DIY Landscaping

Today is actually my golden birthday, 28 on the 28th and with Andrew’s birthday being 5 days ago, we decided to do some stuff around our property as a gift to each other! That’s how you know you’re an adult, right? Lol.

Anyway, the front of our house had zero landscaping whatsoever and we decided it was time to change that. My inlaws bought an old horse ranch down the road and Andrew found some rusted, old water troughs laying around their property. He decided they would make great planters and that is what sparked this whole project! They no longer made useful water troughs because of the holes in them, but they will make wonderful planters! I think the metal is a nice contrast against all of the wood and rock on our house. Andrew moved some concrete steps from the front of one of our sheds to make steps coming down from our porch. This really completed the whole look. He also found some old railroad ties laying around their property and used them to make a planter that borders our front porch. His friend came with a dump truck full of gravel and Andrew used it to fill in the railrooad tie planters. Our DIY landscaping project turned out just as we had hoped! I am so excited to plant some herbs or flowers in the water troughs come Spring!

If you have read other posts about different projects we’ve done, you will know that Andrew is very resourceful. He reuses all sorts of materials in a lot of his projects and I personally think that is half the fun. It’s so neat to see how he thinks to reuse objects, materials, etc. One thing that I love about this project is the fact that the railroad ties and water troughs have a story behind them and they don’t look brand new. They came from our in-law’s place, which was once an operating horse ranch. In fact, before it was a horse ranch, it was a dairy farm!

We still want to add some more pots and plants but the transformation these simple steps made is impressive. We would also like to paint the front door and stain the wood posts, but we’re pleased with where we’re at right now! The amount of impact a little landscaping can have is amazing. We are slowly making our house OUR home. Decorating, landscaping, painting, etc. makes it feel like you are adding your own touch to your house and slowly but surely making it your home.