Evolution of our home

It started waaaaaaaay back in April. We decided to finally tackle the look of the exterior of our home. It was something we always knew we would do - I mean let's face it, our house had zero curb appeal and was easily the ugliest house on the cul-de-sac thanks to a giant "poop" stripe down the front of it and rotting fascia boards. We got approval from our HOA to start the work and hired Tom's brother to get it done. We weathered quite a few bad days and some unexpected surprises, like tons of rotting wood, squirrel damage, and even a raccoon. Last weekend Tom took a saw and pry bar to the rotting deck and ripped most of it out. We had his brother out on Saturday to help take the last pieces down and lay some pea gravel until we decide the final patio design. I'm so glad the deck is gone - it was harboring swarms of mosquitoes and a giant family of scary looking spiders. We still have some work to finish, like landscaping the front yard and designing and building a patio in the back. Oh and installing a kick plate on the front door, the screen door, and new light outside.

Before:


During: original siding and new siding going up



After:


Now, here's the deck in progress:


While Tom and Pete were busy taking down the rest of the deck, I played around in Photoshop with the front of the house to see what it could look like with a tiny bit of landscaping. I think we've settled on hostas, liriope, and salvia to give a bit a color and interest to the front. We'll probably use rocks instead of mulch right next to the house and then mulch the majority of the bed.