If you're new to Rambling Renovators, welcome! My name is Jennifer. I help people create functional and beautiful homes, I help brands create digital content strategies, and I've been writing this blog since 2007. I live with my husband and daughter in Toronto, Canada in a centre-plan, mid century colonial style house that we've infused with the fresh traditional style we love. We DIY all our renovations and have a fondness for architectural details, built-ins, and classic decor.  

Catch up to see what we did week by week:

Week 1 - introducing the garden project

Week 2 - deciding on plant varieties and defining the garden plan

Week 3 - planning the cutting garden

Week 4 - getting plants in the ground - and dealing with a hydraulic oil spill

Week 5 - how to set up a soaker hose system

Week 6 - porch decor and air conditioner fencing ideas

Week 7 - final projects and progress

One thing I've learned about gardens: once you start, you can't stop. We originally planned a simple update of the front garden, but with all this time at home and a desire to get outside, we did a bit of work as well on our back yard and side garden. Let me show you what we've done.

I always love a good Before and After so let's revisit what this exterior looked like back in Week 1:

Clearly, our front garden had been neglected for a very long time. We had made some changes to the exterior over the years, like installing our DIY paver walkway, updating the porch decor, and changing the garage door, but the landscaping was an intimidating project we were hesitant to tackle.

What finally got us over the hurdle was enlisting the help of a professional. We consulted a landscape designer who helped us design a front garden plan. As garden newbies, we had no idea what plants would work together, what spacing plants would need, and how to create something that looked cohesive and would be interesting and ever-changing throughout the year.

Getting all the plants into the ground took a weekend and I'm happy to report that everything is growing beautifully. This vignette with the Euonymus standard, garden rock, and coneflower plant is my favourite. We had to make some minor adjustments as some of the plants specified were out of stock but I'm pleased with how everything looks together.

The soaker hose system we installed made a huge difference. We've been running it every other day and with the rain we've had lately, the plants have had their fill. You can see how the hydrangeas are blooming and everything is growing nice and sturdy.

We decided against covering the soaker hose with mulch as it would make this area super difficult to keep clean. We have lots of trees on our property and they dump a TON of leaves on our front lawn (one year I think we raked 56 garden bags full of leaves!). 

It'll be much easier to rake the leaves out of this area without the mulch in the way. For now, things look a bit sparse but once the plants grow bigger and fuller, the soaker hose won't be as noticeable.

You might have noticed that we have new sod around the edges of the garden. In Week 4 of the One Room Challenge, we had an unexpected hydraulic fluid spill across our lawn, garden, driveway, porch, and walkway! The city accepted liability for the accident but instead of going through the long, drawn-out claims process, we decided to just go ahead and remediate the situation ourselves and get reimbursement later.

We managed to scrub and clean our walkway and driveway and get out most of the oil stains. We also  transplanted a hosta from the backyard to replace one that died. But the lawn and soil on our front and side lawn were contaminated and needed to be replaced so a few days ago we got a yard of dirt, some sod and things are looking much better... except for this:

This is what happens when you forget you're taking photos of your house and order dirt. Ha! At least the bag coordinates with the porch dcor.

To go with the new front garden, I livened up the porch decor as well. I usually decorate with calm and classic neutrals but for some reason, I was craving bolder colours and pattern. 

I designed this preppy green and blue diagonal stripe pillow and went from there. The black bench was spray painted white and I put a graphic tropical mat on the floor. I kept the other accents in tones of wood and black.

The front door also got a new coat of paint (Celtic Green by Benjamin Moore). It's a classic, saturated green that works well with the bold accessories. The glass storm door creates glare but the mid-tone green is still visible, which is what I was hoping for. 

Oh hey, it's me, coordinating with my porch. Dress is from here and I expect to be wearing it all summer. Green is definitely a colour I love for summer, in decor and wardrobe.

We also took the opportunity to deal with this eyesore on the side of our house. Our house sits on a corner so this side faces the sidewalk. I'm not a fan of the ivy, and the patched vinyl siding needs to be replaced, but for now, our focus was on the unattractive air conditioning unit.

A Cutting Garden