Some Exterior Updates!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to do another update- that can partially be attributed to the fact that we are simply in the "planning" stages right now, and maybe a little bit due to my lost camera cord for the past week!

So while the planning stage doesn't make for interesting blog posts, it does make Richard and I very excited about the future of our home!! We have a much clearer path of where we are headed and realistic timelines of when some major changes will be happening!!

In the meantime, we did make a little headway on our front entryway and back patio this weekend. Fixing up our back patio is pretty high on our priority list because we eat outside most of the time in the summer/fall and there are some major eyesores that have been driving us crazy. Here is the original state of our patio: (excuse the ladder)

So it needed a little sprucing up. First on our list was to replace the (barely hanging on) siding. Someone clearly wanted a quick fix for this in the past and it wasn't done terribly well. Thanks to my majorly talented dad (he's a builder- insert singing angels), we Richard and Dad were able to get this knocked out in one afternoon! I don't have any pictures during the process, because my mom and I were on another task (see below), but here is  a before and after shot: (sorry for the picture quality, these were just snapped on our phones)

MUCH better! We still have to paint the siding (probably white to match the trim), but this is still a major improvement to the cheap, vertical paneling in the before picture. We are also planning to pressure wash everything and I cannot WAIT to replace those sliding glass doors with french doors! 

While Richard and Dad were working on this, Mom and I decided to tackle the front landing and walkway with the pressure washer to brighten it up a little.. I also forgot to take a before picture (I am really going to have to start carrying my camera around with me everywhere), but here are a few pictures in the process:

Wow.. what  difference. I have officially found my new favorite household chore.. the instant gratification of pressure washing is the best! I think I honestly thought the grout on the landing was grey before mom and I started cleaning. Just in Jeffers/Kirksey fashion, as soon as we got about 1 foot of the walkway cleaned, something broke on the pressure washer and we weren't able to use it anymore, but as soon as it is fixed, watch out world- I will be pressure washing everything in my path! It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

It may not seem like much, but after (what feels like) WEEKS of planning, it was nice to finally see some changes!! I am meeting with the cabinet company today (YAY!) and working on paint colors next week! 

Thanks for reading! And as always, on to the next project!