I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been carried over a threshold in a romantic way, or in any other way for that matter. When I got married and moved in with my husband, I did most of the packing and moving on my own while he was finishing up university and looking for a teaching job. It was relatively unceremonious and definitely did not resemble a scene from a movie.

Since then, we’ve had three front doors to come home to – our first place in a six-storey, generic apartment building with nothing to differentiate it from the other dozens of doors on our floor, a main-level flat in a duplex home with a red front door that was mostly blocked from street view by parked cars, and now, we have our very own home with front steps, landscaping and even some curb appeal.

Being newbies to this concept, we haven’t done much. So far, we’ve mostly reaped the rewards of the folks who lived there before us, as perennials bloom all around the yard. But there are definitely things that need to be adjusted.

#1: The window box. The flowers that were planted there are no longer alive, BUT, in my defense, the landscaper who I consulted with said that I had simply planted them too early (in May) and the late spring frost was too much for them to handle.  Lesson learned, but now the box sits, empty filled with dead plants that I’ve yet to dig out.  So sad. I can either unmount the box completely, try to plant new flowers again or fill it with something artificial. The lovely basket you see in the photo was a gift this week, so there’s some potential to make use of this, too, I think.

#2: The mailbox. We get our mail at one of those community mail centres at the end of our neighbourhood, so the one by the door has yet to serve a purpose. Should it stay or should it go?

#3: The whole porch needs a paint job, which you can’t really notice until you’re standing on it, but it doesn’t make the best first impression.

#4: The wreath hook on the door has a snowflake on it. Enough said.

#5: I made that wreath (which you can see the step-by-step process of here), but it’s been hanging around (pun intended) for more than two years, so I’m ready for something new.

#5: There’s a bracket to the left for a flag, but my husband is anti-flag. Do you agree with him on this?

#6: There are two exterior mats. What the heck for? Don’t ask me how that happened.

#7: The flower pot on the front step is holding miscellaneous gardening items, like pruners. The front step is not a place for storage.  Same goes for the big blue bucket of toddler toys.

We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us. Give me your tips and stay tuned for the “after” results.