On Such A Winter's Day

Are you dreaming of outdoor projects on these waning Winter days? Me too! 

I was thinking of all the projects we've done so far in this builder's spec house and, of course, all the things that are still left to do. Here's a picture of the house when it was up for sale. 

That planting bed below the window started dying before we bought the house, and the plants between the blocks on the walkway couldn't withstand the Texas heat. 

We replaced it all, one at a time. The reddish mulch was replaced with rocks. Sturdier plants replaced the little pansies and other fragile flowers.

When we were looking at the house over a 2-month period, the builder dropped the price quite a bit ($29K) as he had several project houses going and wanted to make a sale. 

We bought the house in a sort of unfinished state, but with the drop in price, it seemed like it was too good a deal to pass up.  When I think back to all the upgrades that were needed, I'm not sure we got much of a deal.

The picture above shows the problem walkway and the start of the removal of the planting bed to the right of the entry, which we replaced with a patio. That block walkway was a real hazard. Plants could not survive between the blocks on the walkway and many people stumbled due to how uneven it was.

We did the patio first. We thought it would be better to work our way from inside out, one project at a time, as we saved up for each one.

Next up was a replacement walkway. I love curvy paths, so that's what we did.

Because it can get icy in the winter, we put an exposed aggregate finish on the walkway instead of a smooth finish. You can see the pebbles exposed in the pictures above.

We planned to replace the front door but, for budget's sake, Wild Bill decided to try to refinish it. 

It turned out better looking than the original finish. I was kind of sad as I thought I might talk him into painting the door if the refinishing didn't work out.

We still have more projects for the front of the house. Next up will be some kind of stone or tile inside the entry. It's always something, right? Back to dreaming of Spring...

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