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Cottage

A BEFORE AND AFTER 3 YEARS IN THE MAKING

October 5, 2016

I’m not one to draw projects out. When I get set on doing something I like to focus on it like a laser and pound it out until it’s finished. I’d rather wait until I can do all of it exactly the way I want to than take it by bits and pieces or settle for something I don’t really love because what I really, really want isn’t in the budget at that time.

But for various reasons, that approach wouldn’t have worked when it came to dealing with our garage. Never a very good looking building, we toyed with the idea of tearing it down completely for a time. But when it became clear that really wasn’t in the budget, we set to improving it little by little over the past few years.

Last week we put what is hopefully the last major finishing touch on the garage that has helped take it from a pretty pathetic looking structure that you’d be hesitant to park your car in, to something that I think looks far more charming than it really is.

October 2013
 

It all started three years ago almost to the day when out of seemingly nowhere, I decided I was sick of looking at a wreck of a garage, especially after we did so much work to renovate the house.

April 2014

The following spring very little progress had been made, but I satisfied my urge to do well, anything, by painting the door Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue, a color I’d been dying to use somewhere.

Later that spring we had the garage reroofed (which I can find no photos of) and that helped the look of the whole thing tremendously. We also got the driveway paved, which wasn’t really on my radar but was something that Mr. Much Patient had pushed for for a long time (and in retrospect it was a good call).

July 2014

A few months later we hired a painter to paint the garage. At first I wasn’t sure I loved the color (Benjamin Moore Ozark Shadows with Simply White trim), but you great blog readers encouraged me to live with it a little and that’s a good thing because now I quite like it. At this point I was feeling like it was looking much better but still a bit plain.

July 2014

Then we stuck a new light on it. A really small change but certainly another little improvement.

April 2015

It sat like that for several months until the following spring when we built a small pergola on it to match the pergola on our deck. Of course Mr. Much More Patient still doesn’t understand what the point of it is (answer: to look pretty, obviously), but I love it.

July 2015

Later last summer I decided that the Wythe Blue was never really right and I repainted the door Benjamin Moore New York State of Mind. Ah … that’s much better.

July 2016

This spring I bought a new planter for near the garage and slid the boxwood between the doors.

And then last week we finally did what I’ve been waiting ages for: We replaced those ugly, dented garage doors. I’ll write a full post about that process (we did not install them ourselves) soon. For now, I’m just basking in the beauty of a garage that somehow went from pretty horrible, to pretty darn good. Fixing it up over three years never would have been my choice, but it actually worked out OK, and by spreading the cost over several years it doesn’t seem like nearly such a big hit.

It’s funny, since it took so long to get to this point it doesn’t feel like it really changed that much, but check out this before and after.

Yep, that looks just a little better. And having two garage doors that work isn’t so bad either.

before and after blue door boxwood garage garage doors light painting
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
13 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

View all posts by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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previous post: A CHIVE CONVENTION
next post: HOW THE GARAGE DOORS CAME TO BE

Comments

  1. monica says: October 5, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    Ok! I LOVE it! These look fantastic – What a wonderful transformation!

    Reply
  2. Ms. Wis./Each Little World says: October 5, 2016 at 5:17 pm

    Just gorgeous! Funny what a difference even the different door color makes. Jeff Epping, Horticulture Director at Olbrich, has a potted shrub or tree between his garage doors and I've always thought it was a great idea. The new doors are fabulous. Love the style and the multiple panels. Funny but they seem to make the building look more substantial in a good way. If you think about that garden saying: first year sleep etc. This is your third year leap. I think that is how we should try to think about these bigger projects. We do it with the plants because we can't make them mature faster. So why do we always want everything else to go faster?!

    Reply
  3. Mercedes says: October 5, 2016 at 10:18 pm

    Nice! Very nice!

    Reply
  4. Candied Fabrics says: October 6, 2016 at 5:15 am

    Man oh MAN is that a gorgeous garage!!!! Bravo!!! (Even without the new doors, the pergola really took my eye away from the dents, wowza, those doors are splendid!!!)

    Reply
  5. Lisa Greenbow says: October 6, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Well worth the wait. It looks like a different building. So you got your new garage. It looks perfect. Now all you need is a climbing hydrangea draping across the beautiful pergola. Of course that wouldn't be instant gratification either but well worth the wait.

    Reply
  6. karen says: October 6, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    I applaud the makeover. Tis fantastic.

    Reply
  7. Renae Reis says: October 6, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    I think it's amazing!! Well done!

    Reply
  8. rusty duck says: October 6, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    That looks so good. Proper job.

    Reply
  9. Casa Mariposa says: October 7, 2016 at 3:23 am

    Beautiful! I love it!

    Reply
  10. Nikki G says: October 10, 2016 at 3:27 pm

    Its an amazing transformation! But actually, once you painted the door and then had the whole garage painted, you had already made a drastic improvement.
    🙂 gwingal

    Reply
  11. Julia says: October 11, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    That's beautiful. Nice job !

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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E R I N 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
I had a rather unpleasant realization last night w I had a rather unpleasant realization last night when I remembered that I’d not yet ordered tomato seeds. And I’m not going to rectify that until I dig into my seed stash, because I don’t go through tomato seeds quickly so there are definitely some lurking down there. 

I never used to grow tomatoes from seed because there are great varieties to be had in garden centers (including many heirloom varieties). But it’s almost non-negotiable for me now that I’m a convert to dwarf tomatoes. If you’re not familiar with the #dwarftomatoproject championed by @nctomatoman and others, these are heirloom varieties that are crossed with dwarf varieties to create plant that produces all the flavor and interest of an heirloom in a short (usually less than 4 feet) plant. 

They are particularly great in my tall raised beds. Of course I leave room to try new non-dwarf varieties every year (I loved Sun Dipper from @panamseed last year and I’ll grow it again).

Last year was a good tomato year and the photo shows some of the varieties I harvested in one day. I hope this summer will be equally good for the tomato harvest. 

One of my favorite questions to ask gardeners is: What is your favorite tomato variety to grow? So have at it in the comments because inquiring minds want to know!
And this is why I leave my winter containers assem And this is why I leave my winter containers assembled until at least March. A dusting of snow gives them a whole new look (even if it’s shades of gray). Also, I think I love my Limelight hydrangea even more in winter. Fabulous winter interest!
I’m going to look for opportunities to add more I’m going to look for opportunities to add more ferns to my garden this year. They are such interesting plants and often real problem solvers, bringing texture and color to places that many plants aren’t interested in. Athyrium niponicum (Japanese painted fern) ‘Crested Surf’ grows well for me in part shade (even pushing a bit into part sun) and looks great next to Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’.
Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled o Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled on) foliage, and texture galore. I can’t wait to have moments like this again. The star, by the way is Hakonechloa ‘All Gold’ which looks so good with the bold foliage of Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ next to it. 

With the new path, this area will be getting a small revamp. It’s the next spot I’ll be focusing my planning on.
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