Thoughts for Thursday: Landscaping Overhaul

I would die if our yard (and house) looked like this

When we moved into our house, it was flipped and the landscaping had been redone before we moved in. It looked so clean and crisp and we didn't mind the plants that were picked but we soon learned that it wasn't done 100% right. Apparently our previous owners were European and loved to garden - looking at google maps, you could see plants all on the side of the house and front yard and our back yard was an absolute disaster. Everything was cleaned up and kept nice when we bought it but a few months after moving in, we realized that none of the old plants were properly dug up.

Our yard looked so crisp when we moved in! (We still need to pressure wash the driveway and sidewalks)

Certain types of plants keep.coming.back; no matter how many times we pull out the roots, they always come back. Last year, we decided that we wanted to redo most of the landscaping but wanted to do some of it ourselves. After pulling out the plants on one side and the back of the house, we quickly realized this was more than we could handle so we agreed to hire a professional to give our yard a total overhaul.

Here are some of the highlights we'd like for the yard:

1. Remove/redo all the plants in the front yard but keep the green/yellow plants and shape them up into short hedges
2. Get rid of all the mulch and replace with dark rock
3. Redo all of the concrete "trim"
4. Get all of the tree beds cleaned up
5. Get the back yard cleaned up where we removed previous bushes and plant new ones
6. Keep things clean-lined and simple for minimal upkeep
7. Remove 2 pine trees in the back yard (Stephen is desperate to get this done)

I love the clean(er) lines and staggered plants in the two pictures below and I'd love to add some color like in the 3rd picture.

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So instead of it being a quick project, it's turned into basically a total overhaul. We got a quote last fall for some smaller adjustments but the company never got back in touch with me which makes me glad because we actually need more done than we thought. I'm sure our neighbors will be thrilled once we get everything cleaned up - one lady gave Stephen a passive aggressive suggestion on how to clean up the weeds lol

We're hoping to visit a few nursery's this weekend to get an idea of what type of plants would be best for Florida (I would die for some beautiful hydrangea bushes but I don't think they'll stand a change in the FL heat) and prices before going out to get quotes from landscaping companies. If y'all have any tips please let me know!!

Linking up with Annie and Jessica.