not to mention the fact that the side of the flower bed had been run over so many times you couldn't even see the metal barrier anymore.

Sigh. 

It makes my heart hurt just looking at it. 

But after a long two days, a couple of sunburns, TONS of garbage bags filled with roots, leaves and weeds... we had our own little paradise. 

Don't believe me? 

Check it for yourself!!

Did you gasp just now?
Or is that just my reaction to it? 

Seriously, guys. I've never been so happy to open our front door and see brown mulch :) 

Here's what went into our little garden:

*12 Bags of Brown Mulch

*Four new pieces of metal perimeter (we were able to salvage most of what we already had)

*Weed mat (we salvaged all of it from the flower bed)

*3 Large Stepping Stones (Lowes)

*3 Small Gardenia Bushes (Local Market)

*Our own daffodils that survived (from Wye Mountain)

*Tree Slices (from old projects)

*5 new solar lights (Lowes)

*Various small flowers (Local Market)

*Repurposed Bench (Free & more on that later!) 

*2 Pinwheels for the kiddos (Target Dollar Spot)

All in all, we spent about 180$ on our little garden.

Which was completely and totally worth it to us. 

It was screaming for it. 

One of my favorite parts are the huge stepping stones. 

They are the perfect access to our cute bench and let the kiddos know where they are allowed to put those little feet. 

I added a hodge-podge of things from around the yard to accessorize the little area. 

Made me happy to have a pretty place to sit :) 

I can't wait to share more details on my free bench- you won't believe what it looked like before!!

More on that later this week. 

My little 'grow' sign was actually a flag the kids made from scrap pallet wood when hubby was working on our pallet cake stand. 

I asked them if I could make it into a sign and they loved that idea.

I added the word 'grow' in paint marker and stuck it in the ground. Love it!

Hubby made the kids a swing too out of an old 2x4 and some rope & chain.

The kids freaked out.

Now we can just sit and watch them swing away :)

The little white pot was just a terra cotta pot I found in the yard. 

I spraypainted it white and planted some flowers in it. 

I love it sitting on some of my tree slices I had. 

This is my favorite little nook in the garden. 

I stacked paint cans that I spraypainted and planted some pretty pink flowers in the top one. 

I just added dirt to weigh down the yellow one to keep them from toppling over. 

Large tree slices hold them up and I added some of Little man's treasures he's always bringing me home :)

I love seeing his special finds. 

Such a boy! 

I'm still amazed that pretty things could grow in our shabby garden. 

I think these daffodils were the complete inspiration for really putting the work in to make things over. 

Gotta love God's reminders :)

And just in case you need a reminder of how far it really came, 

check out the before & afters...

It's really amazing, isn't it? 

Now I feel like the outside of the house is starting to match the inside.

Which really makes me happy inside. 

It does my heart good to see pretty things & I love that I can walk out the door every day and smile at our little garden. 

Best two day project ever :) 

And a huge thanks to my sweet hubby for putting in the manual labor. 

He really does make all my dreams come true!!

And thanks to those little daffodils for inspiring us to get things in gear. 

Now they can live in their pretty new home :) 

What do you think?

Do you like my little happily ever after? 

Do any of you have a fun garden space? 

Check back this week to see the bench before & after- you'll love it just as much as the garden!!!

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Linking to: 
Inspire Me Please @ Liz Marie Blog. Hookin up with HOH @ House of Hepworths. Under 100$ @ Beyond the Picket Fence. Live Laugh Linky @ Live Laugh Rowe. Show and Share @ Southern Lovely. Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts.  Sundae Scoop @ I Heart Naptime