So Long, Boxwoods! (Plus A Glimpse At The Future House Colors)

I couldn’t bear to look at those massively overgrown boxwoods in front of the house anymore…

Overgrown boxwoods in front of house

So yesterday I headed to Home Depot and purchased my first lawn and garden tool for the house…some hedge trimmers!

I spent about an hour whacking away at those boxwoods.  At first, I tried to just shape them up some, starting with cutting them shorter, cutting them away from the sidewalk, etc.  I thought perhaps I could shape them up enough that they would look nice.  Or what I really wanted to do was shape them into cute little trees like my mom’s neighbor did.

But once I started cutting, I realized that that really wasn’t going to be possible, so I decided to just get rid of them altogether.  Unfortunately, the hedge trimmers only got me so far.

Removing boxwoods from front of house

The box said that they would cut up to 3/4-inch, which was fine for removing all of the little limbs.  But once I  had those removed, there were some pretty big limbs, plus the main trunk of each shrub.  Those were several inches in diameter.

So back to Home Depot I went, this time for a chain saw.

I’m pretty comfortable with most power tools, but there are a couple that scare me — circular saws and chain saws.  So I ended up getting a small electric one that was lightweight and fit my small hands just perfectly.  That made me feel much safer than using a big, heavy, gas-powered chain saw.

And the little one did the trick.  I was able to remove all of the bigger limbs.

boxwood in front - 3

And then I cut all six of the big stumps as level with the ground as I could.

Boxwoods removed from front of house

I got most of the big limbs dragged out to the curb and put them in a big pile for pickup, and then I bagged up eight leaf bags full of smaller limbs.  I still had about one bag full left, but I just couldn’t make myself do any more.

I’m so glad to have it gone!  I almost feel like this house was suffocating, and everything I do to remove these layers is allowing it to “breathe”.  Does that makes sense?  First with removing all of the old green carpet that was hiding the original hardwood floors, then removing the polystyrene ceiling tiles, then removing the dark storm door from the front, and now removing the boxwoods.

Here’s how it started out…

Exterior - Front 04 - resized

And here’s how it looks now.  It’s kind of a blank slate now.  (A blank slate that needs a date with a power washer ASAP!)

House with overgrown boxwoods removed

With the removal of the boxwood (the only source of color close to the front of the house), everything looks so blah and bland now, so I’m anxious to start adding some color and personality to this house.

If you follow my A2D Facebook page, then you may have seen me testing out different color options for the front of the house this weekend.  I started looking through all of the pictures that I’ve collected in my house inspiration files, and pulled some of the colors that I saw repeated the most.  Then I used my photo editing software to add the color to the house.  (Although I did a very rough and incomplete job, I think you can get the idea.)

The first one that I tried was navy blue shutters and an orangy-coral front door.

possible paint colors

This seemed to be the crowd favorite.

Next I tried aqua-ish shutters with a black front door.

Stone house, black front door, aqua shutters

While I really liked that the shutters were light enough that I could use pretty hardware on them (and carry that hardware over onto the garage doors), these colors just felt wrong for me.  They just don’t seem to fit my personality at all.

Several people suggested a yellow front door, so I tried that.

White stone house, yellow front door, navy blue shutters

I like that one, but not nearly as much as the first one.

And last, I tried stained shutters and a stained front door.  Here’s my mock up…

White limestone house, stained shutters, stained front door

That mock up wasn’t really conveying the idea very well.  I was going for something more like this…

House in Badger Ranch, Woodway, Texas

This look is very “Texas”, and is very common around here — Austin stone house, stained shutters, stained front door, stained (faux) carriage doors on garage.

And I think if you read that sentence again, you’ll see why this isn’t really working for me.  “…very common around here…”  I think if you know me at all, you know I tend to shun things that are too common.  Plus, while I do think it’s beautiful, it’s just not “me” at all.

I had many repeated suggestions to try a red front door.  Ummm…I can say with absolute assurance that this house will not have a red front door.  🙂  I’ve had a red front door for ten of the last eleven years — on our first house in Oregon, and then for the last seven years on the condo.  Red is absolutely out of the question.

So, the winner is obvious, right?  This one is definitely “me”.  It fits my personality more than any other option, and that front door just makes me smile.

White limestone (Austin stone) house with navy blue shutters and coral front door

I headed to Home Depot and picked up three different colors to try on the front door.  I was hoping to get the samples up yesterday, but after realizing just how dirty everything is on the front porch, I realized that I was really getting ahead of myself.  I need to slow it down, do the necessary things (i.e., rent a power washer and get stuff cleaned up), and then I can move on to the fun stuff like deciding on a door color.  🙂

But it might have to wait, because this week is all about refinishing those floors!  My Waterlox will be here on Wednesday, so I need to get those floors sanded.

 

 

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

74 Comments

  1. Girl, you’re going full steam ahead. I think taking down the boxwoods made a big difference. Can’t wait to see the exterior paint when it’s all done.

  2. YOU GO GURL! You don’t mess around, do you!?!! Love that you’ve taken out the box woods…they were just too heavy for the front of the house. You must be sore today! Love the orange front too…it’s like the house is smiling with pretty orange lipstick! ha! Love the posts.

  3. I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on FB but the one you chose is my favorite! I can’t wait to see it when you get it done 🙂 I am so happy for you that you are finally in your house!!!

  4. It’s great to start with a clean slate! You’re right about that power washing, tho’! Can you power wash? Our water conservation level 3, says ‘no power washing’. Ugh…
    You’ve got time for planting in the front…. fall/when it cools off and stays cooled off is the best time to plant. Your front yard looks dry- those trees suck up the water so you might want to look into what you can do with that. If it doesn’t have enough water / sun to grow grass, many plants won’t work. Up close to the house probably can handle plants since the hedge did well! Find that local nursery for native plant suggestions! They will your best source…. Home Depot is limited in what they carry and some are not suited to Central TX!
    The coral door will look great!

    1. Hmmm…I’m not sure about water conservation levels. I’ve never heard of that, so I’m not sure if that’s a thing here in Waco. But I guess I need to check before I start power washing everything in sight!

  5. Hi Kristi,
    I love the colors you chose for your home. You accomplish so much each day and I wondered if you are doing all of this work yourself, or if you have help. Did you cut and haul away all of the boxwood brush by yourself? Either way, I’m impressed. You definitely don’t sit around wishing for change. You make it happen!

    1. Yep, I did all the work myself. I do about 99.9% of my projects by myself. 🙂 If I have help, I make a point of mentioning that in the post just so that I can give credit where credit is due. But for the most part, I work alone.

  6. Love the clean slate look without the shrubs! Suggestion…don’t rent a power washer. Bite the bullet and BUY one. You will be glad you have it because once you own one, you will find all sorts of things that need spraying! HD has a decent ones for around $100-$150.

    1. So true! We use our power washer all the time! Even good to wash the car. I love the choice for the exterior colors – especially the door that has the window. Letting in the light! Bye, bye old boxwoods. Time for an update. Might want to install a sprinkler system, at least for the front yard. (I love trying to spend your money-LOL)

    2. I definitely want to buy one, but Matt seems convinced that we just need to rent one and use it once. *Sigh* Maybe I’ll just have to rent it the first time and then convince him how useful it would be to own one. 🙂

      1. If you can try to convince Matt that the power washer will be a good investment. We bought one when we moved to our current house seven years ago. We use it every year several times a year. We use it on the driveway,sidewalks,porch,patio,siding and we even use it to wash our cars.

        Love the door color and the front looks so much better without the over grown boxwood.

  7. I’m pretty sure you’ll have to dig out those boxwood roots to keep them from coming back – or get someone to dig them out for you. (Ask me how I know.) You probably don’t want to plant there until you know for sure.
    Be careful with power washing on your house. The force can drive water underneath the siding. I think it can be done, but not from below. Again, it would be good to talk to someone who knows what they are doing, not just a guy at HD. A good professional painter might be the right person to give you advice. My power washer is just a little one, but I love it. It would not do a big job like your house – well, maybe, if you wanted to spend a week on it. 🙂

    1. Yep, my mom already warned me about power washing siding. She paid someone to do hers, and the sprayed it from the wrong direction and now all of the seams show, and in a couple of areas, the siding is actually lifted away from the house. I’ll definitely be careful on the siding, but I’ll show no mercy with the Austin stone. 😉

  8. Love the choice of colors for the exterior of YOUR NEW HOUSE! I LOVE that you added shutters to the right side too. It really balances things out and doesn’t seem (from your photoshopped version, at least) to be over-crowded at all. How exciting to be bringing life back into this wonderful old house. It will be like a breath of fresh air for your neighborhood, I’m sure. Looking forward to watching this amazing transformation take place.

    Cheryl (your fellow Wacoan)

  9. Aaahhh, the house can breathe now! Sooo much better! It is going to be BEAUTIFUL!! Keep up the great hard work!!

  10. My ex husband once pulled out a bunch of old junipers with a big chain attached to a truck. Secure one end of chain around stump…other end to truck…drive about 4 feet…bye-bye stump. Bet you could find someone willing to get those out of there for a few bucks. I know you have energy to spare, Kristi — but save yourself for the other stuff. Don’t try to dig those suckers out yourself!!

    1. Exactly what the lawn guy did with my old holly sticker shrubs. The previous owner planted them all along the front of the house. Hated ’em! I’ve also dug out boxwoods on a flip I did a few years ago. REALLY hard work. If you don’t get out the roots, those suckers will sprout again in the spring.

    2. I was thinking the same as I was reading along, we have pulled out shrubs and small trees with our pick-up. Also, my olive tree blew over in a storm and we stood it back up with the pick-up and staked it up and it survived for many years after that.

  11. I always hate to see plants die, but I get that sometimes you just have to do it. Big boxwoods like that can be very valuable, sometimes it’s worth calling a local nursery to see if they will come remove them for free to sell them later. Could be worth a shot if you have any other large, mature plants you need to get rid of later!

    1. When we remove plants we ask our neighbors if they want them and just hand them over the fence. One time we wanted 10 shrubs removed and we put an ad on Craigslist saying that if they were willing to remove them, they could have them for free. In an hour someone showed up, dug them out and took them away.

  12. Removing the boxwood made a huge difference…and someday I see a gorgeous garden it it’s place! And I luv, luv, luv the colours you chose for the shutters and front door…they were my favourite too!
    When we purchased our home, the front yard was a desert…nothing would grow there because it was so hot in the afternoon. Planting some awesome trees for shade helped & now we have flowers & perennial gardens (hubby is the master gardener…I’m just the “pointer”).

  13. I think the dark shutters look amazing against the stone! As for the front door? I like the orangey-coral, but there’s no need to decide! I change mine every year or two – just painted it this week as a matter of fact. Teal. 🙂

  14. Love the choice you made on colors for the house – you are so right, don’t be like everyone else! I hate that. Blaze your trail! You are awesome at it!!!!

    G

  15. Hi Kristi, Austin has some amazing nurseries with local plants. I even had blue bells in my garden when I lived there and a Desert Willow tree which is ornamental and draws the hummingbirds and butterflies. Texas gardening can be awesome. Carla

  16. We did the same thing with the bushes that were in front of our house! We still have replaced them with anything yet so it looks kind of bland in front of our house, but we’ll get to it soon. Maybe this Fall once it starts cooling down because doing yard work right now in the 90+ degree weather ain’t happenin! I love the orange door with blue shutters. I absolutely love those colors together!

  17. A procrastinator you are not….Everything you have done has made a hugh difference and I can’t wait to see what you do with your new home. Wish I had all your energy….

  18. Hi Kristi,I love that you tackled those horrid boxwoods all on your own. When we bought the house I am currently trying to sell,I tore out 8 huge boxwoods upfront by the porch because I felt the house was suffocating. Then I tore out over 75 10 foot azaleas that were everywhere,lol. I love doing my diy in and out, and I have learned a lot after doing 8 houses. I have to tell you that one of the best investments I made was a power washer I use it all the time for tons of different things, from washing all the cobwebs off the house every August (we get huge webs here in SC.),to cleaning the driveway,patios sidewalks and porch. You won’t believe how handy that puppy has come in. I would also advise you to get a good one,I’ve had mine for 14 years now and never a bit of trouble with it. I bought it at Home Depot and paid about 400.00 for it. Off the top of my head I can’t remember what brand it is but I can let you know. I will say this as well,the price has come down over the years so I think you can probably pick up a good one for less then the 400 I paid. Do your due diligence as I am sure you probably will and you will be making an investment you won’t regret!

  19. Love the coral color front door & navy shutters! You have a great sense of color, Kristi. I agree with others…buy a power washer as there will be many, many uses, especially as long as cement walkways, patios, porches and vinyl siding exist! Mine makes life much easier and was easy to learn to use correctly – mostly common sense!

  20. I love, love, love, those Navy shutters! Have you considered a stained door and navy shutters? Just a thought. If the coral makes you feel happy, then that is probably the right color for you. I also love the white trim! It sort of looks like the house is gray in the mock ups? I think Gray + White trim looks so fresh and clean. There is so much potential in this house. I can’t wait to see everything you do with it.

  21. First off I am obsessed with the coral color right now. So, I absolutely love the coral front door with navy shutters option. I am actually playing with the coral and navy in my office redo files now. In a past post, I talked about this color scheme. I really love the way the two colors play off each and with the stone front on the house, this will be stunning.

  22. I agree that the house is definitely “Breathing” now. I would’ve done the exact same work were it my house; however, it would be over the course of weeks or months, not days. Just where do you get your energy from? And even though orange is not my favorite, I admit that it would look great with the blue shutters. You are so inspiring! Thanks.

    1. I honestly think that my energy right now is just from sheer excitement. It’ll eventually start to wane as the “new” wears off and my mind stops spinning at 90 miles a minute thinking about all of the projects I want to do around the house. But as long as I have the excited energy, I’m going to take full advantage of it. 🙂

  23. I have to agree about getting the stumps out. Right now I have two that have regrown in 4 months and they have to be cut back again. Also, the orange door is the most stunning and you said you liked color! This is a nice, welcoming start!

  24. Wow! Taking out the boxwoods made a huge difference and I’m pretty sure your house took its first deep breath in a long time! Also, without the hedges, the colors of your trim and door will really stand out. Love the navy blue shutters and orangey door. I assume you will use the same colors to trim the garage? Now, take a minute to catch your breath before you jump in and start on the floors. Rest is important to your health. I understand that you’re wanting to get everything done all at once but if you get sick or hurt, then all progress stops. Take some time for YOU once in a while. You deserve it.

    1. I actually can’t decide what to do with the garage doors. Trim them in white and paint them blue? Trim them in white and paint them white, then use big blue pots with plants around them to bring the blue to that side?

      I’ve tried it both ways with my photo editor, and I can’t decide which way looks right.

  25. Good on ya for staying true to yourself and what you know you will take joy in every time you look at the front of your house. ~:)

  26. Love how it looks without the boxwoods! One tip from my hubby (a landscape architect) is to drill several holes into the stump of the plant and fill it with weed killer. That will kill the root system so you don’t have a bunch of offshoots come up later. We’ve done it before and it works great!

  27. It might look a little bland now without the color of the boxwoods in front, but I think that’s mostly because the house blends in to its surroundings so well. I am so glad you got rid of the boxwoods! They were overpowering and hiding the front of the house, the balance was all off. It’s really hard to get them shaped, every time my dad tried to do it, he’d not know when to stop and end up shaving them way too short, like a bad haircut. He was normally very good with landscaping but boxwoods are tricky, so he just left it to the pros. There are better landscaping options for your home. I’m partial to aqua and turquoise, they are my favorite colors, but I really love the color combination you ultimately picked for the house. It’s going to go a long way toward bringing some curb appeal to your new place.

  28. Well done you, getting rid of those shrubs. I am not a fan of trees close to the house they can cause all sorts of dramas. About the colour, i like the idea of storme cloud grey/blue with a sharp yellow door. I realise you have to factor in the stone work. Umm
    Cheers from sunny Brisbane.

  29. Wow! We can see your house now. It looks so much bigger without all those shrubs. And you have bought my favorite tool, a chainsaw. I LOVE my chainsaw; outdoor demo at its best! You have a big week ahead of you, floors, pressure washing, and paint samples. One step at a time and I am looking forward to each and every one of them. Have a great time!

  30. I just love how you have jumped right in and started tackling projects! And I love the fact that you bought a chainsaw and whacked those babies down!

  31. Wow! You really are Wonder Woman. What I wouldn’t give to have 1/2 your energy. 😉 A couple of years I wanted a power washer for my Birthday. It was the best gift ever. All my friends thought I was joking when I told that my husband gave me a power washer & I was happy. Happy floor refinishing.

  32. You made a great decision! I like too that the navy is a neutral, so it allows you to go with a bold color on the front door. Plus, if you tire of the coral, it shouldn’t be too hard to find another color to pair with navy. It’s easier to paint one door than repaint all those shutters.

  33. Don’t know about the weed killer, but if you drill holes and fill them with epsom salt then water them good, it will kill the trunks pretty quickly. Probably within a month.

  34. Kristi, Love the house. Amazed at your energy! Impressed with your eye for color. One thing: I am a gardener and I think you should ask a local master gardener or landscape designer to evaluate what plants you have that are valuable and what should be edited out before you remove anything else. Good luck with your project. I eagerly await new posts to see how it is going.

  35. I like the orange door/black shutters – but will still love to “See” the tourquoise door/black shutters. =)

    Marie

  36. What a powerful woman you are! I know you are half my age, but I still want to know where you get your energy! Are you sure you don’t have a clone you are hiding from us?!!

  37. Kristi, you truly are Super Woman! But the house looks tons better. It looks bigger with the shrubs gone. Personally, I don’t like large shrubs close to the house since they can be overpowering. Now, with your ‘clean slate’ you can truly personalize the outside to your taste, too. I am really looking forward to watching all this progress take place.

  38. Kristi, I noticed on the last picture you added shutters to the big window to the right of the front door. I think that looks so much more symetrical than only having shutters on the left side of the house. The navy with that pop of orange is great! Can’t wait to see all your projects!

  39. Kristi, Love the choices, and it looks way better as a clean slate, but I wanted to point out that you will need to remove those roots too. You won’t be able to plant anything else there until you do. For future reference, what we have always done to remove a shrub, is get someone with a truck, tie a rope around the base of the shrub, and to the hitch of the truck, and just take off. It will pull everything out by the roots, and is the easiest way to go. We have done it lots of times, and it works every single time! Now, I am sure others may have made similar comments, but I just didn’t have time to peruse them tonight. I am so excited for you! Can’t wait to see the multitude of things you have up your sleeve!

  40. OMGosh!!!! I hope you saved some of those boxwood cuttings to make a wreath or two. Have you seen how expensive boxwood wreaths are? Please tell me you saved some cuttings!

  41. I love the colors you’ve chosen…really I do…but, the white really really stands out ALOT to me. Maybe it’s just the white is sooo white??

  42. Anytime I have a cable, phone, or electrical line or a pipe coming down the house or across it I always paint it the color of the exterior of the house. It vanishes! Makes the house look much better!

  43. Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice
    from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own
    blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick.
    I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure where to start.
    Do you have any tips or suggestions? Many thanks

  44. Hi Kristi,

    I just discovered your website (awesome!) when I was looking for something about removing boxwoods, which I hate too! I want my house to be “me”, not the previous homeowner, and I am not a boxwood person. So….my question is: you said you chopped them down even with the ground; did you take the roots out? I have tried, but the ground is hard as a rock. Even after rain. Thank you for any feedback you can give me.