Choose Your Style!

Now it is August, and I have moved plants from front to back, yard ornaments from one end of the lawn to the other, changed holiday/month decorations and i spend this time reflecting on things i like, and what i have seen in the neighborhood.

i am actually still sore from the BIG CRASH on the weekend. ...today we worked on our own yard, and it seemed much easier somehow after the other BIG JOB!


But, when planning your yard or crashing someone elses, even with many tweaks and changes, it is important to know your style. ...find the best part of the home and yard that matches and elaborate! some homes demand particular accents and plantings to best highlight their BEST BONES-)

Utah is pretty cool, in that there are very distinct stylized neighborhoods, featured by the years they were settled
..downtown SLC with the large, expansive porches and ornate columns,
Sugarhouse...an early suburb of SLC with miniature homes designed after the counterparts of the city
Park City..a mining town to a rustic ski village
Heber...a farming and ranching town with an old town of early settler merchants
Midway...a Swiss Immigrant neighborhood from the pioneer days..

Here are examples of 2 Victorians...touches of ornate accents, a sitting porch, manicured lawn, steep pitched rooflines...one in SLC, one in Heber..

These are 3 cottages that represent different styles, all done sooooo lovely...one is a tiny merchants home, the other a large family home, and the third from Midway is a fishing cottage near the creek.. They all have ornaments that enhance the styles..clean and tidy, upstairs rooms, an old vintage bike in the yard, metal fishing arbor at entry, with a porch for his boats and canoes...

Here is a cottage that is just too much.....too much color, ( it is purple, rasberry and minty green) too many ornaments, too much stuff, too much cottage...
Sooooo, examples of  must haves;...pergola, Japanese Maple, roses, wicker=victorian and bungalow
                           pots, petunias, nasturtiums, porch bench, willows=cottage
                           aspens, spruce, huge decks, railings, ceramic pots=rustic
                        
If you feel brave, go ahead and mix them up, but it is very hard to do and give the curb appeal you are hoping for...

Some folks are brave and attempt to redo a stylized historical home...here is one of my friends, who was tearing down old siding and found this 100 year old log home in perfect condition...

Here is one that isn't historical enough to attempt a redo!  Maybe there is something hidden here too!

We haven't decided what style home have...i asked K2 and she felt it was a 'contemporary country home'...the add on our selling flyer said, Contemporary Arts and Crafts...it may be a combination of elements taken from both...arches, window panes, hardwoods, winding entrance, large wooden door...but we love it.
My husband, Jess loves it because it is 'maintenence free'..has nice finish work, hardwoods, and energy effcient everything..
I love it because if has a huge yard, lots of trees, cool colors in the rocks, and maintenence free because, even though my husband is a painting contractor, my house may have to wait its turn!

We both love the killer views of Ridgelines and Timp!















August is also a time to slink slowly into a new theme in our family...
Back to School!

Check out K2's (Krissy's blog) for our Best Day Traditions.....
I always have a tough time choosing my Summer Best Day...but i still have 3 weeks to think about it...in the meantime, all the weeding, planting, and rearranging is DONE! I am hanging out until pruning time...and keeping a close eye on the properties i sneaked around and played in all summer!!