Before & After: A Vintage Florida Cottage and Garden Saved from the Landfill—on a $12,500 Budget - Gardenista
photography by Zach Stovall.
A few weeks ago a rare thing landed in our in-box: before-and-after photographs of a Florida cottage built in 1935. Even more exciting, the designer and homeowner Mary Maslow and her husband, Tim, also sent spreadsheets to show the budget, down to the cost of the paint.
The Maslows installed a “Florida-friendly garden” themselves to save money, including a crushed-shell driveway ($1,600).
Armed with the couple’s spreadsheets, we also pored over the details of the interior overhaul, from how much the kitchen cost to the DIYs that saved them some pennies, on Remodelista (see The $65,000 Whole-House Overhaul: An Eco-Minded Florida Cottage Transformed, Budget Secrets Included for the full rundown).
The finished Florida cottage, four years later.
“We were looking at a different house across the street and I happened to turn around and notice it poking out of the overgrowth,” Mary Maslow says.
Before, the front of the house was almost entirely obscured by foliage.
Before
After
A new tree for a new start. They hired a local crew to take them out; while they were at it, the Maslows had the team trim about eight gnarly old oaks in the backyard.
Florida-Friendly Landscaping
Among the native and Florida-friendly plants they chose (and planted themselves, with the help of their family): Muhly grass, fountain grass, oakleaf hydrangea, sweet almond, and silver saw palmetto for shrubs; and camellia, gardenia, beach sunflower, gaura, and coral honeysuckle for blooms.
Before, the porch was unusable, and filled to the brim with bric-a-brac, old pots, and storage.
The Final Numbers
The final product: neat, tidy, and charming. All told, hardscaping costs came in at $6,285.
Landscaping: Trees, Plants, and Hardscaping
Though the Maslows came in over budget on both the exterior and landscaping, they say they were still surprised how much they could save. : A testament to curb appeal: We spotted online that the house recently sold for $400,000—that’s $2o1,000 more than the Maslows bought it for in 2014.