Broken hearted to see former house wrecked by new owners

[Kansas. 1911.]

Yinzer, you crack me up. All the time.

Whenever I move, it has to be far away. I suffered when I found out what happened to our Queen Anne in Upstate New York. The new owners, who just HAD to have my house, turned it into an open floor plan. At least they didn't cut down any trees. That makes you unpopular on the street really quickly.

Utopia, this is our year for the landscaping. I'm going Hosta crazy.

[housecrazy sarah]

Yinzer, that's exactly where I'm at with my former house! Borderline stalking! I'm such a glutton for punshment! This past weekend when we drove past, the new owners had ripped out all of the rose bushes and cut down a large cedar tree in the backyard! I was so mortified and upset I thought I might vomit.

Selling that poor house was one of the most traumatic things in my life! Driving by it just exacerbates my misery!

I've decided that the next time I move it HAS to be out of the area! So I will never have to look upon my lost loves again... but then you know I'd be on Google Earth cyber-stalking the houses!

[downtowndahlgren]

When my neighbors sold their last house which had 17 acres, they had previously done extensive gardening and landscaping there (as they have also done for their house across the street). The wife found out that the new owners, who had praised the landscaping while viewing the house, had later gone in and ripped out and/or mowed over all of the beautiful plants she had painstakingly installed. Not a shrinking violet, she threatened to rip off their right arms and beat them over their heads with them. (Of course, this is also why they can't get contractors to come more than once.)

[YinzerMama]

I've decided that the next time I move it HAS to be out of the area! So I will never have to look upon my lost loves again... but then you know I'd be on Google Earth cyber-stalking the houses!

"Oh COME ON, update the picture already!!!"

Yard changes wouldn't bother me too much... maybe cutting down a very old tree but different tastes, maybe something happened to the tree... we actually had a peach tree die and had to remove it, which gave us a good excuse to also remove the annoying and ugly rose of sharon which was growing at an angle (the whole thing was pointing at a slant and required you to limbo on your way to the door)... I am sure the past owners loved both of them but one was dead and one was annoying. We have also removed rose bushes because there were in the middle of the yard and we wanted kids to be able to play back there without falling into a bunch of jaggers. Yards... eh. People like different things. There is no "old house yard" so future owners can do what they like. Just don't ruin the house!

Now we do have a dogwood tree in the back which I would just as soon be rid of but it's kind of cute and I know it was a mother's day gift to the PO who loved to garden so much so I will leave it. But the nine gazillion other bushes and trees she put in the back yard... had to go. I want a yard that is just a yard. We added a ridiculous amount of play room to the yard by digging those out.

[eclecticcottage]

I've felt bad about doing some of the things we did at the Cottage-mostly white washing the pine paneling. However, because of the extensive work that we had to do in that room, we will need to buy more of it, and there is NO possible way we could have matched it. I also felt bad about removing some bushes and trees, but they were neglected so long they were past trimming and saving. That mostly made me angry at the PO and PPOs and however far back it goes for neglecting it all, because as I clean up, trim, etc I am finding that at one point, it had a very nice landscape and someone put a lot of time and effort into it. I think I got the poppies to come back in one spot, and the few daffodils that appeared this year were a nice surprise. I'm still trying to trim up one bush and make it respectible, but I think it might work (it was FULL of dead branches, it was all droopy). Even though it's not historic by any means, it still had a great heritage garden at one point, and I do hope to bring it back to life. At least no one planted those horrible green bushes (boxwood?)!

The Old House was already missing any character it had when we bought it. It was remodeled in the 70's and it REALLY showed. There were orange cabbage flowers everywhere and the entire kitchen from the walls to the cabinets to the counters were orange. So we didn't feel bad changing things. I think I've come to terms with the fact that someone else will probably not care for what we've done and change it all again.

[utopia13]

At least no one planted those horrible green bushes (boxwood?)!

HAHAHA.....You mean these?


And these?


And these?


Not a single one lasted a full year after I moved in! That was about 4.5 years ago but immediately after removing those nasty things from the back, the view had improved considerably!!!

[YinzerMama]

utopia your house is so cute you don't even notice the bushes LOL

[eclecticcottage]

Yup, those. Dh loves them...I want to attack every one I see with a saw.

[mross_pitt]

Isn't the problem that one person's idea of a beautiful landscape is another person's idea of a mess?
Some people like yard and only yard while others will fill as much space with bushes and plants as possible.

I don't mind removing old shrubbery that doesn't add much to the landscape. However, too often I see people cutting out the mature foundation plantings and either replacing them with nothing or with a 8 inch tall home depot plant. I'd much rather have the just grass landscape than the flower bed after flower bed of things that will look good in 15 years. I can think of numerous great old houses in my area with this problem. A couple little twigs of perennials(of the four or five varieties that every store sells) and nothing elses in front of very large old houses! Maybe I should become an old house landscape consultant.


It took only a few months for people to start telling me my previous home's yard had turned into a jungle after we left.

[Lynners]

Yup, those. Dh loves them...I want to attack every one I see with a saw.

My guy wants to add some at the end of the yard to block the road. Uggggh.