We recently had new photographs taken of the front exterior of our home.     Since our Garden is still thriving,   we decided to have them taken, in case we were to market our home in the ugly part of winter.  

However, we're almost finished with our backyard, Barn Garage project.  We like it so much that we just might stay longer than anticipated.

I'll give you a sneak peek of the barn garage and you can always follow the progress on our Instagram page: @jvwhome

Monday they come out to do the site clean up, pave the driveway and then we'll work on the hardscaping/landscaping in front of the barn.  The "lean to" on the left side will function as a gardening shed.  Oh, the garage doors?  The one shown was not the one we ordered, so now we're waiting on the correct doors to arrive.  The new garage doors will be installed by the end of the month and will be more of the farmhouse look with an "x" pattern , and will be painted the same color as the French doors, the charcoal black.  We also installed the jadeite green barn lighting to coordinate with the main house exterior lighting.

Oh, another project we'd like to complete here?  A pool cabana where you see that rectangle section of grass at the edge of the pool.   

Here's my inspiration drawing for what we'll create:

Not only would be it be very cute in between the barn garage and the house;   but mainly it's to provide privacy from neighbors.  Love our neighbors but I'd say most of us want our privacy, especially by the pool , right?   I'd also love to have a spot for our bbq "egg".  The Lake Side Country Club  sign is an old goodie that I scored years ago at an antique store in Llano, Tx..

We'll either build all this and decide we'll stay awhile or we'll eventually move closer in for my husband's commute  & we could easily downsize again now that our youngest is out of the nest, etc..  

We bought this spec home built by Agave Custom Homes.  Agave uses Rudy Bombick of Bee Creek Landscape to do all of his homes.

Rudy creates a great base of landscaping.   We love that our garden has become so prolific and pretty, but yet a low maintenance garden.   Rudy is great with his knowledge of plants and what works in our area and how to balance color and texture in the garden.    Living in a neighborhood with good water allows us to have a good irrigation system again which is also a major plus!

When we bought the house, we changed the brick color with a German brick smear technique.   The brick was more of a maroon red which didn't work with my interior or exterior decor.  I had to lighten it to work with my stuff, even though it was fine.  

 Here's  original sales photos here:

We also had the utility company move that eye sore of a guy wire to another part of the garden where it's less noticeable.  

The German smear job wasn't exactly like the inspiration pic I showed the mason guy, but I'm still happier it's a whiter finish.  Oh well!

Here was my inspiration pic from a Magnolia home:

We added alot of plants to the base garden that Rudy had set up.  We also added free standing pots within the garden and some garden art, etc.. Another area we added was the Euro style garden with the pea gravel, where our bistro set is situated.  Makes for a great spot to watch kids or the dogs in the front, safe from the street.  

Another feature Rudy uses is alot of modern pavers but also organic Texas limestone to create steps and accents in the garden.  Love how he created the steps to the porch here:

If you notice in the pics above, we also screened in the left porch.  We live in that screen porch, alot.  If you follow us on Instagram, you know it's my haven.  Especially in the morning and in the evening.  Plus we watch alot of great football games out there or have dinners on the outdoor Gathering Table we have on the porch, bug free.  Plus we have an outdoor fireplace out there and so it's super cozy!

A project we'd still like to complete is either painting our front  porch or putting brick pavers on the porch floor.  We've known this awhile, but when we saw these pictures, we realize it does need it to be finished!

I love my outdoor rug , I found it on Amazon here.  Works like a champ ....water it down everyday and the colors are still like brand new.

Here's a brick patio floor for inspiration:

Once we moved in, we also realized quickly that our dogs needed a fence in the front.  Especially when the poor UPS man would stop in.  Well, you know, Amazon is our friend these days right?!  Especially when you're in a new home and need "stuff".  (btw, watch a George Carlin funny video about "stuff" at the bottom of my post..... if you really want to humor yourself)

We outlined the front yard & courtyard with this horizontal wood fence:

Hope you enjoyed our home.  I'll write more in a couple of days about the Four Hands Home visit I mentioned in the last blog post.  I was hoping to share more pictures of the Kyle Bunting tour but was informed I can't share pictures of their factory/showroom because of their privacy statement.    If you go to their website though, you can see lots of eye candy there.

Hope you're enjoying nice Fall weather wherever you are.

xo,