~We moved into our HOME on August 17, 2000~
Knowing it needed some TLC, we knew we were just the family it was waiting for! It is now totally re-sided on the outside by my husband. Why did it take so long you might ask? Well, he literally did this whole house from stripping off all of the old 1960's faded yellow aluminum siding, to rebuilding practically every wall of this house from the foundation up and every corner around the whole house. Up and down a thirty foot plus ladder more times then one can count over the course of any day he may have available. Every vacation, every weekend off, he has been dedicated to finishing this house. He blew in insulation in every wall, drilling every hole and moving the ladder as needed. He even had the scare of back surgery thru the course of these last nine years and had to take some valuable time off for about a year. But, because he was determined NOT to have back surgery, he let the house wait and his back healed, although he still has to be careful.
He has made this house our HOME!
This is where it all started. The backside of the house was in such poor condition when we purchased it that he decided to start there and give our neighbors some relief from the sight they had to look at for years. Plus he figured it would keep him inspired to finish the whole house if the back looked better then the front.
Not too bad huh?
When he finished the back he moved to the front. The entrance to our HOME was not what I would call welcoming at all. They had put down black outdoor carpet on the steps and it was weathered. The pillars at some point had been replaced with these awful iron pillars that had rusted and the whole surround to the door was peeling and cracking.
So we have replaced the pillars and removed the carpet and scraped and repainted the entire surface. Added new light fixtures and a new mailbox. We still have to do something with the steps. He wants to brick them and I say paint them, either way it will be better then the black carpet!
The last thing he finished was just in the last week. My porch!
This porch was being supported by 3 cinder blocks and all of the detail work around the bottom was rotted and had sunk into the ground about 6 inches. So all of those little spindles had to be re-made, by my husband. One of the pillars even had to be repaired and there was no ceiling to the porch. The railing all had to be stripped and 2 portions of it totally rebuilt.
This picture is mid-redo of the entire house. Notice no ceiling!
Close up of the porch surround.
My husband made each and every slat that surrounds the porch.
Mimicking the originals!
Close up of the new ceiling.
There were something like 86 boards that had to be nailed in.
All tongue and groove bead boards!
Finished porch!
Much better!
This is how I tried to make it look pretty while waiting for it to be completed! Notice the old yellow siding and the original clapboards. The green shutters are hiding a hideous circuit breaker box that was installed at some point, now I have what looks like a little piece of furniture hiding it to make it more presentable. Thank you honey!
This is how it looks now. Hubby wants to get new furniture for out here. Something more comfortable then my old wicker. I can go for that!
The porch floor gets alot of weathering, so it had to be scraped down and repainted. I did that painting and ran out of paint. So called hubby to stop by and get more of our color with one of those little swatches. He came home with the right paint, but it mixed up dark gray instead of the "pumpkin stem" we originally had. So back to the store to return what made more work and get the right mix. Just one more delay!
Our doors inside and out of our
HOME are all taller then the norm. So any replacements have to be "custom". That can get quite expensive, so I decided to just paint this storm door.
I think it looks brand new!
I decided to mix it up a bit and instead of having hanging baskets I picked up these railing baskets. We found these lanterns at Wal Mart on clearance for $10, so we decided to hang those in place of the baskets. We like it!
Our
HOME originally had a palladium window in the peak, but it had been removed when they put up the yellow siding back in the 1960's, as well as all of the intricate trim work around the windows and doors. We purchased a new window for the peak and he and I installed that.
We are still married and love each other very much, lol! That took alot of work with me up in the attic and him out on a 40 foot ladder trying not to drop this window, it is about 4 1/2 ft wide and quite heavy. I could post alot more pictures, but I think you get the "picture" that I am very proud of what my husband did and all that it entailed to make this house our
HOME! There are still things that need to be done, but the big stuff is completed 9 years later!
It is hard to believe the changes our
HOME has gone thru since we moved in. Going back thru the pictures was shocking and fun. We sometimes forget what it looked like back then.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed seeing the transformation!
Happy 26th!!
