Landscaping Weekend Project

This past weekend, we postponed a trip to see my family in Virginia because both girls started showing signs of a cold.  I wasn't feeling the best on Friday either.  We are all well, but the weather was perfect for some outside work.  I didn't feel like doing much inside...
Greg and I had talked about what we would do with the landscaping and the bottom line is that a large portion just needs to be removed.  It's overgrown and has been unkept for at least a year. 
HINT: to built up your man, buy him a chainsaw.

This is just the beginning and it's just one side, but it's a start...
Before:

This is the view from the front door.

View from the lower driveway toward front door
21 "burning bushes here....21!
AND
10 boxwoods flanking the Japanese maple.

view from lower driveway toward the back garage

view of one REALLY tired guy after cutting down lots of bushes and shrubs...

AFTER: view from lower drive toward front door
That is a non-flowering ligustrum to the bottom right of the window. 
There were 3 and we decided to keep 1.
The row at the right is a project for a different day. 
NO, I don't like all the ground cover....I'm not 100% sure what to do with it b/c it will need some due to the slope.



AFTER: lower driveway toward back garage

Don't judge the job too harshly...we have a semi-clean mess that took 2 days!  I was seriously thinking we'd find a snake den in all those bushes.  It was crazy!  AND there is still so much more to take out.  We do plan to add some color and crossing our fingers the trees will come back healthy.  They were WAY too tall for their variety and caused some clogging in the gutters and were dropping leaves in the AC unit.  Any ideas on flowers/flowering shrubs?  (please don't say knock out roses...we have a ton of those already....future post.) 

 

Dining room update.  The painting is finished, but I'm still unsure about decorating it...so I'm hesitant to add any pics just yet.  AND it needs curtains. 

 
Have a blessed week!
jmh