Face Lift

Remember this...

Our poor front door needed some TLC and we finally set aside an evening to tackle it. Little did we know this would turn out to take much longer than we had planned. The layers of paint that had accumulated from almost 100 years of various tenants needed to go. After the tedious stripping of paint, came tedious sanding, and patching... all very worth it to have a fresh slate for a new coat of paint.

Before painting Ben replaced the frame, threshold and trim of the doorway:











After the construction finished, we began the pretty part I'd been waiting for.

Fresh primer:


Removal of hardware:


Ben, hard at work:

New threshold:

New trim:

New hardware:

Our finished product!

I chose a gray paint for our house that I actually saw on another house while out running. I stopped and asked for the name of the paint and I couldn't be happier with the color for our house as well. We have not painted the whole house yet but we are making progress. I can't wait to add the details... a wall mounted mailbox, and new mail slot, a wreath, topiaries, new porch light etc.

We removed the hideous metal awning from the front porch. I don't know what they were thinking when whoever it was put it up but it was one of the first things I wanted down. Finally the day has come to say "sayonara dirty white metal awning!"

Overdue Update

Hello blog world... I have fallen behind. We may have negleted the blog but at least we haven't been negleting the house!

There is so much to show you! No BIG, enormous, earth shattering changes, but we are finding every little change is adding up and eventually it will be the house we've dreamed of (that reality is farther away than I'd like it to be but will come sooner than I think. I hope.)

Who knew Ben was a plumber? He successfully moved our outdoor water source from right smack in front of our house to a better location off to the side.

We had a fun demolition party and removed the brick BBQ from the driveway. We then filled in the missing bricks for a somewhat smooth brick driveway that will make do until we put a new concrete driveway in.

We prepped soil, planted seed, and watered daily in order to have a new lawn. Thank goodness for fresh, green, soft grass that I can sit in (just don't walk on the grass, at least not while Ben is watching!)

Picking Paint

What color do we paint our house? That is the burning question. I'm tired of this boring beige and lime green trim. I'm sure our neighbors are too. I am continually browsing for pictures online, driving around the neighborhood, and going running in new neighborhoods in search of ideas and inspiration.

I love a bold door. Red is a great color for a front door but my neighbor on one side has a red door. I love a yellow house. I grew up in a yellow house, my wedding flowers were yellow, I love how bright, cheery and welcoming yellow is, but my neighbor on the other side has a beautiful yellow house. Maybe I should do a yellow house with a red door?! If it does come down to it I'm not afraid to "copy" my neighbors but I first want to take into consideration all other options, and ultimatley decide up colors that are classy but fun and represent Ben and I.

Our neighbors...




Some pictures in my ideabook...

I asked my sister Laina for advice and she suggested gray and showed me the picture above. Gray is a classy modern paint color that allows for so many front door color options. I am definitely considering gray as the color for my house. Yet it gets complicated since there are so many shades of gray! Some grays are icy and cold, some are warm and inviting.

I was running past a home the other day and decided to knock on the door to find out what shade of gray they painted their house. The little old woman was so sweet and even invited me in and showed me her pretty house. I made a friend, and found a paint color for my house. We've bought a sample and will paint a piece of our house to see if we like it. If we do go with gray we have so many options for a front door color. Too bad I am so indecisive... that decision may take more searching and brain wracking.

I am currently accepting all advice.

Find a penny pick it up...

Amid all of the yard clean up I have come across pennies here and there. Here is the conversation inside my head everytime I come across one...

"Find a penny pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck. Is that really true? You aren't supposed to throw away a penny, and some people beg for pennies so I should put it aside and save it. Ugh, where do I put it? I have no pockets. It would be so much easier to throw it away along with all this trash i'm cleaning up. NO. I can't. Every penny counts. A penny saved is a penny earned. What is that story about the man who picked up every penny he ever found and was rich because of it? Ok ok... i'm picking it up!"

So I do pick up every penny I have come across because I have obviously have a complex if I throw it away. Just the other day I was raking up leaves and rubbish... found crumpled up at the top of the pile, as though it fell from the sky: A $20 bill. Unlike the penny, I did NOT hesitate to pick it up! I definitely think all those pennies brought me good luck in the form of a twenty dollar bill. :)

Stripping Paint: 101

We decided to strip the paint off our front door. After almost 100 years this door has held up well, but has been through its share of paint jobs!

So, while Ben was perched in our tree (scared silly i'm sure, but showing great bravery) cutting down a big ol' branch...




...I took on the job of the mighty door.




I started off by painting a thick coat of this citrus gel and letting it sit for a couple hours. After a couple hours it began to bubble and was ready (according to directions) to be scraped off with a plastic or metal scraper. However it turned out to be a lot tougher to strip the paint off than I had anticipated. So, I put on another thick coat of citrus gel, using the entire container for just the front of the door and let it sit... overnight.


In the morning I went at the door again and found that it was one of the MESSIEST jobs I've ever done. GOOP, everywhere!


I went by the hardware store to buy more of the citrus gel because still, after all that messy work, I needed more of it. The sweet shop worker suggested that I invest in a heat gun for stripping paint. A what? A gun? Turns out a heat gun is easier to use, less messy, and since we will be stripping a lot of paint throughout the house it would be a great investment. I was SOLD.

Of course when the door stripping job involved using a gun Ben jumped on board! Turns out that I wish we had used the gun from the very start.






Next step: Stripping the paint off of the window frames... who in the world chose the lime green paint? No thank you.

Powerhouse

Due to the fact that our home was built in 1918, it has had multiple tenants, who apparently all had different tastes in phone companies! There were AT&T, Bell South, and Charter junction boxes affixed to the back of our house. Each box was equiped with separate lines running through our back yard.

It was a mess.





Benjamin removed all but our main power line, and voila...

Timber!

We decided we want a cleaner slate, and so we removed many trees and shrubs from the front and back of the house... A project that was a lot harder than it looks!

Front yard before:


Back yard before:


Step 1:
Dig, jab, jump, and pull on the tree in an attempt to show it whose boss.



Step 2:
Realize your strength doesn't quite compare to the strength of your SUV. Link the SUV to the rope, and the rope to the tree, and ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!



Step 3:
Re-evaluate the rope you are using. Have a good laugh, and look on the brighter side... the roots are loosened up a bit!



Step 4:
Enlist your neighbor with a truck and a chain. Turns out he'd like to remove the trees on the fence line of the property anyway.





Step 5:
Chop up the wood into such a neat pile, and bundle the branches for pick-up.





Step 6:
Admire all your hardwork... you are steps closer to your vision!

Special thanks to Benjamin... He spent multiple days, and nights working on this, and did most of the work all on his own. I would drive in at midnight from a shift at the restaurant to find him working in the yard. He wanted to have something new done each time I arrived home. How sweet!

Thanks babes; all your blisters, scratches, and sore muscles are worth the beautiful yard you are creating for our home.