before and after

This fall it will be five years since I bought my house. And I just happened to rediscover some old photos I had taken on my camera. So, to commemorate the occasion I would like to do a little "before and after" photo extravaganza. I'm a sucker for before and after photos. First off, the kitchen. Oh, Hi, kitchen. Here it is a few moths after moving in:

Now:

Well, I see the kitchen hasn't changed much over the years. But I thought my kitchen was pretty awesome when I first moved in so I' haven't done much with it. I promise that the rest will be more dramatic. Moving on: the living room!

Oh, my. What a sad, empty room. No offense, living room. This was all hand me down furniture except the T.V. and stand. I was very happy when I got to throw away that coffee table. So very happy. That thing was in my parent's living room since the 80's and I didn't even like it then. It took me until last year to replace the couch. It was really comfortable and didn't look bad so I had a hard time convincing myself that I should get a new one. But then I saw the new couches they have with those lay down chaise things (perfect for watching T.V./napping multitasking) and I was sold. So here it is now:

Yay! Now, the dining room:

Not bad. Just very bare. When I moved into my house I had saved up a bit of money by living with my parents for a year and a half. So in addition to my down payment, I had enough for a new dining room table, bedroom set, fridge, and oven. And that was it. The rest of the house was hand me down stuff or nothing at all. All of the things I have now is due to a slow steady accumulation over time. I would make one large purchase a year, like a couch or desk or a coffee table. The house was so barren that when I had my new fridge delivered after I moved in, the delivery guy asked when I was expecting the rest of my stuff to get here. Yeah. This is all my stuff, Sir. Anyway, one of the last things I did was put pictures on the wall. Pictures are expensive, yo. Nice looking ones, anyway. I did find some cheap generic looking ones at home discount stores like T.J. Maxx and Hobby Lobby. So for a while I just bought those until I could afford something a little nicer. But that day never seemed to come, so last year I got tired of it and I ripped out the generic pictures and put in over sized calendar prints I liked. They look like a hot mess if you look at the back side of them, but they look nice hanging up.

See. Every picture in my dining room now is actually a calendar print. These two above my couch are my favorites.

Okay, on to the backyard.

I have to say that my "now" backyard photo benefits a lot just from being taken in the summer versus the fall when everything is dead. Although we are talking about summer in Texas here. Everything almost looked like the fall photo until we go some rain a few weeks ago.

Not too much of a difference here except a bit of landscaping and a new shed. Here's the side of the house. The main reason that I almost didn't buy my house five years ago is because it doesn't face the main road, but an alley way. Thus, there's no "backyard" just a "sideyard". It was weird. It still is weird, but I've gotten used to it.

Again, not much of a difference. Just a few new things planted. And a newer Mustang, too.

You probably can't tell from this picture but that quaint little white picket fence around my house is a piece.of.shit. I plan to rip it out next year and I will laugh as I sledgehammer it to bits and drive it to the garbage dump. If you really look at it close, it looks like it was made from whatever bits of scrap wood the contractor had lying around. And the posts holding it up are about five inches in the ground. It's a wobbly, cracking, splitting, crooked mess. I'll move on now. I'm not really a gardener. At all. I don't want to weed and water and all that jazz. I do want the yard to look nice though. The house didn't have any landscaping when I bought it except for a few bushes by the front door, so over the years I've planted a few things that are drought resistant (I live in Texas, remember) and flower at some point. Nothing major. Literally one or two things every year. This next photo is of the side of the house when I first moved in. I'm only posting it because I want you to see what a big difference four years makes (I had lived here a year before I bought these) when you plant a happy native Texas plant.

BAM!

Besides for the few months after I planted them, I have never watered these guys. Never fertilized them. They are a lazy gardener's dream. Okay. Well, that was fun, right? Maybe?