May, 2020 - Berry Berry Quite Contrary

The last few months Matt and I have been working on the curb appeal of the front of our home. I painted our porch and gave it a mini spring makeover. New rugs and some plants made a big impact. Never underestimate small details; they can make a big difference. And this last weekend I stenciled a pattern onto our sidewalk of the front of our home. I LOVE how the stenciled sidewalk turned out!!! I was honestly a little nervous to do it. I’ve never stenciled anything before and you don’t see too many stenciled sidewalks around. But I decided to just go for it and hope for the best…. kind of been my mantra lately!

Isn’t it so cool?!?! I’ve always loved the look of stamped concrete but that was not in our budget. This cost us $20 for the stencil, I already had the primer and paint on hand leftover from our porch makeover. I purchased this star tile stencil from royaldesignstudio.com to create this pattern. Shipping was SO fast! I was super excited to receive it earlier than expected.

First step was priming our sidewalk. I used the BEHR Concrete & Masonry Bonding Primer. I used a paintbrush to apply it and let it dry over night.

I used the BEHR Porch & Patio Floor paint .

I started out by using a roller when doing the stencil because that’s what I’ve seen others do on Instagram; but after doing a couple I quickly reached for a stenciling brush that I picked up for a couple dollars at Hobby Lobby. I preferred the brush WAY more than the roller. I felt like I had better control and didn’t get any runs with it like I did with the roller.

The black design ties into our black striped porch steps and other decor on the porch.

I only had four more spots to go when I accidentally put my stencil on wrong. Nothing can ever go perfect, right?! That would be way too easy. Luckily I had some paint thinner on hand and a wire bristle brush. I let the paint thinner soak for a minute or two on the paint and used the brush to scrape it off. Worked like a charm. Crisis averted.

I know next Spring I will have to more than likely touch some of this up but I’m fine with that. The snow in the winter can cause some of the paint to peel off; especially if it’s sitting there for an extended period of time.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The exterior of our home has always been just as important to us as the interior of our home. When we pull up to our home we desire it to look warm, inviting and cozy. Moving into a house with ZERO landscaping was definitely overwhelming. A blank slate is awesome in some regards but not in others. Number one, Matt and I are no professionals. We have learned all about landscaping through trial and error. Number two, landscaping is expensive. I would’ve loved to move into a house where there was already grass and trees and plants but that was not the case here. Adding all of those things has been pricey and wasn’t something we could do all at once. There are also positives though. A blank slate lets you do whatever you want. As a creative person, it’s been very fun thinking and planning for new ideas for our yard. We’ve been able to choose everything. That part has been awesome.

We believe landscaping can add so much to a home. Nature is beautiful. God’s gift to us. And we wanted to add some more nature to our front yard so we planted some trees!

Matt recruited Jayde to help plant trees. Jayde loves doing any kind of activity like this!

The other girls wanted to help too. Notice Brielle’s snow shovel. 🙂

We’ve known for a while we wanted to add some more trees in our front yard. We did A LOT of research on trees. SO many to choose from. Eventually our walks around our neighborhood lead us to decide on the Quaking Aspen Tree. A couple houses around us have these trees in their yard and we loved them. After doing some research on them we decided they were the tree for us!

Since I was a little girl my mom and dad have taken us to Estes Park, Colorado for vacation many summers over the years. All my girls have now experienced it and have fallen in love with the mountains as well. It has grown to be one of my favorite spots in the whole world. These trees remind me a little bit of Estes Park. An added bonus.

These trees have beautiful yellow leaves in the Fall (can’t wait to see them change color) and are known for their “quaking” leaves. The leaves rustling is a very peaceful sound.

The trees will grow more so up, not out. They will give us a little more privacy on our porch but we will still have our view of the Kansas sunsets.

I have one more diy project planned for the exterior of our home. The trees were supposed to be the last thing but I had the idea last night while going to bed and now have to make it happen! Don’t worry Matt. If you’re reading this, it wont involve your help!

When it comes to landscaping Matt and I make a pretty good team. He is really good at landscaping and I’m good at placing things where they need to be. Team work makes the dream work. 🙂 (Sorry, had to.) 🙂

Hopefully this will inspire you to plant a tree or two or just simply enjoy the nature surrounding you.

Thanks for stopping by!

May 2020

Stenciled Sidewalk Curb Appeal

Landscaping Front Yard and New Trees