Hey there! It’s summer in Texas and this heat is no joke! I’ve grown up here most of my life, but I still can’t get used to this heat every summer. My fiancé, Casey, and I worked outside on our front yard this past weekend, and I’ve gotta share the progress we’ve made.

We haven’t done much to it since we built our home and moved in six months ago. So, we decided it was time for a little refresh. Since we’re spending more time outside, we’ve noticed beautiful blooms and flowers we wanted to incorporate into our landscaping. Casey’s parents gifted us with a hibiscus plant, and we feel like it adds a nice pop of color.

This is the before!

The mulch, however, was getting rough looking. So, we decided it was time to get some more. We also weren’t fans of the bush to the left of the pathway. We took that out and opted to add crushed limestone from our local landscaping supply store and a planter with Bougainvilleas from Calloway’s Nursery. One of the red bushes was also dead, so it was time to just take that baby out.

We also wanted to light up the entryway at night. Some family members and guests have almost missed a step quite a few times! We got these solar path lights from Home Depot and placed them along the pathway. In addition to these, we got these spotlights from Walmart to light up our trees.

Here’s the after!

We went with black mulch all around the front and a nice and sturdy gray pot for the left side with crushed limestone underneath. Overall, this was fairly inexpensive to do, and we did it all ourselves. Are you sprucing up your front yard? What other flowers should we plant? We’re starting to learn more about landscaping as first-time home buyers and surprisingly enjoy doing yard work… we just wish it was a little cooler in Texas!