BEFORE & AFTERS: PART I

To start off I would like to concede that I am a horrible blogger!  The house is 99.9% complete and should be listed on Wednesday- I have to finish the backsplash in the kitchen and CC is in the process of adding some interior decorations.  I plan to post some before & afters of every room over the next 5 days so we will start with the exterior front and weird 2^nd floor. 

As mentioned, we put on a new roof and painted the siding due to asbestos concerns.  I ripped out the old front porch flooring, jacked up the frame more than 8” to level and put down new planks & stairs.  To cover up the holes left by the old vinyl shutters I made board and batten shutters out of cedar and stained them to match the front door/hardwood floors, guest room built in dresser, etc. (Minwax Golden Pecan).  I didn’t want to put on a railing so I made some flower boxes out of left over cedar and stained it to match everything else.  CC was the landscape architect and put in a giant flower bed to line the front walk- she also laid out a design to go in front of the porch together with my mom & sister.  My dad plumbed and painted the gas lantern in addition to wiring the front porch light and making cedar caps for the fence.  Here is a before and some afters;

Regretfully, we spent very little time on the 2^nd floor because I considered it “useless space” from the very beginning.  I spent about an hour repatching the horrible drywall work and we primed/painted it a neutral color.  Afterwards I laid inexpensive carpet/pad and my dad did some minor trim work to finish the space off.  I decided to stage the area with my guitars and, after everything was assembled, found out that it was pretty nice!  Even though the ceiling height is in issue I can totally see people eventually using it as a kid’s playroom, kid’s bedroom, hobby room, etc...  In retrospect, I wish I would have spent more time on this area.  Here are some before and afters;

CC is hosting a Girls Night tomorrow so I plan to post some more interior shots once everything is cleaned up.  As mentioned, our agent is coming by on Wednesday and we hope to have the property listed as soon as next week.  In the meantime, I am in the middle of a side project in the hills of Tennessee.  Long story short, I was contracted to build a half bath and 2 closets in a house that was built in 1884!  I have been splitting time between this project and final touchups so hopefully everything is wrapped up next week.