How to Enjoy an Unfinished House

Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field,

and after that build your house.  Proverbs 24:27

 

 

Scott and I love to entertain. We love our people.  We love to cook.  We love to share our home with our friends and family.  BUT, what do you do when your home is absolutely not what you want it to be yet?  Should it matter?  Should you just not have house guests? Parties?  Photo Ops?  Nah... We just took it outside!  As I told you before, we gave the house a face lift to give us a little something to enjoy while we waited and planned for the BIG remodel/addition in the future. 

 

Our messy un-landscaped yard.  Kids don't care if the yard is perfect.

 My friend, Co Co, and I have lovingly nicknamed our house The Secret Garden.  I had to leave 10 Antique rose bushes behind at our other home.  When we first moved in, sweet friend helped me pick out a few roses at, the now closed, Antique Rose Emporium.  A little taste of what is to come.  In addition to that, I constantly find fun little surprises in our yard like the red lilies below.  I love to imagine how long they have been here and who planted them.  I especially love that I see the same types of bulbs blooming in old homes all around my house.

We have Paper Whites, Purple and White Irises and these beauties to name a few.

Click here to see the Antique Rose Emporium website

So if you are going to have "Porch Parties" and not let the -Not so great- state of your home deter you from entertaining, ya' have to at least get the yard a little spiffed up!  Our first Porch Party was for the Fourth of July right after the porch was finished.  In spite of the sweet roses we had planted and the "Secret Garden" we were discovering, the yard needed some TLC, ASAP.  We hired some cheap labor.

 

We worked hard!

 The First Porch Party was a huge success.  I guess you have to take my word for it!  These are the only pictures I can find from the night.  We had lots of friends over.  We served everything on the porch.  I know my sweet friends were curious about the rest of the house but we kept it outside.  And so the Porch Party became a "Hardin Thing".  A way to enjoy our home and our friends even though the house isn't quite ready for Prime Time!

We have had house guests too. 

This porch has seen some action.  Brutus is always watching the neighborhood action from one of his perches.

 

Brutus

Earl

Even though I have amazing helpers, we decided it was time to get serious about our yard.  At least the yard that is right by the porch.  We have had 2 different experts come out and trim our heritage oaks. In case you haven't walked through that process, let me tell you, there are many opinions about the best way to deal with heritage oaks, ball moss, trimming new growth and dead looking branches.  We did our best and the trees seem happy.  We also hired a great landscaper to plant new St. Augustine grass by the house, freshen up our flowerbeds and plant boxwoods all across the front of the house.  We installed a new sprinkler system and even got the old hand dug well working.  It has ice cold water down there.  We are still trying to decide the best way to highlight that unique feature in our front yard.  As you can see in the photo above, the well has two limestone troughs that are original to the house.  You can imagine riding up to the house, pumping water into the trough for your horse and coming on up to the house.  At least I can.  There isn't enough water to water the whole yard but there's water down there.  I have imagined trying to turn it into a water feature and having water lilies in the bigger trough.  What would you do?

 

 

We added a walkway to get over to the driveway more easily.  We left space for annuals and moved some of the existing bulbs around so we could enjoy the Irises better.

So now the porch and yard are all gussied up for some visitors.  Or capturing milestones...

 

 We have celebrated birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, First Days of School... all on the porch.

 

 

The messy action happens in the backyard, like frying turkeys.  But the men in my family don't mind the undecorated state of the back yard thank goodness!  Some day Scott will have the ultimate outdoor kitchen, worthy of his grilling expertise!

Speaking of expertise... I mentioned Co Co earlier.  I have a sweet friend who thinks of my yard as her muse.  How lucky am I?  For example, remember the boxwoods we planted?  Darling.  Love boxwoods because they remind me of Houston.  There are so many plants I can't have that remind me of home.  Magnolias, Camellias, Azaleas. The boxwoods were having a little trouble mixing with the dogs and I had a lot of dead boxwoods.  My brilliant friend pruned those bushes and filled pots! Genius.

Or sometimes she just comes over and "fluffs my potted plants."

We even have a fun swing and herb garden courtesy of our sweet friend.  No, you can't have her.  She's mine!  I am her muse.  Well, my yard is anyway.

So thanks to Co Co we have a new place to hang out and fresh herbs!

As you have probably noticed, my porch decorations change constantly.  I am always moving things around, adding and deleting this or that.  It was really my main place to play with design. 

 

 

We hosted National Night Out in our yard with the help of other sweet neighbors.  I know the neighborhood is curious about the house and our plans.  It was fun to have them come over and enjoy the porch and the yard, ice cream, treats and good old fashioned neighborly fun.

  

As I mentioned before, our house is very old.  Historic really.  But, we live in a true neighborhood.  We are surrounded by homes.  Most of them are about 20 years old.  Some of our neighbors have been here a long time.  They have watched people come and go.  They have watched our house filled with a family, and not.  They have seen people move in with good intentions but then not much happened.  We hope that our friends and neighbors love what we have planned.  I promise I am about to start giving you the play by play as we have actually already begun demolition.  Before I started showing you the during and the after, I wanted to share the before.  We have done lots of living in the before version of our house.  Sometimes it was hard.  Sometimes I didn't love my quaint house with small rooms and crazy floor plan.  Sometimes I didn't let Luke have sleepovers because, well, oh my word where would I put them?  What would his friends think?  Then sometimes I let myself just enjoy the here and now.  Enjoy the house with all its quirks and know that it is going to be beautiful someday...

 Another big Porch Party we have had is for Halloween.  People who know me know that I love Halloween.  Not the scary kind.  The fun, caramel apple, jack-o-lantern, sweet children in costumes kind of Halloween.  In our old neighborhood we had an annual Halloween party with our neighbors.  I didn't have a party last year.  Instead, we went back to the old neighborhood.  It was fun but this year I was ready to begin new traditions.  Co Co came over and helped me decorate the porch.  We had a potluck party.  We invited neighbors and friends who don't live in trick-or-treating kind of neighborhoods.



Friends and Family- That's Super Co Co!

Neighbors!

 

                 YUM!

 

New traditions were born this year.  We got to walk to the pumpkin patch from our new home which was such a treat but even better, we were able to share our home porch with friends old and new.

 

No matter what season we are celebrating, the porch always gets in on the action.

 

 

 



 

Sometimes my yard and porch may be a little worse for the wear.  Freezes and Droughts are not my friends.  No matter the season.  No matter the reason. We go outside and enjoy this space that we are blessed to call home.

  

 

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.  1 Peter 4:9-10

I hope this post encourages you.  If I can throw parties and entertain house guests with tiny bathrooms, a galley kitchen, parts of the house completely unseemly, you can invite friends over when things aren't picked up or decorated in the latest style.  Getting together with friends and family, loving life and each other, is really all that matters.