Home sweet house

As many of you already know, 3517 is enduring a major face lift both inside and out. We are excited to say that we're finally ready to share some "before" and "after" pictures of the outside of our lovely little home!

before...

AFTER!!

Behold our new house numbers and light fixture! The crew who worked on our roof and paint were awesome and paid close attention to every last detail. The light fixture was updated simply by removing it from the wall and spraying it with a black satin paint.

The numbers were a gift from our contractor, which were also painted black to match all of the other finishes. 

before...

Here you can see a close up of the decisions we made about the color scheme for our trim. We chose to paint the shutters and all vertical trim (ie columns, bay window trim, etc) black.

All horizontal trim was painted green. I especially love the green ceilings of the front and back porches. I think it makes for a very relaxing and inviting environment.

We also installed a new outdoor ceiling fan.

AFTER!!

The bench and papasan chair belonged to the former owner so she took them with her when she moved. We ordered these Adirondack chairs from hayneedle.com. and they arrived partially assembled. We completed the assembly and sealed them to protect them from the elements.

You can also see how we changed the edge of the gardens in these pictures. The scalloped edge is facing up in the "before" picture and down in the "after."

before...

In these photos, you get a good view of the gables. This is one of my favorite details of the new paint job. I think that having two colors rather than one on the gables better defines the area and really makes it pop!

Be brave when working with color! Let me tell you, the green really looked scary going up! One problem was that the brown paint was still showing through the first coat of green making it appear yellowish in tone. Another problem was that at one point, there was brown, black, and green paint up all at the same time. That was just too much for anyone's brain to process!

AFTER!!

AFTER!!

Finally, here is the view of the whole house from the curb. We are thrilled with the end result of this project! Of course, everyone's taste differs, but we feel like we accomplished everything we we set out to do. We've modernized the exterior of our home (making it appear younger and more lively), better incorporated our funky brick, and highlighted the architectural features of our house.

before...

The "before" picture of the curbside view already has the new black roof, but you get the idea...

AFTER!!

Thanks for following along! We have really appreciated the advice, feedback, sympathetic ears, and encouragement from many of you. Until next time, happy homemaking!

p.s. a lengthy synopsis of my parents' visit is in progress. Stay tuned!