Time for a little "spring sprucing"...

A few years ago (okay so SEVEN years ago) I shared a little makeover on my storage/garden shed….

This is the perfect time of the year to complete this kind of project...too early in most places to plant flowers but warm enough most days to paint! Even though we are past our “freeze date” and temps were in the 80s last week, we actually had snow this week. I have learned to wait a few extra weeks to plant tender annuals…they just seem to fair better long term.

Let's be honest...storage sheds can be a real eye sore. But with a tiny bit of imagination and a little "oops" paint from your local home improvement store, they can easily be transformed. They have paint for every type of material...plastic, metal, wood! Hose it down first, then use a good exterior primer and GET CREATIVE!!!!

Is your storage shed one of those ugly "barn" shaped things? Paint it to look like a REAL barn. (Barn red with white trim! Google it!)

No windows in your shed? Paint fake ones...seriously, just paint a fake window. Maybe some shutters...real or painted! Attach a little flower box and put some flowers in it!

Same with the door...paint it to look like mine! Or a pretty atrium door. Hang a grapevine wreath on it...anything to doll it up a bit!

Attach fake light fixtures or hang lanterns! (Mine are real light fixtures, but they don''t work!)

Again, google "garden sheds" or "storage buildings" and find something you think is cute and "fake" it! Pinterest has some awesome pictures of dolled up storage and garden sheds!

Anything to make it look like something other than a boring old storage shed.

This is a great weekend project for the entire family. Who cares if you drip paint all over the yard...PERFECT project for the kids! (Kids always think they want to help paint...always!)

Turn your ugly old storage shed into something other than an "eye sore!" You won't regret it!

AND YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

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My happy place....

This month has been crazy busy. I started painting the older buildings at my apartment complex…the weather hasn’t been very cooperative so only 1/2 is done. I have had to tear out and replace rotted flooring in an older unit and I have had a few vacancies which is always a lot of work. My daughter graduated from college week before last and everyone came home (I shared that here) and my grandson graduated from high school this past weekend.

Crazy busy!!!

One thing I am eternally grateful for is my yard…it is my happy place and I am so glad I got all the mulch down and the planting done before life got too hectic.

One of my favorite ways to unwind is sit in my backyard and just breathe….

Not much changes in the front and side yard but since my neighbors murdered their trees, my swing pergola in the front gets too much sun in the afternoon to really enjoy….

…but again, visitors may not see your backyard but they will see the front…so keep it pretty! (I shared the construction of the window planters HERE)

I do have a few moles causing a bit of stress….HERE I talk about what I have learned about moles and how I deal with them (it ain’t pretty!)

But since I now plant all my “tender annuals” in pots, they really do little but annoy me. Truth is they are nature’s little tillers for flower beds and if they didn’t run through the yard to get to the flower beds, I probably wouldn’t give them a second thought.

I am grateful I have the ability to do the work I do…but I am even more grateful I have a place I can go to recharge….

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The death of the rose bushes....and a peak at the rest of my landscaping!

Que sad music...the knock out roses finally bit the dust.

They were beautiful little additions to the side yard when I first planted them....

I walked around the yard and took a few pictures a few months ago and they looked halfway decent then!

I built this flower bed and planted the knock out roses because it is an area of the yard I rarely tend to...

Rarely...as a result they were looking REALLY pathetic!

Two bushes died last year so I removed them and planted another. This year the another died and two were near death.

In their defense, knock out roses tend to stop blooming in the heat of the summer...but they obviously had other issues!

So this past weekend we decided to pull them all out...except for the one little bush I planted last year. It may eventually get transplanted when it is cooler if I decide to go another direction with this bed.

I'm not sure what caused their demise. Age, disease, neglect...maybe a combination of all. I did throw a little fertilizer down on them occasionally but I can honestly say I probably didn't tend to them like I should have...a weed eater is probably not the proper tool to use to prune rose bushes.

Knock out roses don't make the best "cut flowers." Cute in a little ironstone creamer...but certainly not something you plant for the purpose of creating indoor arrangements....

Que sera...

I think I will leave the bed "vacant" for the time being...let it winter just incase it is harboring disease or fungus.

Besides, I can't decide what I want to plant in their place and honestly, it is really too hot to plant right now.

I would love to plant hydrangeas but evidently they don't take well to direct afternoon sun...and that is exactly what this bed gets...hot afternoon sun. Curses. I like crepe myrtles but they get very full and bushy and are probably not ideal for a narrow bed against a fence.

When planning your plantings pay attention to what sunlight and care the plants will need. Do your research!

Maybe I will just resort to more potted plants...those tend to do well but they certainly can't be neglected this time of year. Right now I am watering every day.

I will leave you with a few pictures of areas of the yard I don't neglect...

After YEARS of struggling to landscape this front bed, I finally resorted to flagstone and potted annuals..I love it!

Hostas are a super simple perennial that require little maintenance! They can easily be split every spring which explains why I have TONS of them in my yard! I have even started planting some in containers!

Planting in containers has become my "thang." I'll scatter a few annuals around in the ground, but just about all annuals go in containers these days!

Make your yard an extension of your home...

BTW, last year I shared here the new fescue sod...I thought the "difference" between the fescue and bermuda would bug the heck out of me...not so much! I see the difference...but I can live with it! As you can see, it made it through the winter and that is a good thing!

Until next week....