Before And After: Driveway

I think 90% of home renovation budgets eat up the little portion set aside for landscaping.  And it is a HUGE mistake.  You spend all your time/money/patience making the inside look great, but no one can tell the difference unless they are invited inside.

Every time I walked up to our house it felt kind of depressing.  We were still stuck with this:

This picture doesn't even do it justice.  Gravel is not fun for strollers or anyone who likes nature.  It is good for hoarding cigarette butts (from old tenants) and little bits of trash.  Yuck.

There were a lot of variables to consider with this area.  Do we need a permit? How do we pitch the yard to help with flooding (the city of Charleston is below sea level). Do we remove the gravel or use it as a layer?  It all seemed so complicated. 

Now that the weather is consistently beautiful (I'll kick myself for jinxing it) we knew we just had to bite the bullet and call in the experts.  This took place over 3 hours yesterday morning:

I can't wait to watch the boxwoods grow and smell the fragrant tea olive trees as they bloom.  A fence will be constructed tomorrow to separate the yard from the parking area (in front of car in 2nd pic).  Picture the grass green and luscious and insert puppy :)

Oy!  Now we have to worry about watering and cutting the grass!

I'm calling in early this week.  My parents are visiting this weekend.  I can't wait!