If you are someone who is interested in buying investment properties to flip and then sell, or you absolutely love DIY projects for the home, then you are in the right spot! In this “Flip House” series we are going to dive right into messy DIY, Do’s and Don'ts in the fixer upper realm, the reality of flipping properties, and renovation projects that you can follow along, learn from, and hopefully get excited for your own projects!

Just like looking your best for a job interview, updating your front landscape is a best first impression to selling your home. 😊

When we started working on our first fixer upper, the yard needed a complete revamp. The overall yard had little to no grass, the ground was uneven, lots of rocks and obstacles, deficient soil, and the ground was settling near the house foundation. The yard was an eye sore.

We bought this house in the middle of the summer in 2019, so we decided to wait before we touched that project. Spring and Fall seasons are the best time to plant grass and not to mention it is time consuming. The start of our front yard project began the following Spring in 2020. It took a total of 16 days for most of the grass to germinate and mature. It took three more weeks before the grass looked super thick with most of the weeds gone.

Right before we sold the house, we had to redo the grass closest to the house on the left side between the house and the garage in the Spring of 2022. You can watch the video showing the yard transformation below to find out why.

Yard Transformation Timeline

April 19th, 2020

• Prep yard

• Removed large rocks and obstructions from yard

April 21st, 2020

• Rented rototiller from local equipment rental store

• Brake up soil and level ground with a rake and hand shovel

• Filled in settling ground by the house foundation

May 10th, 2020

• Went to a local ranch to get a pickup load of manure

  • FYI - you will have many weeds come up if you decide to go this route

• Spread and level fertilizer with a rake

• Used a seed spreader to plant seed

• Watered ground 2-3 times a day at the point puddles would begin to form

May 14th, 2020

• Weed management

• Still watering frequently

May 26th, 2020

• Most all of the grass has come up

June 18th, 2020

• Completely new yard :)
  

Break Up The Ground

Since we were basically starting over, we needed to break up the soil to at least eight-twelve inches deep. To break up the ground easily we rented a large rototiller from a local equipment rental shop. By breaking up the soil in this way, we were able to level the ground by moving soil to low spots and taking away from higher areas. This was also the time we fixed the landscaping around the foundation from where it had settled.

Add Fertilizer

By adding fertilizer to the ground before seeding grass, it allows a perfect environment to encourage grass to grow from bare ground with the extra phosphorus. If we were seeding an already established yard, we would not need to necessarily do this step. Starter fertilizer is a great option for new yards. Instead, we decided to use manure from a local ranch and had our whole pickup box filled. Then we used a shovel to take the manure out of the pickup box into a five gallon bucket. Then we carried the manure to a spot of the yard, dumped, and then raked out the manure. Repeat.

Plant The Seed

This is the easiest step! Basically you use a seed/fertilizer spreader like this one:

When buying the grass seed, make sure to buy seed for the area you are planting. For instance, we put grass seed mixture that worked in sunny areas since our front yard was facing South East. We purchased this seed from our local hardware store, ACE Hardware.

Each bag of seed should have the type of seeds and amounts per mixture on the back label. If you have any questions about which lawn seed mixture would work best, please consult your local lawn care experts.

Spray All Those Dang Weeds

Since we used manure as our fertilizer, we had some weeds trying to establish new homes.

A spot spray spectracide works wonders for getting rid of those pesky weeds! I would not recommend using a spray that covers the whole yard since you are trying to grow grass.

Water… Water… Water…

Seeds need the perfect environment in order to sprout into baby grass and then grow to the beautiful thick green yards we dream about.

We watered every day 2-3 times per day. This creates a humid environment needed for the seed to germinate. Make sure when you are watering to use a mist setting or shower setting on your sprayer. Then spray each area up until puddles start to form. This ensures the ground is plenty wet, but not so wet the seeds move. Or else you will not produce an even amount of grass throughout.

And Viola! We Had Grass!

You can watch the full video here:

If you want to read about the reasons we picked this home, read my first post from this series and watch the video walkthrough! All of your support is amazing, and I am so thankful you are here! :)

I really hope this has helped you with your projects or future ideas. Please follow along for a deeper look into our first flip house and our journey along the way. I would love to see some of the projects you are currently working on below!

Happy Styling! :)