The Front of the House is Taking Shape

We have been busting our butts to get the house ready for the Open House and when I say "we" I really mean Stephan!  =)  He does all of the heavy lifting and I just water the plants!

So let's see if I can do a good view of the house before we moved in.

Front the day we got the keys

So here is the house when we first bought it.  Not too bad, really, just not GREAT.  Lots of dirt, lots of dust, a million ants, 10 million flies and very blah.

Now look at it!

I got my Red Front Door, because let's face it, I AM Red.  =)  My pine trees to remind me of Pine, AZ.

Bird bath, feeder and my roses

 Now I get to see my birdies again!  These are the windows in my Studio so I get to enjoy my birdies again!

Better view with the Pine tree

Whiskey Barrel of Flowers

 Can I just say my flowers are doing AMAZING!  We planted them so late in the season we weren't sure how they were going to do, but they are doing an amazing job at thriving!

Down the way and that thunder boomer is just there to piss me off!

This is the view from the front porch.  We still have about 10 more feet to do in gravel before it is all finished and knowing my man, he will have it done tomorrow!   And the dark skies you see?  They are only there to tease us, give us lots of humidity and piss me off to no end!  This happens EVERY SINGLE DAY and not a drop of stinking rain!

Tomorrow we are taking down the courtyard at the old place and starting to bring over the pergola and fencing.  Stephan disconnected all of the water and power to the cottage today and we should be ready to bring it over next week!!

It was definitely a bittersweet moment and I am not sure if I am going to be able to watch my old courtyard be dismantled.  I know I am getting a bigger courtyard and I have more space in the studio at the house, but the courtyard and cottage was a major labor of love for Stephan and I and let's face it, I am getting sentimental in my old age!

Back Patio Coming Together

Now that I can send pictures from my phone to the blog, a whole new world is opening up!!! 

Check and see what Stephan has been updated up to!

Flower and More Flowers

Ok, I am DYING!!!  I miss my old courtyard SO MUCH!!!   All of the flowers, my grass, the trees, birds, Barry and Baby Barry, I mean, it's horrid!

So Stephan is trying VERY hard to get a mini courtyard finished and even let me get some flowers for the interim, plus we are going to Durango so I can get even MORE flowers!  YEAH!!!!!!!

Old Courtyard

Here is my old courtyard after we finished planting all of the goodies!  Isn't it downright adorable????

But I am hoping for more of the same and HOPEFULLY the weather will stay good enough for me to enjoy a partial good outdoor season to sit, ready and enjoy the fun.

In the meantime, here are some of the new flowers I got to pick up last week!

The first of the fences!

Thank God for Garrett!  We were thinking that G wasn't going to be able to make it back to NM with his new job, but THANKFULLY he was able to take off a week and help Stephan around the place.  He is such a huge help and digs fence holes like a master!

Way to go, G!

We were originally going to fence the back patio in partially as a part of the overall courtyard, but Hedy has become her own Houdini and gets out of the yard she is currently in.  It is BEYOND frustrating so we have decided to build an enclosed patio that leads into the courtyard.

The start of the fence

 Between Garrett and Stephan, they have the first 3 panels up and will hopefully get it all finished by mid-week!

View at the patio

As you can see, the concrete has been poured and here is a partial view of my new patio!!!!

I haven't taken any good pics of the concrete work, but I will soon!  I promise!  But you can see it leading up to the front door!  It is so wonderfully nice to be able to walk around the house without getting my feet dreadfully dusty.  We will be adding gravel to the flower bed and then a cute white partial fence in front of the sidewalk.

I cannot wait to get the front of the house finished!

Getting the driveway all spiffied up!

I have been absolutely terrible about keeping up with all of the pictures of the work Stephan has been putting into the outside of the house, but let's see if I can at least get you caught up to date!

Before we headed down to Phoenix, Stephan and the boys get their groove on by finishing up the framing for the sidewalks AND Stephan surprised me with getting the driveway defined! We don't have ALL the gravel yet, but we are hoping to have it finished by next week.  Just in time for our Open House!!!

Patrick, Stephan and Little Stephan

The curved driveway

Second entrance and more parking

Sidewalks ready for concrete!

Parking area

We will have gravel all over the place complete with a cute white picket fence!!! Hoping that deters the drunkards from knocking on the door at 2am!!!!   Garrett suggested pepper spray shooting out from the porch light, but I may go with the taser pad!  =)