Aesthetics?

[tortoise]

Question for y'all - especially for those getting closer to being off-grid.

Do you care what your yard looks like? Or do you only care about function?

I can't get over what it looks like. You can see that in my 9 matching rabbit cages stacked 3 x 3. I do live in a rural/suburban neighborhood, so there are neighbors to consider. Even if there weren't I would still fuss about it.

I want it to look my Devraes family and less junkyard, KWIM?

 

[buckeye lady]

Well... To a degree...
We keep the placed mowed. No junk in the front or side yards. There is usually a bit of overflow by the garage. Now behind the barn is the scrap pile, empty chicken tractor with a tarp, burn barrell, brush pile, wood pile, etc.... The house really needs painted and there are a few small trees in the front flower bed that DH needs to pull.
We live in a semi-rural community. Lots are 2+ acres, Ours is 6, several small 50-150 acres farms in between clusters of lots. A mix of old/new homes. Ours is an 1890's farmhouse. We are considered "in the country".

 

[freemotion]

My yard looks GREAT. My house is a junkpile!

 

[Henrietta23]

Do I care? Yes. Does that mean it looks great? Nope. I try. We try to keep the front yard looking okay. The lawn is mostly moss these days because DH won't even consider cutting down the huge maple that shades it. I keep the gardens weeded out and try to keep something blooming, but it's not landscaped by a long shot. I'd be happy with cottage style which is what I was originally going for.
The backyard is a kid, dog, chicken, duck play area and it looks like it!

 

[PunkinPeep]

I live in a rural neighborhood too - big lots and lots of space between us and our neighbors.

We live at the front of the neighborhood where everyone passes us to go in or out. I used to worry about how it looks. We try not to be slobs, but sometimes, we're too busy doing something to care what it looks like. It took more than a year, but finally neighbors started stopping by and making comments. Not about how bad it looks - but curious about what we're up to. Now it's kind of fun.

 

[hwillm1977]

Right now our yard looks horrible... we had 75 pallets delivered, he threw them off the truck beside the driveway... I built a chicken coop and the remaining pallets are still sitting around the driveway. It drives me crazy everytime I pull in, but there are dogs to walk, raised beds to build, lawn to mow, a horse to ride and somehow by the time I get around to moving the pallets I move a couple and the rest sit there.

Someday I'll get around to it though.

I dream of the day we finish renovating this house and there are no longer junk piles and we have a beautiful yard... it'll be a few years down the road.

So I care what it looks like, but for now I live with the junk piles

We live in a rural neighbourhood, 1 or more acre lots...

 

[Beekissed]

The woman in me admires order and neatness. I don't strive for a show place, by any means, as I couldn't afford it and couldn't maintain it.

I don't like things lying about in the yard and I like my clutter to be centralized or tucked away. Most of the time I succeed but right now I've got too many irons in the fire to keep everything as nice as I would like.

It seems my place is always in transition as we are changing how we use the buildings and fencing all the time. Just trying to make things more efficient.

We keep things neat but not pristine, lived in but not dirty, function over form in most things. Thankfully, I happen to like old buildings, crackled paint, rustic landscapes.

 

[old fashioned]

I refuse to answer on the grounds of self incrimination!

 

[Jamsoundsgood]

I know that our yard is getting a bit out of hand when the neighbors come by specifically to ask when my FIL is coming to visit. Because the first thing he does when he gets here is get up on the John Deere, and I'm not sure if he actually gets off. He actually bought us a new one because he broke our first one and while it was in the shop he got bored. So now we have two. He really likes to mow the lawn. We are in the process of buying a house so he can move closer to us, and I really think my the real reason my husband is doing this is so he never has to mow the lawn again.

 

[SKR8PN]

......I really think my the real reason my husband is doing this is so he never has to mow the lawn again.

My father used to threaten to concrete the whole property and paint it green.
I swear the only reason he let us kids live is so that HE wouldn't have to mow!!