Curb Appeal

When we first looked at our house and contemplated purchasing it, I was very disappointed with the curb appeal. The house had very dated wood siding that was in good condition except for the dormer windows on the second story, which were rotted and moldy. The roof had been damaged by tree branches that rested on the roof. We also had leaks and water stains on the ceilings. Finally, there were multiple speakers and intercoms from a radio system that was no longer working.
View of front of the house:

View of back of the house:

The moldy dormer windows:

Deteriorating roof:

One of our neighbors recently tore down the house on his lot and completely rebuilt the home. The remaining neighbors all have well-kept and nicely landscaped homes, so our house definitely kind of stuck out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood. I had contemplated painting the house over the summer and even experimented with Sherwin Williams online tools to see how our house would look with a new paint job. Soon after showing my husband the pictures and explaining how I planned to attempt to paint the house over the summer, he suggested that we check into the cost of having the house roofed and sided. I guess maybe he was afraid of the means I would use to paint the two-story exterior of our home, as I usually just paint by climbing on one of our dining room chairs!

My husband had never been one to take on any major projects in any of our previous homes until we were ready to sell. So you can imagine my suprise when after only 18 months, my hubby suggested that we give the house a facelift! My immediate reaction was fear that he was ready to put the house on the market and move on! (That scenario did cross his mind at one point, since we still own the lot that we were originally going to build on.) This fear subsided as we began to do some research into our options for the project.

After meeting with several different companies we decided on Mainstream Home Improvement. We signed our contract and anxiously awaited the start of work on our home. Finally, July 13th, they began work on the roof. It was several days before we saw any changes as they had to remove the old roof and replace several sheets of plywood that were wet and rotten. They also found a gutter between the garage and an addition to the home which channeled water into the ceiling and caused a leak. They removed the gutter and replaced all of the damaged wood in this area. Two weeks later we had a brand new beautiful roof. They began work on the siding the very next week. Unfortunately it was several days again before we saw much of a change. They worked their way around the house doing all of the trim work and soffits before starting on the actual siding. I never imagined that there was so much work to be done to prep for the actual siding! They spent the first full week trimming all of the windows and putting in the soffits.
Soffits before:

Soffits after:

Finally they wrapped the whole house in Tyvek and began the actual siding. When I saw the first pieces go up I could not believe the difference! When the whole project was done, I just wandered around the exterior of the house admiring how beautifully it turned out!





Though we had discussed going with a darker color to create more contrast, we decided to stick with a light yellow very similiar to the color of the original wood siding. As a result of the color of the siding being very similiar to the original color the difference is very subtle at a distance. As a matter of fact, we actually had a person stop on the highway in front of our house to be able to take a better look soon after the job was finished.

Some side by side before and after shots so you can see the changes! The front door:

Garage side:

The roof and siding crews from Mainstream were so professional and helpful. They suggested things like new light fixtures to replace the rusted and bulky flood lights. Since they had to remove the old ones anyway, they said they could put up whatever we provided. They put tarps out all around the work areas so that all of the nails, screws and debris from their work was easily cleaned up at the end of the day. They also swept the yard and perimeter of the house for all metal and debris, which was very nice. The kids and I were outside playing every night after they had finished working and never had to worry about finding dangerous debris. On the last day of the project, they packed away their tools and did a quick sweep, leaving us to simply enjoy our home and not with a bunch of clean up.

One more before and after for ya!


And we have enjoyed it! We hosted a party at our house the weekend before Labor Day and were so proud to show off our beautiful home. We still have many more projects to do: landscaping, tree removal and repairing the driveway, but for now I am content to sit and take in the amazing changes that have occurred thus far.

I am linking to:
Thrifty Decor Chicks September Before and After Party
A Bowl Full of Lemons One Project at a Time

Disclaimer: I have not been compensated in any way by Mainstream Home Improvement for mentioning them on my blog.

Curb Appeal

When we first looked at our house and contemplated purchasing it, I was very disappointed with the curb appeal. The house had very dated wood siding that was in good condition except for the dormer windows on the second story, which were rotted and moldy. The roof had been damaged by tree branches that rested on the roof. We also had leaks and water stains on the ceilings. Finally, there were multiple speakers and intercoms from a radio system that was no longer working.
View of front of the house:

View of back of the house:

The moldy dormer windows:

Deteriorating roof:

One of our neighbors recently tore down the house on his lot and completely rebuilt the home. The remaining neighbors all have well-kept and nicely landscaped homes, so our house definitely kind of stuck out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood. I had contemplated painting the house over the summer and even experimented with Sherwin Williams online tools to see how our house would look with a new paint job. Soon after showing my husband the pictures and explaining how I planned to attempt to paint the house over the summer, he suggested that we check into the cost of having the house roofed and sided. I guess maybe he was afraid of the means I would use to paint the two-story exterior of our home, as I usually just paint by climbing on one of our dining room chairs!

My husband had never been one to take on any major projects in any of our previous homes until we were ready to sell. So you can imagine my suprise when after only 18 months, my hubby suggested that we give the house a facelift! My immediate reaction was fear that he was ready to put the house on the market and move on! (That scenario did cross his mind at one point, since we still own the lot that we were originally going to build on.) This fear subsided as we began to do some research into our options for the project.

After meeting with several different companies we decided on Mainstream Home Improvement. We signed our contract and anxiously awaited the start of work on our home. Finally, July 13th, they began work on the roof. It was several days before we saw any changes as they had to remove the old roof and replace several sheets of plywood that were wet and rotten. They also found a gutter between the garage and an addition to the home which channeled water into the ceiling and caused a leak. They removed the gutter and replaced all of the damaged wood in this area. Two weeks later we had a brand new beautiful roof. They began work on the siding the very next week. Unfortunately it was several days again before we saw much of a change. They worked their way around the house doing all of the trim work and soffits before starting on the actual siding. I never imagined that there was so much work to be done to prep for the actual siding! They spent the first full week trimming all of the windows and putting in the soffits.
Soffits before:

Soffits after:

Finally they wrapped the whole house in Tyvek and began the actual siding. When I saw the first pieces go up I could not believe the difference! When the whole project was done, I just wandered around the exterior of the house admiring how beautifully it turned out!





Though we had discussed going with a darker color to create more contrast, we decided to stick with a light yellow very similiar to the color of the original wood siding. As a result of the color of the siding being very similiar to the original color the difference is very subtle at a distance. As a matter of fact, we actually had a person stop on the highway in front of our house to be able to take a better look soon after the job was finished.

Some side by side before and after shots so you can see the changes! The front door:

Garage side:

The roof and siding crews from Mainstream were so professional and helpful. They suggested things like new light fixtures to replace the rusted and bulky flood lights. Since they had to remove the old ones anyway, they said they could put up whatever we provided. They put tarps out all around the work areas so that all of the nails, screws and debris from their work was easily cleaned up at the end of the day. They also swept the yard and perimeter of the house for all metal and debris, which was very nice. The kids and I were outside playing every night after they had finished working and never had to worry about finding dangerous debris. On the last day of the project, they packed away their tools and did a quick sweep, leaving us to simply enjoy our home and not with a bunch of clean up.

One more before and after for ya!


And we have enjoyed it! We hosted a party at our house the weekend before Labor Day and were so proud to show off our beautiful home. We still have many more projects to do: landscaping, tree removal and repairing the driveway, but for now I am content to sit and take in the amazing changes that have occurred thus far.

I am linking to Thrifty Decor Chicks September Before and After Party.

Disclaimer: I have not been compensated in any way by Mainstream Home Improvement for mentioning them on my blog.

Exterior Paint Colors

My husband and I have been discussing re-siding or painting the exterior of our house since moving in, October 2009. We have finally paid off most of our debt and are getting to the point where some of our major projects on the house can begin. We have done our homework in researching the color we would like by driving through local neighborhoods and taking note of the colors that we like. We also have taken into account the colors of other houses in the neighborhood. We have stone work on the ground floor of our home as well as for the chimney, the color of which also plays into our decision. Taking all of this into consideration we have decided on a sagey green. Though we have done all of our research, I would like to be able to see what it would look like before we spend the money and time making this change. I started researching photo editing services online and happened upon the Sherwin Williams webpage and Color Visualizer. I easily uploaded a before picture of the front of our house:

Then I followed the directions to highlight the areas that I would paint. Finally, a large selection of exterior paint colors is revealed and you are allowed to simply drag and drop the color of your choice to the photo. Immediately the color is filled into your photo and "voila!" your home or room is transformed! I tried the greens first since that is the color we had decided on, but was not really sold on any one in particular. We had also talked about painting the house red as it sort of looks like a big barn. After trying several reds on the visualizer, I knew that was not something I could live with for any length of time. Finally, I tried several grays and found two that I absolutely love!

This one is called Thunder Gray.

This one is called Downing Stone.

Which one do you like? I like the Thunder Gray but worry that it may be too dark. Thankfully, I still have a few weeks before it will warm up enough around here to be painting outside!

I don't know how I am going to choose, but am so glad that I was able to see the colors I liked before purchasing paint and using a color that I absolutely hated! I usually just buy the cheapest paint available from either Menards or Wal-Mart, but loved this Color Visualizer from Sherwin Williams so much that I believe I will actually splurge for the Sherwin Williams brand paint.

I am also going to upload pictures from several rooms in my house that I have been wanting to paint. I have no idea what color I want to use, but I'm sure that Sherwin Williams will give me plenty of options!

Disclaimer: I have in no way been reimbursed for this commentary regarding Sherwin Williams or the Color Visualizer. I am just passing along information that I found useful and thought could be useful to others.