Our house is pretty tiny (~1000 sq. ft. when you exclude the basement), and we're at a place where we'd like a little more room (especially another bathroom!). On the other hand, our mortgage is very affordable and we don't really need the extra space right now. So, after some back and forth, we've decided to stay put and enjoy the lifestyle that comes with a small house (ahem, mortgage) for a little longer, knowing that we'll be able to pull that much more equity out of our house when we do move.
Of course, because our house is so small, we've pretty much reached the limit of what we can do to improve its resale value. Having a realtor walk through the house helped us identify what we could do to make our home more attractive to potential buyers, including some things we don't want to spend the money on (new windows), and some lower-cost, sweat equity projects (finishing our garage, additional landscaping).
We have a huge yard for our area. Like, more yard than we know what to do with.
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| shots from Hannah's 1st birthday in 2013 |
We've spent the past two summers creating a small, private eating and lounging area behind our house, but there's another good-sized yard on the south side of our house that we've neglected since we moved in.
A few weeks ago, we got started by pulling out all the Japanese Knotweed next to our driveway. This invasive plant is all over our area, and it's incredibly difficult to kill. After covering it with a barrier (we used landscaping fabric and layers of mulch in our front garden bed below), you have to continuously break off the new shoots that poke through to kill the plant by depriving it of sunlight. We're about four years into this process in our front garden bed, and while the amount of weeding we have to do each year has dropped off considerably, we're still doing it!
In the area next to our driveway, we put down a layer of cardboard and covered that with a layer of dirt. I didn't order enough dirt, so we'll need to add another layer soon.
Some day, this could be a great area for a garden, given its size and the amount of sunlight it receives, but we have to kill the knotweed first :(
In the fenced-off area next to our garage (that fence is terrible, but it's staying for now), we have an old fire pit. Sure, it's filled with junk, but we have hope! One of our neighbours has some masonry experience, and has kindly offered to help us rebuild it.
The plan is to clear this area, then cover the ground with landscaping fabric and a thick layer of pea gravel. We'd also like to cut an opening in the fence to connect it to the backyard. Oh, and I need to train that honeysuckle to grow up and over the fence.
Perhaps somewhat prematurely, I purchased four IKEA PS VAGO chairs in anticipation of our future fire pit area. I have visions of their mere presence motivating us to do the work.
These are just a few of the spaces that are inspiring me right now, and I like the idea below for the path that connects our two spaces.
OK, it's officially on the Internet. Now I have to follow through!
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