Spring/Summer House To-Do List

Good morning & happy Monday!  Did you guys have a great weekend and St. Patty’s Day?  We had a pretty packed weekend and ran around like crazy but spend alllll day Sunday cleaning our house!  Most importantly, we steam-cleaned some of our carpets, which is HARD work!

So, now that we’re in the spring cleaning spirit, we put together a list of things we’d like to accomplish this spring/summer.  Specifically on the exterior of our house.  We’ve been stuck inside all winter and now can’t wait to get outside and spruce the place up!

Here’s what we’re planning for this summer:

1. Mulch front and back yard.
2. Side of house landscaping clean-up.
3. French Drain maintenance/cleaning.
4. Trim trees/bushes.
5. Plant vegetable garden.
6. Stain top of the fence.
7. Stain deck.
8. Possibly a patio?
9. More potted plants around porch/patio/deck.  A couple hanging plants on porch?
10. Add string lights to the pergola on the deck.
11. Clean out grill!
12. Pray for rain so we don’t have to spend a ridiculous amount on water like last summer.

Exciting, huh?  Okay, so here are some notes:

• The vegetable garden is pretty much up to me.  I’ve never had a garden before, and I’m so excited!  We do have a ton of raspberry bushes in our yard, but some sort of critters ate all my berries last summer!  So frustrating.  So I need to figure out how to keep away the animals and bugs and figure out where/what I want to plant.
• Staining the deck will be the biggest undertaking this summer.  Our deck is already stained a nice dark color, but it looks like it’s been several years since it’s been stained.  Plus, since we got Gracie, her nails have really worn down the stain, especially on the stairs.
• We may or may not put in a patio this summer.  It will happen at some point, but I’m really pulling for this summer.  Our deck is just too small to host parties and we have more than enough backyard space to add a patio.  It all depends on whatever price quotes we get!
• My husband did a ton of clean-up to the yard last summer and we pretty much consider the outside “his domain” and the inside of the house “my domain” when it comes to designing, but I’d still like to add more potted plants around the joint.
• Probably the first and easiest project will be adding string lights to the pergola over the deck.  Just saw some reasonable-priced at Target last week!

What are your outdoor plans this summer?  I cannot wait to start grilling and going on family walks every evening!