A New Look

When we moved into our house 8 years ago (hard to believe it's been that long!) our house was painted in an all cream paint, and there were a few beige accents on the windows and window boxes. The window boxes also had an additional accent color of a pale orange... almost salmon looking color.

As the years went by, of course the paint started to get older and then started to crack and peel in places. It was becoming more and more evident that our house needed to be painted again. We kept putting it off, and then after we had Emmett, we fully realized that we needed  (well, really wanted) a larger house with larger gathering areas where we could have family over to visit.

At first we looked at investors, but realized that that wasn't going to be a real possibility. I think I already wrote about it on here in April or May. (I can't remember how to link things, so, you can just check my history if you want to reread it.)

Repainting our house was a must, since the people most likely to be interested in our house would need to qualify for the no money down loans, and with those loans, the house has to have certain things, like no peeling paint. :)

It's taken a few months, but we are getting closer to having the house done. We really just have a few areas of trim and main color touch ups that we need to be done. We also added new decals to the window boxes and repainted them.

All in all, I am really pleased with how it has turned out. It is really pretty, and we get a lot of compliments on it. Each time I just think, "I'm glad you like it! Buy our house!" :D

I even planted live flowers in my window boxes! That's progress! On top of which, they are still alive and look pretty!

Here's the before and after right next to each other:

Sunshine

So, since we've been painting our house we had to tape off and cover all the windows. Painting is a big project, but Shane's dad has a paint sprayer, which is wonderful, and makes it so your paint time is definitely reduced.

Taping off the windows and doorknobs took forever, but the quickness in painting definitely made it worth it. So, one day we put primer on. Then it rained for a week. Then the next Saturday we put the main color on, and painted some of the trim, shutters, and windowboxes, and then it rained and rained, which was fine because we didn't really have time to paint the second main color anyway...

Still, it meant that our windows were still covered. Apparently having no access to outside sunshine and viewing definitely took a toll on me! I need my sunshine! I need to be able to see outside! So, yeah, this week has been interesting on an emotional level too.

Last night, we finished the trim in the carport, and Shane took off all of the newspaper covering those windows. This morning rolled around and I can see! It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to see outside and all the beautiful sunshine! It does my heart good.

A Bunch of Little Things...

Life seems to be a little busier and a litter crazier than normal... of course it has kind of felt that way since Emmett was born. :) Still, we are very grateful he is here and a part of our family.

Anyway, the house is almost painted. The main color is on, and now we are working on trim, shutters, the second main color on the shakes and carport, and it is starting to come together and look really good! No more ghetto house!

We took Jeffrey to the pediatric plastic surgeon yesterday. It went really well, and they (we saw two doctors, probably a resident and then the doctor we had an appointment with) concurred that the bump should be removed. They didn't think anything needed to be done about his lip at this point. Then their assistant came in and we scheduled the surgery. I felt much better about this whole experience then what we dealt with, with the other doctor. Not that the other doctor was bad or anything, but we were able to ask questions, get a good idea of what was going to happen, and it was very nice. I think Shane felt better about it too.

We also went and visited my parents for a brief moment. We went and had lunch with them where they are serving their mission, and that was fun too. I got Jeffrey a sugar cookie and since he was really tired and kind of ornery by that point, the cookie was definitely a good idea. It was quite amusing to see him with a frosting mustache. My mom took a picture of him while he was eating the cookie, and I am definitely going to need a copy of that one!

This week seems to be off balance because of the holiday yesterday, and unlike most schools my kids are busy doing school projects and activities. No slowing down for them, even though school will be out for the summer on Friday!

And last but not least...Emmett is almost three months old!! He has started cooing and giggling and grinning. It is super cute. I need to take more pictures, but seriously, my camera has disappeared, and my cell phone camera has a delay on it that makes it really hard to take cool pictures!

Flower power

Almost every year I get a flower for mother's day from church. It's typically a geranium, and it usually dies, sitting patiently on my counter waiting for me to plant it. This happens with other plants too, unfortunately.

Well, this year, surprise! I not only have been watering my geranium, I planted it today!

When we moved into our house I was so excited it had window boxes. That excitement soon dwindled when I discovered how difficult flowers are to grow in window boxes. I'm bad at difficult gardening. I barely make it at super easy no matter how hard you try this plant won't die gardening.

Still, I came up with a plan... I removed the dirt from the window boxes, bought some terracotta pots, and planted geraniums in all the pots. Then, when we get the window boxes painted and hung, I will put the terracotta pots in the window boxes.

After the season is over, it will be easy to remove the terracotta pots for winter.

This all sounds great in my head and on here...we will see how it works in real life! I decided on terracotta pots because they are cheap, and they hold in moisture, hopefully helping the flowers stay moist enough from day to day. That's the hard thing about window boxes. They get hotter than other places, and dry out a LOT faster. So, we'll see!

This will hopefully help our house have better curb appeal too.

Paint

It was a long, crazy, interesting weekend. So, we didn't paint our house. HOWEVER, it is almost ready to be painted. I've learned a lot about paint this weekend. Things I didn't really ever think I would need to know about paint. I learned a lot about our house too. Some things that I already knew, and some that I didn't. Surprises!

We used grinders and chisels  and wire brushes to get the old flaking paint off. After consulting with some of Shane's siblings...who have actually painted things before, we realized that we indeed would need to prime before painting. I told Shane, okay, now say, "you were right honey!"  I had tried to tell him we should prime, but since I have not so much experience... well anyway...

I know some of you are probably wondering why we don't just put vinyl siding on our house... well, it all boils down to money. That, and it wouldn't increase the value of our home enough to make it worth the cost. If we were going to be living here for ten more years, yes, it would be worth the cost. As it is, I would rather spend $300 in primer and paint. Much cheaper, and it will look nice.

Then we have the door scenario. One of the cheapest best things you can do to increase curb appeal is to put in a new door. I guess because it looks pretty or something. People like new doors. So, we thought that would be a great idea! Well. Our house, is old and quirky, and built back when standard sized things didn't exist and everything was custom. So, our door is too narrow. We could special order a door, but it would cost twice as much as a standard door. So, there went that idea!

On to plan B for the door... we have a cool old door on the back of our house. Great place for our door right, on the back where no one can see it... anyway, we can repaint that door, and put it on the front, which Shane is leaning toward. I think it's a decent idea too. OR, we can repaint the front door that is already there, add a kickplate and a door knocker, and kazam, new door!

I will have to take pictures, because I'm sure you'll want to see the finished product. I'll have to take some right now too, since right now our house looks like someone had a lot of fun tagging it.

Anyway...we have the paint, ready and waiting, and we have primer. I am excited for what it will look like!