Home Improvements*

A while back, I announced here that our kitchen was about to undergo some heavy renovations. Unfortunately, we had to put that on the back burner as we took on another home project.

A couple of months ago, we removed our back deck to put down a concrete patio instead. Our deck was high and there was no privacy on it at all, even with the privacy fence. Also, it was so small that it really wasn't functional. We [and by we I mean my darling husband] removed it with dreams of somewhere we could hang out and actually have friends over to entertain.

Much to our surprise, once said deck was removed, we discovered nothing but rotten wood and siding where said deck had been.

Fail.

Luckily for us, our home insurance covered some of the repairs [actually, it covered ALL of the repairs with a healthy dose of "extra" left over] for the rotten wood. We likely could have just replaced the siding on that particular side of the house, but the truth was it was outdated and the whole house needed an update. So, any money we had put aside for the kitchen was now going to cover the rest of the siding for our home.

It was a job that definitely needed to be done, and better to do it now so we can enjoy before we have to go and sell the house. And I have to admit, I'm in love with the new look.

It's a HUGE difference. It's like living in a brand new home. At least on the outside! The crew got the job done quick [three days!] Once the exterior of the home was completed, I decided I wanted to make a statement with the door [the sage green garage is just going to be painted white] since it can really be a centerpiece to your home. And since we couldn't afford a brand new door [and really, why? This one works just fine!] we went with a bright, bold orange.

I am in LOVE with it! I saw a color combination like this on Pinterest and thought to myself, that's exactly what I want to do. I had originally wanted yellow. M wanted bright red. I think this is a good combination. It goes so well with the dark grey of the house but really brightens it up! I have some cushions on the porch furniture that is actually this color, so to keep things matching a little, I took the cushion in with me to pick out the paint color. Ha!

So that's that. The garage still needs to be painted, and the back door needs to get a couple coats of the orange, but it's getting there. We have slowly but surely started on the kitchen as we've saved up some more money again ... the countertops have been replaced, which is already making a huge difference.

I have photos of all of this, which I will post later this week for sure. But I've been dying to talk about this project and I can't wait to show it off!