More recent renovations

The past few weekends we've been really busy with outdoor renovations. Specifically this project. We've been digging dirt, and digging dirt and digging some more. Our bodies hurt, but it's looking so good!

Here's the before.

We ripped out the driveway last October, then ripped out the Rhododendrons (don't worry, we transplanted them elsewhere). Then we got rid of those stupid monstrous gardens that took up the whole front of our house. Here's a closeup on the before: 

All that dirt! We ended up hiring someone to get rid of it. Thank goodness we did. It took them 3 big vehicles, and 2 dump truck loads of dirt to get rid of it all. Only problem is we forgot to have them dig 3 inches down so that we could lay top soil then grass seed. So, that's what Kris and I did all last weekend. Took 3 days, and 25+ wheelbarrow loads to get rid of the extra 3 inches, but we did it. Then we had top soil delivered and my brother and his girlfriend helped to spread it all out. Then we laid seed. Here's what we were left with. 

 Forgot to mention that we put up railings also on our front porch. Not quite done with that yet, but it's a start. We will be adding in a 4th column, and we will spread them out better. And we added nice wide front stairs. Yay! So exciting!

This past weekend we laid the walkway. I got this awesome concrete mold off Amazon and I loved it! It was in the shape of rocks, and it looks awesome. And it only took 3 hours to lay the whole walkway.

We just have to fill in the spaces with dirt, lay another layer of grass seed. I also made front gardens and bordered it with all the extra brick from the old walkway. Can't wait to plant some pretty flowers in the front and finish it off. Pictures of that soon to come, but for now that's progress! Yay!