While were waiting for contractor quotes to continue work on the inside of our house I decided to do some work on the outside. In the past couple of years I’ve gotten more and more into gardening (and have gotten better at not killing things)!
As you walk up the steps to our house there is an area of woods that doesn’t get a ton of sunlight and is always filled with little vines and weeds. Definitely not the type of first impression I want to make! Eww!!
I decided this weekend to try and change the look of that area. I was able to start and finish this project in just one day (completely by myself while my fiance was at work)! I went to Lowe’s and got a 4×4 post as well as 6 cedar fence posts. I chose the fence posts because they were much cheaper than the cedar 2×4’s!
A 3’x5′ box was the perfect size for this project which meant my pieces were:
- (4) 5′ Cedar Boards
- (4) 3′ Cedar Boards
- (6) 11″ 4×4 Boards
I also needed:
- Circular Saw
- Drill
- Landscaping Fabric
- Wood Screws
(If I had done this box any larger I would have dug holes and put the posts into the ground.) After I made all my cuts I drilled the long sides together making sure the ends were flush and there wasn’t a gap between the boards.
Since the cedar boards I chose weren’t super thick I added a center post on the long sections for extra support.
Then I took all of the materials to the area for the bed for assembly. I laid some landscaping fabric to keep the weeds out and then assembled the sides. Making sure that each side was level before screwing.
The bed was filled with dirt. Lucky for me Lowe’s was having an AWESOME sale on soil this weekend! (It took about 8 bags to fill this guy up!) And no this post is not sponsored by Lowe’s (although it could be- lol! Lowe’s have your people call my people!)
Since this is such a shady area I chose some shade loving perennial plants that will grow and spread over time. I love the lush green look they add to this area! Even better, some of them were transplanted from other places in our yard so they were FREE! I did buy a couple of Hosta’s and Fern’s.
Hostas
Ostrich Ferns
Elephant Ears
I’m in love with how this project turned out, how cheap it was and how easy it was to accomplish! Let’s take a second to take it in with all it’s glory!
I really love how much friendlier it makes the entrance to our house! I’m far from done on the landscaping but this is a great, simple start!
I’ll be sure to post an update as the bed starts to fill in!
Thanks for reading,
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