Here's the before:
And a closer picture, so you can see the shingles, or "shake," in all their awesomeness:
The house was built in 1978, but I'm sure most of the updates were done in the early 80's. (Love the 70's vibe ... the 80's, not so much.) Lot's of gold fixtures. And the plants in front were just too much for Jay and I ... green thumbs we are not. So, we went to work! Now, there is still much to be done, especially in the landscaping department, but it's a start.
The after:
(Please ignore the dying trees and the trampled on plants.)
We are so happy with how it turned out! Much more modern, but still appropriate for the neighborhood.
What we did: Removed all the bushes and most of the the concrete border, planted grass seed, removed all the shake off the sides of the house (I swear everytime we removed shake, we would find more ... it was multiplying!), repainted the trim from teal to a dark gray, replaced the shake with wood that we stained & varnished, added a ceiling to the entryway, added pendant lights, and replaced the carriage lights with lights Jay made himself. We also removed the "decorative inserts" on the garage windows. Oh, and we replaced the house windows back in July.
I think my favorite part is the new ceiling in the entryway:
Before we added the ceiling, it was just an exposed white roof with no lighting. I felt bad for anyone coming up to our door at night... it was a little dark and scary! Jay found the new ceiling lights at a garage sale in our neighborhood for 15 CENTS each. Awesome! All he had to do was lengthen them.
So, that's what we've been up to. We have a few other improvements that are in process (one of which includes those sheets of corrogated metal you can see leaning against our entryway wall). I'm excited to get them done and show them to you!
Some more pictures, if you are interested:
7 comments:
what? why'd you get rid of the decorative inserts from the garage windows?? why? why?
j/k, guys. j/k.
it looks really awesome. i love the wood and the new lights...good job. that jay is pretty handy!
Wow you guys have been busy!!! Looks great. The entryway is my favorite part of your remodel. I have a few bushes in my front yard I'd like to remove if you ever have a few free days. ;)
I am so glad you included the before pictures....I had forgotten. It really looks great!! I am proud of the two of you and all of your talents.
Mom
WOW! You guys are amazing! Our goal for 2011 is to replace the burnt out porch light. (:
Great wok. I'm jealous. We have about two months each year when the weather permits such work... and they're NOT after October. :)
With such an awesome walkway, I have three words for Jay: Halloween Spook Alley
Anna's told me about this, and it sure looks impressive. Way to go - although I'm sure you've got plenty more projects up your sleeves.
Jay, see more about our recent backpack trip at:
http://jhammari.blogspot.com/
-Josh
I am impressed with your eye for how you can change something to make it better. I don't have that talent AT ALL. So ar you available for consulations for our walkway?? ;)
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