89. Redo our front entrance into a patio sitting area with stone flooring.

This type of DIY project is not for the faint. Honestly, it was the project from HELL!! If we ever do something like this again we will wait and do it during the Fall or Winter or heck - hire someone. When we first started this project it was the beginning of June and we nearly got fried outside! We worked on this project during the weekend because during the week when Matt got home from work he had lots of homework to do. So it wasn't until the summer semester was over did this project get finished.

The biggest obstacle of this project is that our neighbors (to the South) back yard is higher than ours so when it rains, all their run off rain water flows to our front yard which floods it about 4 inches deep! I get so worried when we have flash floods or heavy rains that our house will flood one day. So before we could start the project, Matt had to dig a trench and lay down piping that would divert all that run off water to our street. We've had some flash flood rains lately so we were able to test it out. It worked great but we decided we should add gutters to the front of our house to help with roof run off. So we hired someone to put gutters up and after we had more rain, we were able to test that the gutters did help alleviate some of the flooding. Everything seems to be working now. Thank God! We are now looking for furniture to go out there, get some potted plants and add a water feature. I'm really particular when it comes to picking out stuff so I'm on the search. Once I have the final "look" done, I will post a picture.

BEFORE - The South part of our front yard = HORRID!

BEFORE - This part of our yard was wasted space & did not feel inviting.

BEFORE - Not sure why our builder picked these ugly rails. They look like they belong inside a house on a staircase. I've hated these since day one. It brought a smile to my face to have these knocked out.

Flooding from our neighbors run off. Told y'all it was bad!

It totally looks like a small river!

AFTER - This side of the house feels open and more inviting now. I love it and I don't feel like our front yard looks "ghetto" any longer. Ha! The only changes I plan on making in the late Fall is adding a lamp post next to the Sago Palm Tree, replacing the Sago with a taller Palm Tree and getting higher bushes by the first column. I wanted them higher to hide the furniture we plan on putting on the patio, and for privacy, but we couldn't find mature bushes at the time. Owning a home truly is a constant work in progress!

AFTER - Just need to add some patio furniture, a water feature and obviously finish painting the columns. I ran out of exterior paint. Next year we will work on the other side of our front yard. Like I said, always a work in progress. ;)