We worked on the back yard a bit today! First, we bought these little azaleas:

and planted them in a row beside the house. We’ll but down mulch around them, and you can see the center where we’re creating a walkway. We’re going to find a bigger shrub for the corner:

We found a tree for our island! After driving to a few nurseries around town, we finally found a good deal on this nice healthy pink dogwood in Hampstead. It was HEAVY, but we managed to get it from the truck to the hole, only slightly breaking a wheelbarrow in the process:

We staggered some azaleas around it as well. The entire area will be covered in black mulch, and we’re on the lookout for a nice border for the island.

As promised, stock photos! Here are the couch and loveseat we bought (we bought a sleeper sofa so guests will have more room to sleep):

But we ended up buying this coffee table instead of the one in the picture:

and matching end tables:

The living room furniture will be here toward the end of May.