CURB APPEAL UPDATES

Hey guess what -- I have not one, not two, but THREE updates on the exterior of the house to share! And you thought I totally forgot this was a home renovation blog...

First, my dad came down last weekend and helped Ez finish putting up the battens on the kitchen section. (Thanks Dad!) Paint is the next step for this siding project, which is just so exciting. I'm hoping and praying the painting can be done in the next couple weekends, before winter hits us hard. I would love to have a painted house by Christmas. It won't cure all that ails the outside of this house, but it will look a lot more homey and a lot less embarrassing. 

Note: This weekend I WILL scrub the green mossy gunk off the brick steps if it kills me. Ick. 

The next update is the gable. Ez and our carpenter friend John ripped off all the old siding -- the last of the old grimey stuff that remained on the house, yippee! -- and have begun framing it out and prepping it for a board and batten siding treatment to match the rest of the house. There was old wood German siding underneath, which they left in place because it was solid and will provide a nice base for the new siding. 

You might not notice any difference at all, but honestly I think it looks better already, like it can breathe a little more... That vinyl was the last vestige of the old order around here. Now it's officially been conquered. Here was the front of the house just a few weeks ago, missing the battens on the kitchen area and being weighed down by the old vinyl siding still clinging to the gable (with that sexy little piece of pink insulation peeking out underneath.)

Finally, update numero tres, the chinking around the front door is all done. That was a small change that made a big difference in my daily interaction with the house. Every day I'd walk up to the front door and roll my eyes at those gaps. Though it's just a small update and a small surface area, it made a big difference to me.

Here it was before (the door looks brighter red here because it only had one coat of red paint over top of white primer at the time). See how the area around the door was missing the nice chinking?





So, over the next few weeks we're looking at finishing the last of the board and batten siding installation, hopefully painting it, and scrubbing that darned porch. Someday we'll move onto repointing the stone foundation, bricking the kitchen foundation, building a porch roof and doing some landscaping. All in due time.

But at least it's overall looking MUCH better than before. This was about 2 years ago. Ouch.

It definitely helps looking at pictures from the earlier stages. Good gracious we've come a long way!