Starting Projects before we even move in...

We are highly anticipating moving into our new home in THREE WEEKS! So much so, that we already have a list of projects to take in as soon as the keys are in our hands... The only downside, we don't OWN this home :( so we have to keep our projects/renovations to a minimum, while still making the home our own. We plan on staying here for a long time, and possibly eventually purchasing or rent to own, if we like it and like the neighborhood.



We just have to be careful about adding value to the property, because we would be paying for the projects out of pocket first, and then the additional added value an appraiser would give if we decided to buy the home.


So, while controlling ourselves, here are a few of the projects we feel we NEED to do in order to live happily in the house. ps- our landlord doesn't mind ;) she's the coolest lady on earth and even told me I could have a MILLION pets haha



PROJECT 1- DOG RUN RENOVATION
The house already comes with a 6ft x 18ft dog run (one of the big reasons we chose this house. But it hasn't been used in a while, because the landlords dog unfortunately passed away a couple years ago. Right now it is a muddy mess with patches of dead grass. We are going to put 6" of pea gravel down in the run (allowing for optimal drainage and cleaning). Eventually we also plan on moving the run down a little and adding another gated section. Currently the run comes out of the garage, and is the only way to get to the back yard through the house. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to walk through a potentially smelly wet dog run everyday YUCK! (Of course we will keep it clean as possible... but you know... their dogs!)



So we would add a gate door to the exsisting kennel to block the dogs off, and then another that goes directly to the yard. Why not just move the run down a little you ask? Because there is a doggy door and I don't want the dogs to have full run of the yard while we are at work ;)



Inspiration
Estimated Project Cost: $50.00 for pea gravel

One thing I will have to say, after a couple years of experience in the doggy daycamp field... Pea Gravel can, potentially, be very harsh on your dogs paws if heated by the sun, or if they run back and forth on it all day. An easy solution for this problem is this amazing stuff, you just rub it on their paws, it protects from ice and salt in the winter, and hot pavement, pea gravel in the winter. PROJECT 2- WOOD PATIO
Currently, the back yard has abosolutely no patio, no bricks, no pavement, and no "social area". We feel the need to add something to make it "ours". We are going to go with a very simple, very inexpensive, rectangle, design. This same concept, but on a MUCH larger scale. 10 ft x 10 ft to be exact.

We are going to stain it a semi-transparent, sandalwood color.


PROJECT 3- LAVENDER GARDEN
The house currently has about 8 gardens, of various, year round perrenials. It's going to be gorgeous. There are about 3 lavender plants, but I need MORE lol. I love to make lavender wands, sachets, and using lavender in a lot of other things.

So we plan on adding another section of the yard entirely for lavender. Provence and Grosso Lavender (my faves).

I'm sure there will be more projects to come, and I will post updates on these!