Yard work/landscaping.

It’s true.  BC and I are both way out of our element.  At our first house we ripped out/changed so many things that we decided to hire a professional when we moved to this house.  He was a nice guy and came up with a lovely plan.  Then, we paid some more nice people to install it all, so that we wouldn’t screw it up.  All of this is great, in theory…until all those nice people left.

We needed help.

We still need help, which is why I’m so excited about the Jordan Valley Home & Garden Club.

The Jordan Valley Home and Garden Club was founded to provide learning opportunities specifically geared to do-it-yourself homeowners. Landscaping is an important part of setting the home’s tone. The Club will provide a wealth of landscaping and garden design education, but there will also be a mix of interior and exterior DIY projects – a little something for everyone. Best of all? There is no club membership fee. (This is especially awesome if you don’t want to have guilt about not using the skills/information you spent a ton of money acquiring.  He he he.)

If you’re a local, the Jordan Valley Home and Garden Club activities will kick off with a Summer Soiree and Garden Tour on June 9, at 6 p.m. Tickets to the Summer Soiree are available online.   The event features some fun bloggers you may be familiar with including Justin and Cassity Kmetzsch, from Remodelaholic; Sausha Khoundet, from Sweet Pickins and Leanne Jacobs from Organize and Decorate Everything, along with several great classes. I can only vouch for Leanne ,but she’s DELIGHTFUL and I’m sure the others are equally awesome.

The Summer Soiree will include some AWESOME giveaways…stuff like a rug that was featured in Country Living Magazine (one of my faves), as well as furniture from Sweet Pickins and Forsey’s Furniture.

If you can’t make the kick off event (and I can’t…boo), regular Home and Garden Club classes will begin July 17, at noon. The classes are free – you can register online.

If you’re not a local (because I know most of you aren’t), Information will be available on the Club’s Facebook page following each class.

So, who’s with me?  Who’s taking charge of their yard once and for all?  Who’s saying NO to your retired neighbors offering to rip out a dead tree in your yard so they’ll “have something to do”? (That totally happened.  Last month.)

*sigh*

I REALLY need this.

*This post is sponsored by the Jordan Valley Home and Garden Club

So, we headed to Lowe’s where I picked up a new front porch mat ($14.95), some teak oil (for the table makeover I shared yesterday),

a small bag of “coarse sand” (also for the table makeover),

and I spent the rest on succulents (again, for the table project) and flowers and plants.

The first thing we did was clear the porch completely.  Then we power washed the porch and the porch furniture.

The dead plants in my paint bucket planters (still one of my favorite projects) were removed and replaced with new ones.  The antique white thing (sink? basin?) in the corner found a new home on the back deck and the dead plant was junked.  That whole situation was replaced with an aqua pot (also from Lowe’s) filled with flowers.

The glider was an anniversary gift a few years back and the green side chairs came from Lowe’s 2 or 3 years ago.

I swapped out the front mat

and hung some summery décor.

And the whole place feels much more “come and sit a while” instead of “throw your junk here”, which is TOTALLY what I was going for. 

And here’s a friendly reminder to head on over for your FREE Subscription to Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine:

It really is a good one.  I loved so many of the ideas is this month’s!

Disclosure:  Lowe’s provided me with a gift card for this month’s curb appeal challenge.

Did you do any work in the yard?

We did.  And we gave a $10 thrift store find some new life and a new home on our front porch.

My mom and I were at a thrift store a few months back, following up on a Pyrex tip (yes, really), and we saw this teak table.  It was $10 and we both NEEDED it.  She drives a tiny little 2 seater and couldn’t actually get it home, so I won.

See how you can turn that middle part over?  Fun, right?

Structurally, it was in great shape but the wood needed some love.  And by “love” I mean “child labor”.

Yes, my 4 year old is wearing a Santa shirt in May…what of it?

And then we planted the shallow tray with some succulents

and added some gravel.

And a before and after shot:

Totally worth $10, right?

To see the rest of my $100 porch makeover (and some prettier shots of the table), come back tomorrow!