Curb appeal

loneframer

I cropped that image to show more detail. There's a ton of different effects that you could do to really set that gable off.

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__________________
It's not that it took him an hour to make 100 bucks, it's that it didn't take you 10 hours to save 100 bucks.

hyunelan2

That's definitely something I will at least look into. What should I be searching for? Every time I look for something for PVC window details, I get PVC framed windows in my result?


RE: the yard. Oy. You should have seen it when we moved in 2 years ago. This is the first year it has looked good. It doesn't help that 3/5s of my neighborhood uses professional landscapers and the guy next to me is super-passionate about his lawn. He literally cuts it every other day. You can putt in his back yard. When we moved in, the house had sat empty for nearly a year. Grass in the back yard was knee-high. The realtor paid some kid to keep the front mowed, but that doesn't mean it was good grass. I fought a lot of bare spots, many invasive grasses, and tons of weeds. That first summer we were too focused on bringing the house around to care much about the yard.

Last summer was my first attempt at bringing the yard around. It got a couple shots of fertilizer, but didn't do all that well. By about June of last year my front yard was 70% dandelion. Ortho weed-b-gone got rid of those, but the grass still wasn't very full. I made sure to winterize for the first time at the end of last season.

This spring, early, it got Scotts turfbuilder with pre-emergent weed killer. 6 weeks later, Scotts turfbuilder with +2 weed control (*). I also put down some Scotts grub-ex on the front lawn, as the area between the sidewalk and street was showing some signs of grub damage. I am going to continue with Scotts Turfbuilder, of the appropriate formula, every 6 weeks. We've also got a ton of rain this spring, which has helped. The back yard looks about the same as the front now, but had a lot of invasive tall fescue that made it look like clumps of weeds all over, but it's really just thicker bladed fast-growing grass. The normal grass is now starting to choke that out. I cut high to keep the grass growing healthy. For best appearance, I cut in 2 directions, and try to vary "angled" or "straight" patterns every other time.


(*) I have used the Scotts Turfbuilder with plus 2 weed control in the past and thought, "meh." This year, when I had finished my lawn I had a half-hopper leftover. I took it to the lot behind my house (park) and made a few passes along my fence into the park until I ran out of fertilizer. When dandelions hit their peak a few weeks ago, it was like a line was drawn in that lot of where they should stop. There were no dandelions growing up anywhere near my yard. Good stuff.

WirelessG

Well done. It looks nice a flat too., The guy that sodded my lawn did a lousy job and I was too focused on getting in the house so I let it pass. Driving over the lawn in my riding lawn mower is kinda bumpy, but beer seems to help (of course you can't leave it in the cup holder as it will go flat). I have St. Augustine, which is susceptible to fungus and I have had some die off the last couple of years. The experts told me to quit fertilizing in order to get rid of the fungus, but it also seemed to have resulted in weeds taking over where the grass didn't come back. Part of my yard is on a 20-25 degree slope, and if I was concerned that if the grass and/or weeds died off, I wodl be looking at an erosion nightmare and have to re-sod. So, I panicked went to John Deere and got some Lesco 24-2-11, which has helped, but I started a little too late to get in a second treatment.

I did try organics for a couple years, but they didn't seem to help. They did work for this guy though:

http://www.gardenweb.com/auth/nph-lo...=todd_in_texas


I wonder if KrazeeKristen is running the same program on her pumpkins.

hyunelan2

I see what you did there.

KrazeeKirsten

LOL!!! You guys!!!

for the record my pumpkins are all natural organic free-range prize winners!

loneframer

There's options as far as price range. Something as simple as removing the siding and installing vinyl lineals and vinyl crown would do wonders. A lineal used as a frieze board under the soffit looks nice as well. You could also do a gable decoration.

Here's a few ideas for you.

The stone in the third pic is man made, installed with wire and mortar directly over plywood and 2 layers of a weather resistant barrier. Not inexpensive, but it really would look nice framing that window.

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__________________
It's not that it took him an hour to make 100 bucks, it's that it didn't take you 10 hours to save 100 bucks.

loneframer

Nevermind, just realized there was brick under the porch. No stone.

__________________
It's not that it took him an hour to make 100 bucks, it's that it didn't take you 10 hours to save 100 bucks.