The Driveway Is In!

                         The driveway is in, and it turned out better than anticipated.  Originally Jake, our contractor, wanted me to get Duke, our electric company, to do a free, underground line to the farmhouse.  I am so glad I had lots of time to talk to Duke and think about how that would go because I think it would have been a disaster.  Yes, this one cost us $5300, but in the end was worth it! This photo is walking down our road from our driveway to the farmhouse driveway on the left.  
 

                           Looking down the drive, the Deodora Cedar is the focal point.  What's nice about this area is that it's flat and will be easy to maintain.

                        This is one branch of a Deodora Cedar which Dennis, the grader, wanted to take down and I was adamant about keeping this branch.  He now agrees it needed to stay and is calling it the bonsai. I think this is my favorite "tree" down in this area.

        It also has a nice view with a mountain in the distance.

    I decided to only bring the driveway so far, not all the way to the farmhouse.  It will be just a short path to a gate that will lead to the farmhouse porch.

  There is also a pad to back into or accommodate a second vehicle.

                          This is where the path will go.  We have yet to decide on more gravel or stepping stones.  

     The sunny dirt spot is where I will replant what I dug up down here, some arborvitae, magnolia, red bud. I even have a chestnut tree that I dug from another spot, then would like to put in butterfly bushes, gardenias and crepe myrtles.  Just what I need, another garden to take care of!

   Dennis wanted to haul off these two locust trees that had fallen, but I would like to have them cut and split for firewood.  On the agenda this week, call Mr. Ayers to see if he will do the job.  We are currently under budget on the reno.  I am really hoping there is enough left to put a stone fireplace in the living room.  I already have my antique mantle that I bought many years ago in Atlanta with old green paint.  We'll see if I can pull that off, may take some convincing since Bob is sweating writing the checks lol.

                     Looking out toward the road, you get to see the bonsai!

   This week I'm hoping the barn doors go up for the bath and bedroom.  Electrician will be coming back to finish things off, and then I think we can paint!  Jake and Ben will be doing the back deck.  There are a lot of little things to do like work on doors and windows so they operate smoothly, some shoring up of the floor with jacks under the house, we still need to put in the PVC shiplap walls around the shower.  I can't wait to get to the fun part of painting and decorating!