Little Yellow House

Three and a half years ago, when we bought this house, we were in love with the land and the way the interior had been given a complete overhaul. What did not impress us was the exterior. I thought of our house as "the shoebox" because it's just a boxy rectangle. Nothing to see here. The siding was a pale yellow. The shutters were an unevenly faded hunter green. The brick veneer accents were oddly placed and crumbling. The front door was still in its freshly primed glory. There was no landscaping. It was boring and drab. When people would step inside our little yellow house their jaws would drop. They couldn't get over how nice it was compared to the outside. This always made me laugh and cringe.

My hopes of swiftly redoing the siding were dashed when we realized the deck was not only less stable than we'd thought, but was an actual hazard. We'd purchased the house knowing that the roof needed to be done asap, but it ended up costing more than we had originally thought. Both of those projects were costly and put my siding dreams firmly out of reach.

[caption id="attachment_1763" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yes, it's a terrible picture.[/caption]

 

I decided to make do. I panted the door, shutters, and mailbox navy blue. I purchased navy planters and placed them on either side of the door.

[caption id="attachment_1764" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Door and shutters painted. Window boxes coming soon![/caption]

Ben made some window boxes for me for Mother's Day. I panted them white and filled them with flowers every spring. We also purchased some landscaping bricks and put flower beds in around one of the large trees in our yard and to the right of the porch, all along the house. It was starting to look better, but there's only so much lipstick you can put on a pig!

We went on to add yet another flower bed between the stepping stones and the porch. It was a huge project and we put in over 30 plants.

[caption id="attachment_1765" align="aligncenter" width="168"] The calm before the storm.[/caption]

 

Not long after that, the leaking in our basement became a reliable occurrence and before we knew it we were tearing out all of those plants so that the porch could be torn out and the foundation fixed.

[caption id="attachment_1766" align="aligncenter" width="168"] Busted up and ready for removal.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1767" align="aligncenter" width="168"] Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better![/caption]

 

Thankfully, the foundation repair and seal went well and we were able to get the front porch repoured, a new sidewalk, and a nice porch around back by the basement door out of the deal. The downside was that the brick veneer had been ripped off and the sorry-looking siding was splatter with mud and concrete. It was really looking rough.

We had been toying around with the idea of putting on an addition and knew we needed to make that decision prior to putting on new siding. We came up with and discarded several ideas including finishing the basement and adding onto our master bed/bath. Karen is the one who suggested we put a garage on the side of the house and then put the addition on top. We have a winner!

Starting with a clean slate:

 

[caption id="attachment_1769" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nekkid House[/caption]

Can't wait to watch it all come together!