exterior

Showing posts with label exterior. Show all posts

7.21.2026

Backyard transformation over the past few years, nice enough for our wedding!

Because this house was such a fixer-upper and needed so many big projects to essentials like bathrooms and the roof, it took me a while to get to the yard. I’m also not a gardener, or at least I haven’t been so far in my life, so aside from grass versus pavers, I wasn’t sure what to do in our backyard for a long time.

But over the past couple years, I’ve made some very impactful changes that have made this backyard a wonderful place, so much so that we just got married here!

11.12.2024

Back patio door replacement + tips to Paint Smarter!

This spring I had my driveway and back patio replaced with new concrete (read about that here). It was an expensive project and it had quite a few domino effects and other little things it encouraged me to get done around the backyard. One domino was this strange back patio door we’d had with a 5” or so ledge you had to step (or trip) over. I had the concrete guys cut the ledge down to the grade, but then the old door was too short! I found an antique one on Facebook, probably around the same age as my others (1937 home with all the original doors). I’ll spare you the installation saga (it took two handymen and a custom brickmold trim order to get this thing installed right…) but I also really took some steps to do the painting of the new door and trim right, and I’m sharing a few tips for smart paint purchasing, storage, and recycling in this post.

This post is sponsored by PaintCare, an organization with a ton of resources to help you paint smarter and recycle paint!

6.20.2024

Brand new concrete driveway and patio: details and cost!

When we bought this house six years ago, we knew there were a lot of things that were big ticket items we couldn’t do ourselves. We’ve done those slowly, over time--roof, gutters, and garage door in early 2020… Major basement renovation in 2022. Then got a divorce and I really slowed down on my home projects. But with summer coming up and with my life feeling pretty stable right now, I felt ready to tackle the very cracked patio and driveway that I knew were really negatively impacting the home overall and property value/future sale price. I knew this would be expensive, but I got three quotes and talked the project over with my dad and an engineer friend, and went ahead with it.

10.25.2022

Historic home statement front window replacement

One super prominent feature of this home is its long living room with (approx.) 7'x7' window at the front. It lets in tons of sun in the morning (it faces east) and a good amount of light most of the time. It's a great!! But it had a lot of issues. Almost all the windows on my 1937 home are original wood windows, including some leaded glass ones. They are very cool and help the house keep its original character. But this window was failing in several ways.

When we first bought the house this window was on the long list of overwhelming expensive projects/updates, and it fell to near the bottom of the list. But now with two kids and using the space in front of the window for their playmat and climber, and with a lot of other projects crossed off, it felt like it really needed to happen.

Take a look... leaded glass panes including four fins in the middle, which were no longer welded together. At the top someone had tried to secure them with wood and screws, but the glass literally moved when you pushed on it slightly, and rattled in strong wind. There was also a lot of water damage on the sill and floor below. (And cat hair--but hard to dust with the varnish worn off from water damage!)

3.28.2022

Gazebo update! Comfy outdoor furniture with Cambridge Casual

We have spent a couple of afternoons recently after work playing in the backyard! I love it and the kids love exploring and looking for bugs and pouring water on things. But, there’s nowhere comfortable for me to sit! We’ve have our patio furniture packed away because it’s still the rainy season, and we do have a great covered gazebo but it’s just been full of junk from the basement and garage, and an old Christmas tree! The furniture was all piled up and not usable. And even the furniture that we did have in there was really not that comfortable. But we’ve recently really upgraded! With this beautiful outdoor/patio couch daybed from Cambridge Casual!

This post is sponsored by Cambridge Casual.

The patio furniture we had out here before was pretty cheap and did the job but small, only sat 3-4 people, had thin cushions that got really uncomfortable after not too long of sitting, and probably won’t hold up that long. We are lucky to have this covered gazebo area that allows us to put furniture out that maybe we wouldn’t put out under the elements/otherwise, but it’s a large space and it looks silly with just a few small pieces of furniture!

Comfortable outdoor couch

Enter, the Mosko Teak Wood Outdoor Daybed. I was not very familiar with this brand before but they have some incredible high quality pieces and I love the traditional, fun style of this couch! It's classic teak and goes with our previous furniture, but I love the curved arms and cute round detail on the front.

11.09.2021

One more project finished: flagstone path

Took us all summer so we won’t really get to enjoy it until next spring, but we are really excited to have our flagstone path completed in the backyard. We’ve made so many changes to the backyard since we moved in, it’s hard to remember what was here before… But it wasn’t a clear path. We had these great big flat flagstone pavers extending from the patio (which used to be covered in a deck), and then a few random pavers by the gate, I guess. Our vision for our backyard was connecting the patio to the gazebo and to the gate with a path.

10.13.2021

Staining our historic wood front door

I am working on improving our front porch and curb appeal lately, and there was one project I really wanted to finish this summer. I almost 100% did!

8.30.2021

Outdoor dining area back patio reveal! And our new grill/smoker!

Our backyard has gone through a lot of changes in the 3 years we've lived here. When we moved in it was overgrown and had several old wood structures, a large deck, old garden beds, and a big circle of sand in the middle from where a pool had been. We were totally overwhelmed.

We started removing landscaping and debris and slowly it took shape so we could picture it as a functional backyard for us. We did a ton of improvements last summer (fence, gazebo, garden, wood chips, more landscape removal...) and it was really great! But there was one area we hadn't tackled: the patio by the house.

This patio was cracked, so the previous owners put a deck over it, but we removed it so we could have it all one level. It wasn't really usable for much other than a project area until we got rid of the hot tub in June! Then... it was ready for dining furniture, a grill, string lights... a great backyard dining space!

6.21.2021

How to get rid of an old hot tub (fast!)

We recently had a big success around here--after almost 3 years of living here with a mossy broken hot tub on the back patio and worrying what to do with it... it's now gone! And we're ready to set up a nice patio space and enjoy the extra room. I debated a couple different ways to get rid of it, really happy with what we did!

7.13.2020

DIY sealing our fence! How to protect wood with a clear stain

A couple months ago I shared about how we replaced our mismatched, damaged fence and gate with new (cedar). One of our favorite upgrades to this property, for sure!!

We did some research and learned you're supposed to wait a while before staining or sealing a new fence, so the boards can cure. Well, it's been enough time and the weather is dryer now, and we just sealed it!

I was a little intimidated by this project but it went SO well!

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.

I worked with Home Depot on this project and wrote a post on their blog about all the details. I'll share a few images here, but definitely check out and pin from the post if you're considering staining or sealing a fence, deck, or other outdoor wood item!

5.29.2020

Most expensive thing I've ever bought besides a house: all about replacing our roof!!

When we bought this house we knew the roof needed to be replaced. That seemed to be the case with most houses we've looked at in our lives, actually... it's a big ticket item and we tend to look for homes that need some love, so it's usually been on this list! But this is the first time we've done it, and this house needed it the most!

5.26.2020

Gazebo makeover and new outdoor furniture & decor--reveal!!

I am so excited for this one!! We have NEVER had a decorated outdoor space before... I think I put a plastic rug down on the porch of our townhouse but other than that, nothing--and never an outdoor space that was good for lounging! The old gazebo in our backyard had potential but we finally got to sprucing it up and adding some (really budget-friendly) decor, and I'm in love!!

Thanks to Joss & Main for sponsoring this post!

5.18.2020

Replacing and reinforcing our garage door! Cost, process, timing

The other day I shared about our exterior painting and then last week about our new gutters. We're done with hire-out exterior projects planned for the spring! Before we could do paint and gutters, we had some big work to do on our garage door. Replacing and then some!

Garage door replacement

We had figured our garage door probably needed to be replaced since day 1, since it didn’t really work (stopped before getting to the ground and had to be closed manually rest of the way), was dented, was missing the remotes, and had a really loud opener.

5.14.2020

Cost and process for replacing our gutters

Last week I shared about our exterior painting, all finished. That was actually the last part of our hire-out exterior projects planned for the spring, but we needed to do some other work including the awkward chicken-or-egg relationship of the gutter replacement with the painting, so I'm sharing about that now.

All the details of replacing our gutters, including cost and timing, in this post!

5.08.2020

EXTERIOR PAINTING! Cost, scope, and finished product

I am soooooo excited to share about this project. We've had so many things on our wish list for this fixer upper house the past almost 2 years, and repainting the exterior was one of the most fun/big impact, but had to wait for a lot of other projects to get done first.

Historic Tudor revival home exterior paint update

Here she is--our 1937 home, with 1990's (?) paint job, freshly painted and taken care of!

Before/After

The original blue color wasn't my fave but wasn't the biggest issue--as you can see in these close-up before shots, the paint was peeling (especially in wet areas and on the south and west facades) and even exposing some of the wood. We're glad our house has the original cedar siding and wood windows, and need to take care of them!

5.04.2020

Outdoor furniture inspiration: gazebo makeover progress and plans

As you can probably tell, we're focusing on our exterior this spring/summer... new roof, new exterior painting, new gutters, new garage door, and new fence! Plus we're doing a ton of hard work getting our yard and garden usable.

So, our large corner gazebo/fireplace is looking extra shabby next to all the new stuff, and I'm so excited to be decorating an outdoor space there for the first time ever! Sharing my picks today!

I'll be working with Joss & Main on this project. Thanks in advance, Joss & Main!

4.27.2020

Replacing our fence! All the photos, cost, process, and more!

We recently made a HUGE and really satisfying update to our backyard!! We replaced our entire fence (three sides of slatted chain link, plus a cedar gate area) and immediately love our yard so much more! Sharing all about the project here!

1.29.2019

How to Get Started Finding & Hiring Professionals for Home Projects (+ before/after landscaping demo!)

This is kind of a scary topic for me! Hiring a pro usually means spending more money, and actually often more time because I like to get multiple quotes--and contractors are pretty busy in my area right now.

But, I've learned quite a lot about finding and hiring professionals for home projects in the past couple years and fixer uppers, and I'm sharing today!

On this week's episode of the Your Home Story podcast, Ashley and I both share tips and experiences on what's worked for us when hiring contractors for projects. Honestly? It is HARD. So is doing a massive plumbing, electrical, concrete, landscaping, etc. project yourself... but I've found there is a lot of stress around communication, budgeting, and timing.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

© Create / Enjoy • Theme by Maira G.