Being away from home certainly makes us appreciate our little house.

We took a short trip this past week, and coming home and driving up the alley into our driveway instantly made me smile.

Last weekend before we left, I tweaked the back of the garage by installing a new galvanized barn light and touching up the vanilla-cream paint; and Jamie gave the garage door 2 new coats of Chocolate paint. (The first 2 were flat and we decided that the eggshell finish looked a little more….. polished)

Here’s the view coming up the back.

Back Driveway

I know!

It looks great.

The new paint, the fence, and those river rocks around the Mexican razor grass…

I don’t know which detail I like the most.

Here’s what the back of the house looked like when we moved in…. obviously, before the fence went up.

But you get a good idea of the “pea-soup” color half the house was……

Why would anyone have a satellite dish right next to a TV antenna? Amazing? Those were the first 2 things to go. Jamie just reminded me that on Day 1 he climbed up on the roof and removed both of them just so I would stop bitching . Eventually I will paint the chimney to match the rest of the house…..but not in this 100 degree heat.

And here’s our warm, charming, slightly smaller than I wanted, barn light. (There’s a small light sensor on top, so it turns on at dusk)

Small light sensor on top, so it turns on at dusk

Maybe someday I’ll find a bigger vintage one with paint chipping off.

This one was only $26 on Amazon, and I love it way more than the builder-grade bullshit spotlight that was there.

I think it gives the garage and “old service station” vibe… even more with the vintage Coke machine and tin sign collection inside.

Every little personal detail we add just makes this place feel more like home.

Our home.

Please allow me to share with you the Awesomeness that is the front of our house .

Just for a refresher, here is the original house picture from the Trulia listing just over a year ago….

Not bad actually….it was good enough to spark our interest in the rest of the house. Although, I’m still not sure why the Colonial light fixture was pressed up against the mailbox…….

And here’s a pic from today …

It’s all in the details, people…..the chocolate paint on the trim (pay no attention to the green downspout, we haven’t made it to that side of the house yet) , The Mandarin orange door with the new brushed stainless hardware, the under eaves lights, the cedar on the posts that makes them look sturdy enough to actually hold up the roof. And just look at that cedar ceiling on the porch!!!!

Here’s a quick before shot of the ceiling….why would anyone paint a house “pea-soup green”?

Here is the bitchin’ after…( AFTER…… several trips to Home Depot ) These are 6 foot cedar fence slats cut down to 43 inches. My 2 favorite tools are the chop saw and the nail gun…….

The posts were covered in cedar planks to look thicker and more modern, we weren’t really diggin’ the country home spindles. At first, they were 4 inches ( simply because the cedar came cut that size ). But the wood was just oooh-so-slightly too small to stretch completely around the posts. So now they are about 6 x 5. LOVE Them!!!!!!!

Here’s a great shot of the front from just a few minutes ago….

A couple of hours on the ladder should be enough to finish the paint….and then shutters. It’s starting to hit the 100 degree mark and I’m not sure how much more outside work we will be tackling in the next few months. We will most likely be focusing our efforts on projects in the air conditioning until September…..