House Beautiful

After we got the keys to our house in late April 2006, we spent the next 6 weeks feverishly remodeling the interior so that we could move in on June 15. While the new inside was a vast improvement from its 1971 glory days, I was always a little disappointed that passers-by were unaware of our hard work. (I know, I'm vain.)

Here is the house as it looked in April 2006.

Here is the house in October 2007, with some new landscaping and a new cedar fence that replaced a chain link one. (If you look at the left side of the photo you can see the tail light of Damon's car. The entire front of the house was our driveway until we shortened it and created a front yard with new sod in spring 2008. See a nice photo of the grassy front yard in spring 2009 here.)

Now, 3 years later, we have a completely new exterior, of which we are very proud.

I know that since seeing our garage-door-turned-window you've all been waiting on pins & needles to see what color we painted the house, so without further ado....I give you Squirrel (gray) and Spring Moss (green):

I originally wanted a blue house, but we chose these colors to match a mosaic tile blend that may be incorporated into the house's exterior. It's fun and different and I love it. We are getting mostly positive feedback from neighbors, friends, and our parents (who have both visited this summer), but I did have the following exchange with the neighbor across the street:

Mary: So, Jillaire...do you like your colors?

Me: Yes.

Mary: Oh...well...it's different.

Yes, it is different. It's different from other houses in the neighborhood, and it's different from where we started. It's perfect.

Oh! I almost forgot to show off the new front door:

Isn't it gorgeous?

The coolest part is the old fashioned turn-key doorbell that we installed. Visitors spin the key on the door's exterior . . .

. . . and it rings the bell on the door's interior. It is a happy (and loud) announcement that someone is at the door. We hope many of you will get the chance to use it yourselves!
A note on the grass: Our city has water issues. They are building a new system from another water source, and until that is completed the mayor has ordered everyone to stop watering their lawns. It's sad, especially when I look at photos from the spring.