Home Sweet Home

I knew the house we bought was our home the moment we walked through it 8 years ago.  Adam and I have spent these last 8 years transforming the interior to make it more "us."  While we'll always have ongoing projects going on inside, the overall feel of the interior of our house is very much ours.  It matches our styles, even though we've never been able to nail down what exactly to call our style.  We enjoy detailed woodwork, a la Craftsman style.  I love some traditional touches, but also like a mix of modern.  One thing we know for sure is that we like COLOR!  So it's no surprise that the tan, beige exterior of our house never really felt like it was "us."  

But that's all changed now because the outside of our house got a serious dose of color!  Ta-da!

Isn't she gorgeous?  After extensive research on all the different siding options, Adam decided James Hardie fiber cement siding was our best bet.  I told him I didn't really care what kind of siding we ended up with, I just wanted to pick the color.  While James Hardie is one of the pricier options, it's also an option that's supposed to be super durable and long-lasting.  We plan to stay put in our house for a long time, so it made sense to us to invest in something that will (hopefully, fingers crossed) stand the test of time.  After deciding on the product, Adam then vetted local contractors to get the job done.  I lost track of how many bids Adam got, but he wanted to be very certain the company we chose would do excellent work.  We are absolutely thrilled with the company we ultimately went with and are so pleased with the results.  If anyone local wants to know who we went with, just ask and I'd be happy to share their contact information.  

But let's get to the fun stuff- the before and afters!  

Our exterior was looking a little rough!  The new columns and trim work Adam finished building back in November were in need of paint and that black netting over the gable vent was to keep the bats that were living in our attic from coming back in.  Yes, there were bats living in our attic, but have since been evicted.  Let's just say our house wasn't the prettiest one on the block.    

But boy has she come a long ways!  Look at her now!  We went with the siding color Deep Ocean and it was the perfect choice for us!  It's definitely on the bolder side, but isn't too crazy.  I think it still fits in nicely with the other houses on our street.  We chose a horizontal lap siding for the top part of the front of the house (and on all the other sides) and shake siding right above the garage for a little added detail and texture.  The company we went with also had a painter as part of the crew, so he took care of painting the columns and garage doors.   

I still can't get over how much grander our porch looks with the new columns and trim work Adam added!  We used to have some busy railings and decorative woodwork at the top of our porch, as shown in the photo below.  

Ripping out those railings was the right move.  Everything is so much more open!  My favorite thing to do right now is hang out on the front porch after we eat dinner.  We give the kids a popsicle (which is really just frozen water in one of those make-your-own popsicle molds, but don't tell Archer and Lyla!) and we lounge in the chairs.  The kids help me water the flowers and we get to just hang out together.  It's perfection!  

After the siding was installed, Adam and I decided to spruce up the cedar shutters he built a few years back.  We decided to stain them a rich brown (General Finishes Exterior 450 in Coffee Bean) and finish them off with a semi-gloss topcoat (General Finishes Exterior 450 Top Coat in Semi-Gloss).  They definitely bring in some warmth and tie in nicely with the bricks.  We also decided the front door color didn't quite jive with the new siding.  Both were bolder blues and they felt like they were competing.  I ended up painting our front door Behr's Blue Agave, which is actually the same color as our dining room. Our dining room is just off to the right when you walk in the front door, so it's a nice way to tie the exterior and interior together.     

Even the side of our house, which only features one window, looks more exciting with the new siding.  The crisp white trim definitely helps add some more interest.  Heck, even the trash enclosure which hides our trash and recycling bins looks fancy with the new color!  Adam actually built that using the railings from our front porch.    

     

The other side of our house looks lovely in blue, too.  

Now let's head to the backyard for my favorite transformation yet!  We had a large covered deck that spanned most of the back of our house.  While it's been nice to have a covered deck, it wasn't in the best shape.  You could clearly tell that it had been built in three sections at three different times.  It wasn't the most soundly built and felt a bit like a trampoline when you walked across it.  Adam has never been impressed with it and has talked about reworking it for years.  So when we decided to get new siding, Adam felt like now was the perfect time to rework the deck.  We had the siding crew remove half of the deck roof.  It was a good thing too, because it had lots of water damage.  Adam also took off the railings and decided to change up where some of the posts were located.  He also switched out the lattice for some deck board skirting for a more finished look and to keep out critters.  Since the deck is fairly high off the ground, our plan is to replace the railings with a cable rail system.  We think it will open things up, but still keep people from tumbling off the edge.  Even though we still have work to do on the deck, it's already such a huge improvement!    

Just like in the front, things are much more open!  We still have a partially covered deck, so we do still have shade.  We also have a better view of the back of the house.  I never truly got to appreciate that little bump out around the back door.  I love to lay in our hammock and gaze up at our pretty house now.    

We would also love to rework the landscaping blocks around the deck.  Ideally, we want to add rock instead of mulch and create a little flagstone path between the deck and hammock.  And maybe add some more hostas or other plants.  We'll save our pennies and work on that in the future.  

And how cute did the little shed that Adam built turn out?!  I think it somehow looks even more charming painted blue.  

The dark blue and crisp white really lets the flowers and plants in the window boxes show off.  

I can't help but smile as I walk down the street towards our house on my daily walks with Jazzy, Archer and Lyla.  It truly is home sweet home.