The Design Blog
Front Lawn Transformation
See how we transformed this home’s front lawn from bare patches, weeds, and uneven ground to a nice lush green lawn.
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.
Front Yard - 2019
Front Yard - 2019
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:
Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard Broadcast Spreader
Use it to evenly distribute the seed onto the areas you want to grow grass. It has an EdgeGuard to help keep the seed from spreading onto your sidewalks or other parts of your lawn you did not plan to seed. This yard tool is great to have on hand and in sustaining a healthy lawn. You can use this to spread more seed or fertilizer down the road.
How To Use:
Set the dial on the spreader to match the dial settings on the bag of seed
Fill the spreader with seed
Turn the edge guard on
First walk along the outside edges
Turn the edge guard off
Fill in the area where you spread seed along the outside edges
Make sure to make overlapping passes
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! :)
Our First Flip House
Day 1 | Walkthrough of our first flip house project
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 DIYs, 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!
Day 1: Fixer Upper Before Shot
Here we are, day one of our fixer upper. Annnnnd I can’t tell you how excited we were! Not only was this our first fixer upper, this was our first house we ever owned! I wanted to share our experience and hopefully help someone just starting or is interested in flipping homes.
You can follow along the journey on my YouTube channel. I will be uploading videos in the “Jet Drive Flip House” playlist as we go along. Or check out our IG page for more.
Day 1 | Walkthrough
If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you know my love for random hobbies. I never wanted to be “good” at just one thing. And flipping homes will not be my only venture, but it is a challenge that I do enjoy! When my husband and I initially saw this house, we knew it had a special character about it even though ALL the work that needed to be done.
In this series I will go over the reasons we picked this house, what we started working on first, the interior is one thing but the yard needed some love, and the whole process step by step until the day we sold our first flip house.
When my husband and I initially saw this house, we knew it had a special character...5 Reasons We Picked This House:
#1: First and foremost, this home sold us on the view. In the price range we were looking at, it had the most beautiful view overlooking the town. Right away I knew this home deserved to be brought back to life!
#2: The kitchen size with a window facing the same view we fell in love with.
#3: Double sink in the main level bathroom.
#4: Simplicity of the layout. Perfect for one or four people to live comfortably.
#5: Garage. Hello! We live in Montana. Love it here! But man does it get cold…
Overall, our first flip house was in decent shape and luckily did not have any major problems that needed to be prepared. When it comes to looking for an investment property that you are going to turn around and sell in two years, there are some things to consider.
Here are my tips:
Consider the amount of work that needs done in order for the house to be sellable
Sometimes this can be challenging because it is easy to get carried away on projects…
Is it structurally sound? I would recommend getting a second or third opinion from a professional if you do not have much experience in this area. Since this was our first home, we ended up taking out a loan to purchase this house; therefore, having an inspector go through every inch of the house.
$$ Make a conservative budget. $$ Like I mentioned in my Before You Start Renovating blog, giving yourself an extra 20% over your estimated costs can save you in the end.
DIY is a great way to save on the budget.
Hire a contractor for the big stuff! This includes anything that you are not sure how to do or do not have experience doing. For example: electrical. We don’t want your house accidently starting on fire… 🛠️
Try to plan out the whole project including ordering materials ahead of time.
Write below in the comments! I would love to hear from you guys your renovation project journey and the lessons learned along the way. Let’s make this a space we can share ideas and our experiences.
Happy Styling! :)