Exterior Home Improvement & a Garden Goodbye

I wish I had some current photos of my gardens in their full grandeur but since this is northern Michigan and we are just now having nice weather, it will be the end of June by the time we see full bloom…and by then we’ll be long gone.

Some from years past…

This flower bed was my vision from day one. It was basically a sunken rock bed with a few hostas when we moved in. We had a truck of soil brought in to build up a mound. I spent an entire day with a shovel creating the edging for this. Bob was pretty impressed.

He built the raised flower bed around the center drive tree and created the ring benching for the fire pit in the background. Making these exterior home improvement created an extension to our home. 

There was so much we did to this house, (see the Big Basement Reno, The Completed Walk-out and our huge Master Bathroom project) of course we couldn’t leave out all the outdoor home improvement.

Exterior Home Improvement

Power washing the logs and re-staining.

The finished deck…I will miss it immensely!

When we first moved in it was missing one whole side of railing, the wood was completely raw, the ceiling was not only unfinished but was also not stained.

The square footage of this deck almost doubled our main floor living space in the summer months. Sitting outside during a thunder storm was spectacular, not to mention the all-season grilling that took place.

We already know that Bob is pretty motivated when he gets started on a project, but when he told me he was making walking paths in the woods I thought, “ok cool.” I had no idea what that would entail. Not only did he mow a path and pack it down, he laid weed blocking plastic and covered the entire path with wood chips.

A very nice path indeed.  Unfortunately I don’t have photos but there are 10 acres, so you can imagine the state-park-worthy nature path we were fortunate enough to enjoy.

Kylee’s birthday parties always consisted of night walks on the path and it never failed that the girls would have a boogie man in the form of Bob and my dad to give them a fun scare.

Catching lightening bugs and having campfires happened frequently and will be a summertime must for the future family in this home.

Bob informed me that when he met the buyers they were very interested in the gardens and was able to name many of the plants. This actually brought tears to my eyes…they will love them as much as I do.

There are so many memories…the start of a life, a marriage, a family, tons of friends, our careers, school friends and sleepovers…but the future holds even more.

Gardens that are created by collecting from friends, clipped from finds and gathered in time – this will be how I’ll continue at the resort house.

I absolutely cannot wait to look out my front window and see a beautiful lake, happy people and a life many could only dream of. There’s a sign that Bob’s parents have that reads,

“if you’re fortunate enough to live on a lake, you have enough…”

that and family, friends and good laughs…I’d cheers to that.

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