My House got a Facelift

When we bought our house last year I had to work hard to get past its "elevation," our Realtor's word for the way the front looked.  It was over grown and had horrible stucco that  looked like a bad icing job. Not to mention, the color was pinkish in my eyes. Scroll to the bottom if you want to skip the whole process and just see the before and after

First things first I knew I had to paint that door and lose the rose bushes. They were pretty but I don't know how or like to deal with roses. Like everything else they were too big for the front door anyway. Unlike everything else, the porch lights were too small (and they were pineapples) they had to go too. 

So I went red, the only thing that seemed to make sense, and planted a couple hibiscus (the new porch lights were still too small.)

We spent a year here and I watched all the azaleas bloom across the front which helped ease the cringe I felt when I looked just past them, closely, at anything else. However, we had several people come take a look and inform me that there was no way to gracefully save the plants and get control of them at the same time. So out they went. We tore up a giant bed of weeds smack in the middle of the yard and re-sodded this spring, added some planters flanking the door, made a little seating area in front of the fire place, added 6 trees to the yard, and eventually put in some hedges under the big windows .

Next we decided to go ahead and replace the windows and get the stucco replaced before it became a problem. That's where the real face lift started.  I combined several windows in the front (the two on either side of the fireplace and the large picture window on the far right)  for a more updated feel.

Next the siding and paint. I decided to go with Sherwin William Texas Sage (green) for the siding, SW Creamy on the trim, and SW Naval on the door. I was so nervous to put color up on the house and drove around several times looking at other houses with similar brick color. In the end I'm glad I did. I think it looks beautiful. We still need a few flowers, a little sod, and some mulch, but I am sure happy not to have the ugliest house on the block anymore. 

 

For those of you who skipped to the bottom...

It looks so different we've had several neighbors stop while we're out front and tell us how much they like what we've done. I've even had people stop me while I was picking up Emma at school and tell me the pass the house everyday and like what we're doing. It makes me feel good to live in a neighborhood where people take notice and care about the way things look. Not to mention, are nice enough to stop and tell you. As for us, we love it!