THE CABIN HOUSE

a while back we dubbed this style of wall block as "too home depot" and decided we'd never use them. and then i found a pallet of them for super cheap. amazing how quickly a good deal can change your mind...my mother would be so proud.

before

after

taking out that tree a few weeks back really changed our front yard; not that we really need another area to attack with a project....in some ways i feel overwhelmed with all of the possibilities, but on the other hand i feel so lucky. sometimes we look at a tiny area in our backyard and think about how just that tiny corner is twice the size of so many people's entire yards. our front yard adds another entire dimension to that feeling... one of the things we've noticed about working in the front yard as opposed to the backyard is how it suddenly connects you to the neighborhood. it feels good to see our neighbors out walking their dogs, puttering outside and taking off for church (as we heathens play around in the dirt). we also spotted a turkey on the loose....there's a great little article in this month's sunset magazine about a family down in LA that "...started with their garden and transformed an inner-city neighborhood into an oasis". i'm ridiculously inspired by this sentiment regarding the money and time the family spent on their home: "...It was [also] a statement --an act of faith that the area was worth the investment." following a really rough week for our city, i needed to read something like that...it makes me feel like i'm not wrong for generally believing in the good of people and the ability to take some control of your future.

so that's what was running through my head as we dug and carried and leveled and finally planted our little front area. i don't even have photos of the true before. this area was completely overgrown with huge dark bushes that looked dangerous and scary. we ripped those out when we bought the place and the area had been sitting untouched since then.

C was a madman with cleaning and digging out the area and managed to build the wall and level it in pretty much 2 weekends. i carried the stones from our backyard to the front (and have the baby biceps to prove it) but he's the true muscle on this project. we went a little nuts at the nursery yesterday and bought pint-sized drought-friendly plants. we're keeping our fingers crossed that they'll all grow up to be big and strong and cover up our "home depot" wall.

before

after

oh, and there's a really great view of san francisco when you sit on the edge of the wall! we figure it will be where we'll sit and watch the neighbors (and the wild turkeys!) go by when we're old and grey...