Jules Jewels- Repurposed Goods and DIY Ideas: Getting Rid of the Jungle!

We bought our fixer upper in October and moved in November. Because it was winter, we had time to hold off on the jungle outside our front and back windows while we focused most of our energy inside the house! The house had been vacant for a year, so when I refer to our yard being a "jungle", I really mean that. You couldn't see the front windows of the house. The swing set and pool equipment were buried behind bushes and weeds and the palm trees had been eaten by ivy! It was a mess. I actually remember when I showed my parents the house, they both tried to talk us out of buying the house. Everyone who saw the house thought we were crazy! But lucky for us we ignored their concerns and trudged forward!

As spring got closer, started honing in on ideas for the yard. We didn't have much money to spend at this point and knew we needed at least sprinklers for both the front and backyards. It was actually great having some time to think about what we wanted for the yard. I remember us walking the neighborhood looking for ideas from similar homes. What we did see and like is a sitting area out front. What this meant is the jungle plants in front of the windows had to go. We also knew we wanted to keep most of the grass out front for the kids and the olive and magnolia tree. In the back we wanted to keep with the same layout, but clean it up, get rid of the ivy, plant new plants and bark and take out all the plants in front of the pool equipment. Shortly after the landscaping we ended up building a deck out by the pool area.

So with our plan in motion we began the clean up process. It took about 3 weeks and some help from our parents. I remember packing over 25 bags of ivy with my mom. It was horrible! We hauled rocks from the front yard to the backyard and tore out a lot of hideous plants! It was back breaking work but we knew we had to do it ourselves in order to stay on budget!

Once all the clean out was done, we meet with a few landscapers and discussed ideas and costs. We cemented a porch, got sprinklers and drip lines, leveled out the yard and got bark. To save costs, the landscaper took us shopping for plants so we could get a discount but we planted them all ourselves. In the end we spent about $5,000 on landscaping.

Shortly after we were done, my husband and his father built a redwood deck in our pool area. It was a Christmas gift from his parents so all it cost us was $40 for a gallon of deck stain:)

Tips for landscaping:
1. Have a plan before you start!! Talk with a landscaper, designer, friends, neighbors, etc. for ideas for your yard.
2. Walk or drive around the area to see what you like and don't like.
3. Be mindful of the costs of things and your budget. It is so easy to over spend when remodeling a house or yard. We only had $5,000 to spend which is not much so that meant were we could save money like on doing the tear out, we did it.
4. Cut corners were you can. Rather than laying sawed, we seeded the grass. It was a 1/3 of the cost and it came out beautiful!! You just have to be patient for a month while it grows.
5. Do it yourself it you can. My hubby had never put in a deck before but his dad had. Find a friend or relative to help you out and do some things yourself!
6. Take pictures throughout install! This is important if you ever have a sprinkler leak and need to dig up your lines, least you have a picture to tell you what area to dig in.

Here are some before and after pictures! Of course, the yard is different today because just like our house, our yard is always a work in progress and constantly changing!

Before.