Same here. When we first built our house, we had very little $$, but we did not like the look of aluminum siding (about all you could get 30 years ago), so we went with pressure-treated, vertical grooved T-11 siding. It is durable, but it requires painting/staining every few years and we're gradually replacing it with stone-facing. What a relief that we no longer need to repaint the high end wall over the driveway! "If only we knew..." is probably a mantra for anyone who's ever built a house and stayed in it for more than a few years. Our biggest mistake was trying to plant up our big empty 2 acre lot with "fast-growing" trees...they cost very little to plant, but oh brother, it's costing a fortune to now get rid of hybrid poplars and pines that grew monstrously huge.

Yep, "if only we knew" is a mantra that we definitely share. It applies to the house construction and the gardens. I guess I hadn't realized that you built your house too! Another thing we have in common.

I haven't planted many trees over the years because we are in the woods and have trees galore. The trees that I have planted have all been spring flowering - magnolias, dogwoods, weeping cherry, redbuds, silverbell, and a splurge last year on a dove tree - have you ever heard of that one? However, one of my biggest mistakes when I first stated gardening was that I never spent any time or money amending the soil. I was always so much more interested in acquiring the plants and then wondered why so many of them died or if they lived, they really weren't thriving. I think I kept blindly headlong down that road until 2008 when I finally wizened up and had that aha moment that I SHOULD have had ten years before then

I bet you will be brave enough to head outside to garden today. From where I sit at the computer and look out the turret windows, it looks nice and sunny. I actually went outside with a few tasks in mind, but came in a short 15 minutes later. Still too cold for me. Darn it.

Terri - I would love to see a photo of the front of your house that you described in your blog

Some of our trim is in need of repair and replacing. We did go with hardy board for siding so that is maintenance free. Looks like wood siding but is concrete.

Heya Vicki - I just posted photos of the front house elevation on my blog.

As far as siding, we used the hardy board when we helped build my parent's house, but ours is still cedar. It has held up really well over the years, but still requires maintenance. I did all the staining during initial construction, but we hired a painting crew to restain it about 10 years ago and will likely hire a painting crew when it is needed again in the next year or two. I'm ok with doing that every 10 - 12 years.

I seem to be lost Terri Can you link me to your photo's as I'm not seeing them. Thank You

I seem to be lost Terri Can you link me to your photo's as I'm not seeing them. Thank You

Never mind - I refreshed the screen