Exterior Updates To Our Mini "White House"
My hubby and I have always lived on the spontaneous side of life. But we've never done anything as spontaneous as what we did a year and a half ago, and that was bid on (and won!) a foreclosed historical property on an online auction! Just two weeks prior to winning the bid, I had told someone we were in our forever home - I never wanted to move. Wow how plans quickly change! The last year and a half has been crazy as we have restored and renovated this big old place that sat empty for too long and made it ours!
Though you can't tell from the before photo, both chimneys were in disrepair, the pillars and shutters were in desperate need of paint, the walls were empty of insulation (in the majority of the house, not all), and the siding was old aluminum except for on the east (left) side and half of the back - which had gotten new (perhaps in the 90's?). Also, note the brick walkway in the above photo, but how it is completely grown over in the before photo! And that's just the beginning, but for sake of time that's all I'm going to cover today! :)
We never would have even known a brick sidewalk existed had we not seen it on the large old map we acquired of the estate. I gave a shovel to each of the kids and boy did that keep them busy for a while! The joy of discovery is real! :)
Did they uncover ALL of that? Well no.... the tractor did about the last two thirds! But they were proud of what they did do.
While tearing off the old siding, we also took that "lip" between the first and second floors off (for lack of a better term) and eliminated those gutters. It was mainly a way to let cold air into the house! I so badly wish we could have restored some of the old exterior details on this corner of the house, BUT... sigh.... a lot of what was there was rotten, had insulation holes, and was just too much work/money. We joke that we are the first thrifty common folk to live here for sure!
The chickens were most curious and supervised us constantly. Never lent a helping claw though...
Pillars all painted, new siding on, and Hubby is hanging the last of the shutters!
It took some major convincing to get Hubby to realize it was OKAY to drill holes into those sacred pillars for the American Flags I wanted to hang. We put spotlights on them so they could stay up all night.
This fall we added some landscaping and hopefully plants will be coming in the spring!
Here's a peek at what the back patio looked like.
More discoveries while pulling off old siding - wood shutters over an old window!
Wow. I need to take a deep breath just thinking about this past summer and putting it all in one post! :) There is so much more of this house on my blog if you are interested in checking it out!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Thanks for the reassurance that the post was not deleted; I feel much better now! I will look around for other photos I may have of the house and msg them to you via FB. BTW , I LOVE what you are doing to restore the house!
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What a beautiful house! And you have renovated it perfectly. Oh for a house like this in Britain....
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