It started out innocently enough. I took down the kitchen curtains to wash them. I decided to put up some valances I had in the linen closet that I had picked up from Target on clearance for only $3 each. The valances alone made the kitchen brighter, no easy feat since there is a Florida room off the kitchen that blocks and diffuses much of the light coming into the kitchen. I did not take proper before pictures of the “project” but this will give you an idea of what was before. Cafe curtains with upper valances and bottom curtains. Off topic - is that not the biggest hydrangea bloom ever? Why are they all no longer white? Now they are all greenish. Still pretty but not white.

So anyway…I put up the new valances and the light just poured in. And then I could see the dirty windows in all their, ahem, glory. So I cleaned the windows, inside and out and in between. Not easy. Especially since these old windows don’t open up all the way. I have good leverage under the window by the door but it must have been quite the site to see me feet in the sink, trying to pry open the window enough to get at the storm windows. Between standing on a stool over the sink and standing in the sink I was able to lower and raise the storms, I couldn’t pull them out. So now the view out the window looks like this.

If you look closely out the windows by the storage canisters you can see the tippy tops of our garbage cans. Nice view. So again, no “before” picture. You’re just going to have to trust me that it wasn’t pretty.
So that’s what I was working on yesterday. I ran to Home Depot to get ideas only. I have no budget for this and was just going to move what I had planted on the other side of the fence in the side garden over to this spot, but I knew eventually I’d like to add some height. I had one Pieris (Japonica) bush that was in the side garden that will grow to about 5 feet tall. I thought an Arborvitae or 3 would be perfect for hiding the garbage cans and the fence but wanted to see what else would work in this area. I get part sun in this area, a lot of the day it is shaded. I hit the jackpot at Home Depot as many of their prices were slashed. I picked up a very small Arborvitae for $5.99 and a small Azalea for $6.99 and two tiny garden Mum plants for $19.
I cleared the section where the garbage cans were and carved out an area for the garden. I then removed the Hostas and Pieris bush from the other side of the fence/gate (on the side of the house) and replanted them in the yard, along with the new plants. It took about 3 hours total and I am so happy with the results. You still have to pass the garbage cans if you walk through the gangway to the backyard but we rarely do. We mostly enter the yard through the kitchen door and I spend a lot of time at the sink doing dishes and looking out that window. The view is so much better now.

As you can see from this side angle, the garbage cans are on the other side of the fence. I can’t see them though, from my kitchen window. I think I’ll slat the fence or plant something that vines over it to block the view until the plants grow into their own. everything is teeny tiny but if you use your imagination, you can see how it will fill in. As things grow I’ll have to move some of the Hostas, but I love using them as “place holders” - it looks pretty and helps keep the weeds down. I still need to add mulch.

Far left you can see the Arborvatie and in the back corner is the Pieris. Once they grow it will fill in that area nicely. The Azalea is the lime green plant just behind and to the right of the white potted annual plant. They say it will get between 3 to 6 feet tall and just as wide. We’ll see. The mums are the really tiny purple plants to the right of the picture. I may need to move those as they might need more sun. I bought them because I love mums and couldn’t bring myself to buy two big pots of mums yet. I can’t mix them with the annuals - it looks funny to me and I’m not ready to lose the potted annuals yet.

I’m so happy with how this looks. Such a small change that makes such a big difference. And super budget friendly. And, since this is such a hodgepodge of how one small project went astray I’ll post another example of how things lead from one to another. As I was outside taking photos, I noticed some ripe tomatoes in the garden and so I walked over to pluck those. Here is todays tomato haul.

Mmm. Off to make Caprese salad.