Curb appeal

The biggest difference between the new rental house we've moved into and any place we've lived in before is that we're responsible for the outdoor upkeep as well. Initially I thought, "No big deal." But this house has a lot of outdoor space, so it was intimidating for some first-time home-livers (that sounds oddly anatomical, doesn't it?).

It was no less intimidating because of the -- shall we say -- lack of care the house had before we moved in. The tenant before us wasn't exactly up to the task, so we inherited a jungle. First on my list of projects: Our scary overgrown bushes.

We were "that house" on the street

See what I mean? You could barely see the front porch, and you couldn't see the house numbers at all. And the view from the porch? Well...

Lovely, right?

Mike couldn't wait to get started

Not that we have much to look at (the street), but I'd like to see it without a view of bramble in front of me.

Our landlord offered to loan us her manual hedge trimmers, but we quickly realized that those weren't going to cut it. We needed heavy-duty, but as renters we weren't about to invest in a lot of expensive yard equipment. Enter the local rental place. We called and found we could rent electric trimmers for fours hours for just $15. Sold!

It didn't take very long for us to start to see a vast improvement.

Halfway there!

You can actually start to see our big planters full of impatiens. And after about 90 minutes...

Finished

Ta da!

Ok, so they're not great. The bushes are still super overgrown, but at least they're not completely overtaking the front of our house. Our goal is to keep them up for the rest of the fall just using our manual trimmers and then cut them back more over next spring and summer. I was afraid to cut off too much right away because 1.) The bush on the left looks kind of dead on the inside 2.) I didn't want to kill everything a week after moving into the house.

So for now, at least is looks manicured. Plus, now I get a better view from my porch swing.

Manicured hedges make for a better view -- even if it is a parking lot

No more jungle

It just goes to show that with very little money and very little effort, even renters can improve a home's curb appeal. Now all the outside upkeep seems a lot less intimidating than it did before. I had almost forgotten how satisfying it was to do yard work, but I'm loving spending the time outside in the fresh air and sun, playing in the dirt.