Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pics)

If you’ve beeen reading along you already know that we have moved into an older fixer uppper. We have done a lot of changes to the inside, and knew it was time to do some major cleaning up to the outside (both front yard & back yard) as well. And since we loved our landscaping project choices for the former Katy house, we basically hit repeat with some new additions. So, let’ s get to it! Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pics).

Houston House (new house) Posts:

Katy House (former house) Posts:

Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pics)

I have a lot of pictures and info for this post, but decided to just do one big post (instead of 2). So bare with me!

I wanted to first start off with our project “wants” list, and then we will go over the actual project “details” list.

Our Wants List:

Remove All Rocks & Large Boulders
Add Rounded Borders/Limestone Edging
Juniper Trees (medium/large)
Fuscia/Hot Pink/Red Plants (minimal as accents)
Add Grass

Here is my rough sketch of what we wanted our front yard to look like (I know – I am not an artsit -lol)!

***Our Project Budget/Cost:

*Scroll to the very end of the post for more info on that part.

So, here is what we will be focusing on today. And then of course all of the before & after pictures that y’all all love to see (well me too)!!

Our Project Details List:

Removed Large Rocks & Boulders
Removed Existing Plants
Cleaned Up/Toiled the Flower Beds
Installed the Limestone Edging/ Border
Put the Plants, Mulch, & Sod In

Ok, lets get to it!! Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pictures).

Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pics)

Let’s see how it looked before we started the entire house project. And I mean brace yourself -lol!

Before Painting/Rock Removal:

Here’s another angle (check out all those rocks/large boulders):

Before Pic (painted and rock edging removed):

Ok, let’s get to the landscaping project! Our Front Yard Makeover (Before & After Pics).

Our Front Yard Makeover

Step #1: Removed Rocks & Large Boulders

I did not count the rocks and boulders in the front yard, but it was probably close to 100 rocks!!! Yep, you read it right!

So, this step was broken down into 2 parts.

I removed all of the rock and boulder edging (and then some of the smaller boulders).
Then the landscaper came in with a forklift tool for the larger boulders.

It took me about 4 days for my part – and it was not fun – just sayin’!!

I used every kind of shovel or spade thingy that we owned, a wheel barrow, and dolly.
But I got ‘er done LOL! Yay for girl power!

My part.

Don’t the rocks/boulders look so small in the edging? And then look how big they are when dug out – crazy heavy too.

Much better though.

And then the lanscaper came in and removed all of the larger boulders that were placed on the left side.

Step #2: Removed Existing Plants

The next thing they did was remove all of the existing plants that we weren’t keeping.

We decided to keep the crepe myrtles on the left side of the house, and moved the knockout rose bushes to the driveway – on the right side of the house – by the gate.
Everything else was removed.

You can tell that this little forklift machine does a lot of work (lifts heavy boulders, gets under large tree roots for removal, and will help even pull out pesky roots)!

Right side.

Look at all those roots that have been growing forever from previous beds!

And here its what it looked like at this stage.

Step #3: Cleaned Up/Toiled the Flower Beds

This step could probably be combined with step #1, but I decided to list it separately.

After our plants were removed, they go back in and “clean up” or “toil” the flower beds.

I don’t know what the actual technical term is for this, but basically they use their shovels to dig into the ground and “loosen” or break up the soil.

Right Side.

Full view.

Step #4: Installed the Limestone Edging/Border

***See below so that you don’t skip an important STEP (spray painting border edge first).***

Since we added this type of border to our former house, we decided to install it here again because we really loved it.

But a small issue this go around:

We used a different landscaper, and they did not mark the lines with spray paint first (like in our Katy landscaping project).
So I definitely recommend that spray painting step – just a fyi!
If you scroll back up to my original drawing you’ll notice that the left side does not match my drawing – ugh!

Right Side.

Just beautiful and has the rounded arc on the right side.

Problem Moment:

And then here is the Left Side.

You can see here that it does not match that same arc – ugh!

I did not go and double check them when they started the left side (because they had the drawing and they had already done the right side correctly). And they said it would be a lot of work to remove the part they had already done incorrectly) NO!!

So, did I have a small temper tantrum and make a fool out of myself – well yes – I SURE did. 😉
Was I completely ashamed and definitely not proud of my actions – you betcha!!
Am I blaming it on menopause and hormones – Absolutely!!

But in the end – I apologized to our amazing landscaping crew and ended up leaving it as (I could not be ugly and make them redo it).

Here they are trying to figure out if they could round it out to match on that left side.

And guess what – it looks great still.

And the center arc with 3 levels of limestone in front, 2 levels at back to balance out the sloped driveway.

Ok, let’s talk plants – finally!

Step #5: Put Plants, Mulch, & Sod In

Now that the limestone border is done, they started to do the plant trial.

I don’t know if that’s what it is really called, but it’s when they line the plants up before planting them.

Here are the plants lined up in our courtyard (behind & inside that wall to the left side). That will be another project in the future.
*Scroll to the very end of the post to see more info on plants/budget/cost.