This year’s early-summer weather in Iqaluit has had its ups and severe downs. It has been cold, grey, and quite uninspiring for home decorating. On the downside, it has brought lots of fog and ice into town that has drawn a number of polar bears near our house lately – meaning that we can’t wander far from home (at least not without ammunition or bear spray). On the upside of it though, it has meant that bug season has been delayed enough for me to spend more time in the front yard doing some landscaping.
I was initially thinking to do just one or two small things to add some curb appeal to our place over the summer. Nevertheless, once one project was started I began finding other little things I could do to improve our curb-side look and my ‘to-do’ list quickly snowballed.
Use What Mother Nature Gave You: Rocks
Taking a little time to outline plant beds with rocks and fill in bare gaps with local plants can make a big difference. You can see from the photo below how the grass to the right (in front of the dog pen) is rather drab and undefined from the rest of the parking lot.
So on a drizzly afternoon I went to work…
Prop It Up With A Retaining Wall
I realized that some retaining walls would substantially improve the space on either side of the front stairs. So with some cinder blocks and soil I was able to flatten out the ground and make the plant beds more even. It’s hard to tell from the first image above, as these areas were covered with snow in the photo, but these areas had previously sunken in at steep angles beneath the stairs.
Below you can see the front yard during and after adding the retaining walls and filling them in with soil and local plants. I still have a fair bit of transplanting to do yet, but I’ll continue to do this over the course of the summer.
That’s a little better.
It’s Nothing A Little Paint Can’t Fix
Once that job was done, I was still feeling like the space was looking rather unfinished and scruffy. So I gave everything a fresh coat of paint.
Now we’re getting somewhere. But there was still something missing…
Add A Little Bling: New Hardware
I’ve been dying to replace the house numbers with something modern and more substantial since we first moved in and figured what better time than now to get on it. I purchased some custom numbers from Number My House, which has a variety of fonts and sizes to choose from, and they certainly improved things greatly…
Ta da!!
But, we’re still not done yet. One of the great things about our community is its interesting, varied, and colourful architecture. Much like Greenland or the eastern provinces of Canada, Iqaluit homes are often brightly painted in shades of bright reds, yellows, greens and blues. 
What I have REALLY wanted to do is update our door and trim colours to something fun, colourful, and lively.
Go Bold Or Go Home: Add Some Bright Colours
Our red and white siding/roofing is quite bright but the facade in all of its shades of brown are a little gloomy and could use some freshening up. Although I’d LOVE to cover all of the russet brown with a dark blue or grey paint colour, I’m not up for that much painting anytime soon, so I figured we’d focus on something more manageable like the trim and doors.
Initially I had thought of going with a deep teal shade for the doors (I do have a weakness for all things turquoise) and white trim like this…
However, I’m beginning to settle on something a bit warmer that pairs more with the reds and browns of the exterior….like PLUM!
Come back soon to find out how it all comes together!