My Heirloom Wedding Bouquet

I had this post planned from the moment we started this blog but finally got around to finishing it this week. When I got married I didn't consider wearing my mom's dress...I just tore it apart. With her permission of course!

My grandmother made my mom's wedding dress. And there's a rumor that some of the buttons were "stolen" from my aunt's dress, which my grandmother had also made. 

In an effort to include heirloom items in my wedding, my mom decided to let me use a sleeve/cuff from her dress to make the decorative holder for my bridal bouquet.

Here's the finished, beautiful product! It made my bouquet just that much more special.

(PS we purchased all the flowers for the wedding from Costco for a steal!)

 

 

Our wedding was photographed by A and A Photography. LOVE them!

Thanks Mom, for letting me "borrow" part of your dress for my special day.

~Karli

A New Season's Blessings

When my Grandpa Carl passed away my sweet in-law's all went together a bought me a gift card to a local greenhouse/nursery. I cried when I opened the card. My grandpa loved to play in the dirt and grow things and take care of the land. I knew immediately that I would use the money to plant something and remember him every time I looked at it.

We purchased grass seed and peet moss for this eye sore in our front yard. (There used to be a tree there and crazy juniper bushes.)

 

We planted the seed last weekend and have diligently been watering and tending to it. I knew it would "take" because grandpa was behind it all. Thursday morning I was on my way downstairs to water and I was talking to him saying, "Please help our little grass seeds grow into strong beautiful turf so we're not the ugly yard on the block." When I got out there I saw tiny little green spikes ALL OVER the place.

That evening I spent some time in our backyard enjoying all the beauty that spring brings us. Cool-weather flowers like hyacinth and tulips. Bright, vibrant blooms on forsythia. Flowering trees and budding butterfly bushes. Mother nature never ceases to amaze me.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Thank you grandpa for watching over us (and our dirt plot now filled with baby grass).

 
And thank you to Porter, who watches over me while I'm exploring our backyard a.k.a. "his forest."

Spring time blessings to you!
Karli

Karli's 2013 Project Recap

As 2013 comes to a close, it struck me just how much we've done to our home in one year's time.

This was only the second year we've lived in this house and we've continued to create a cozy, welcoming home where we can entertain. We strive to do this on a budget while maintaining our sanity.

1. We started with the flooring in our office.

2. New windows were installed in the entire house. What a difference it makes in our energy bills! No more ice forming inside the house. 

3. Then we tackled the tile in our guest bath shower.

4. With help from mom and dad, we got a new old door for our entry closet.

 

5. We had several bushes, trees and stumps removed from our property.

6. After the bushes and stump were torn out in the front of the house, we had a new sidewalk poured.

7. During the summer we also planted a beautiful new front flower bed, had our exterior painted, installed new shutters and then took a deep breath!

 

8. We tore out the carpet and tile on our main floor and got new, beautiful floors installed.

9. While we had the main floor torn up, we have our main floor powder bath a makeover as well.

10. We also swapped the room where we have the dining table set up and we're loving it. Posts coming about that!

What a busy, amazing year it's been. We've been blessed to be able to do the work on this house and make it more efficient, comfortable and welcoming. (Is it sick that I'm already planning my list for 2014?!)

I hope 2014 treats you all well!

Karli

Fall Porch Decorations

I'm really happy with how my front porch turned out this fall. It's my favorite season, so this is the perfect way to celebrate! Mom's post about the fall decor in her house inspired me to finally get this done...better late than never, right?!

I bought two real pumpkins and two fake black pumpkins from Target.

 

I also purchased two orange mums from the garden center down the street. I replaced the pink geraniums that had been in those black planters all summer.

I LOVE the chalkboard panel. I'm happy with how my chalk art turned out. Who knows what it will be come Christmas?!

I simply painted a piece of shelving. You can buy a piece for about $1 from Home Depot if you don't have any scrapes.

These little lanterns came from Ikea. Eventually I'll load them up with pine cones for Christmas!

And the mums!! I love orange mums this time of year!

I hope you're enjoying the fall weather.
~Karli

Perennials Taking Hold

When we tore out all the old bushes and sidewalk in the front of our house, we knew we'd be left with lots of options for how to fill the space. I don't consider myself a green thumb, but after this year's garden and flower beds, I think I may be changing my mind.
 
I posted early in the spring about the flowers I was contemplating for the front beds. With a few minor tweaks and some fun new finds at the local garden store, I think it's shaping up quite nicely!

 


So you can see the layout of the beds.

Here are the only three annuals I planted for some immediate color and spread. I was afraid my perennials wouldn't be very showy this year...

Petunias...planted a mixed flat this year. Next year I'm going to go with
all dark purple or maybe orange. No light purple, white, pink or red.

 

Hot pink geraniums in boxed planters by the front door. I really like
geraniums in planters. But like I said above, next year no pink.

 

This was a really fun find at the local nursery. The common name is something like
"bat face" since the the Cuphea flower almost look like ears and a little nose.

 
And here are a few of the beautiful things happening right now with my perennials. I can't wait to see what next year has in store since this was just the first year of growth!

Foxgloves. I LOVE these!

 

Delphinium in a beautiful royal blue/purple. Brent picked this and planted it too!


 

We can't live in Colorado and not have the state flower. I also planted a
"lime green" columbine but it doesn't have flowers yet.

 

Another favorite for spread and showy flowers: Coreopsis.
We planted two of these since they look great and eat up space.

 

Salvia. Another Colorado staple. This is one of two we planted. The
first one almost died, but I'm nursing it back to health.

 

Coneflower: I was worried about these babies. They didn't look
great for much of their initial month. Now they're flowering!

 


Hens and chicks. I planted lots of these (along with ice plant) along the borders.

 

This is my very first Brown-Eyed Susan to flower. I notice them all over
Denver right now, so I imagine next year's plants will be much fuller.

Next year my poppies will likely bloom too, but they just weren't developed enough this summer.

I hope you're enjoying some color and flowers this summer!
Karli

Karli's Exterior Project Done...For Now

Ok, so here it is! The big reveal of our exterior project. By now you know all about the tree projects, the trim projects, paint choices and flower bed plans. It all came together in something I am really proud to call ours!

After all the old evergreen shrubs and bushes were removed (and the giant cottonwood stump was ground out), we started planting flowers. Finally, the flower beds are making all that effort worth it! The flowers are blooming and spreading and, hopefully, growing strong roots. I picked mostly perennials so those beds won't require a ton of work to look great year after year. Here are a couple of progress pictures of the beds.


After the sidewalk was poured we had an even larger space to fill next to the driveway.



 

Earlier in the summer, this pic was taken before we put in edging bricks to define the bed. We also planted a couple more things on the left part of the bed.

We picked Sherwin Williams Pewter Tankard for the body and it is exactly what I wanted. While we were painting my sister and brother in law kept calling it brown. I called it gray. PERFECT. I wanted a gray that didn't turn blue or pink. I wanted it to be almost brown.

This shows that side flower bed filled in. The plants are still growing.

We used Sherwin Williams Extra White for the trim for a really nice crisp pop. And then I ordered black shutters from Home Depot, so we didn't even have to paint those.

And I got my lime green door!

The bench mom made looks amazing on the front porch. As do the black chairs I picked up earlier this summer.

Love that bench! You can also see the door better here too.

I can't wait till the flowers fill out a bit more. (And it will be nice when we re-sod the lawn next year)

Here's the full "after" view with the before picture too. What a difference!

We still have all that empty space where the tree stump was. You'll probably see more posts about that next spring!

Just a reminder of where we started. It was all worth it!

Spring Flowers in Bloom

Spring around here is a busy time. In fact there is so much "stuff" to do that there is no time to write about it. And, it is not necessarily something anyone would want to read about or see pictures of anyway!

Regardless, it is past time to "show and tell" something, so here are some photos of spring progress in the yard.

We did a little repair work on the garden shed. If you recall, from an earlier post, we damaged the roof when we took part of the tree down.

We fixed the damage and replaced some shingles.

The Day Lilies are on the east side of the house and love the early morning sun. They seem to grow every day. I shared some with Karli early this spring.

Growing...

Growing...

Blooming yellow (Lemon Lily)

Blooming orange lily

                             
Our flowering crabapple tree is so beautiful in the Spring. But it only blooms for a short time. Enjoy the pink while you can, I guess. 

Close-up of the pink flowers. Too bad the pink goes away so quickly.

As for annuals, I like to keep the colors all unified. This year I only purchased orange marigolds. I planted some in the beds among the rocks and sedum. Here are some views of the yard so far......

Sedum, orange marigolds, mountain sage.

I also plant some of the same orange marigolds in various pots.

This should fill out soon.

On the back deck I included some pots of basil and parsley. Karli has been trying to get me to cook with "real fresh" herbs!

I love summertime and spending time in the yard. I love my flowers! They will grow more beautiful each day. But, by the end of August, I'll be over it and wishing my watering and mowing was done! Go figure!!

Happy yardwork,
Kandy