Before + After: Back of House

It is a slow process, this current renovation. If I’m being honest with myself I will admit that we’ll never actually be “done” and that’s fine. What would we do with ourselves if we finished? Start over somewhere else, I guess. And I’m not remotely interested in moving again so I plan to draw out this renovation for our eternity. Today happens to be a gorgeous one so I thought it was high time to show a before + after of what we’ve done to the back of the manse.

Way back in the olden days:

Step one was to remove the crazy arborvitae that was glomming onto the house.

Step two: blow a big hole in the back of the house.

Step Three: Have Bradley and Bradley Jr from Decks Decks Decks come out and work their magic.

Step Four: make a margarita and then another and then another.

And just like that (2.5 years later) we have a great space to live in and hang out and watch the hens doing their thing in the yard below.

Happy Spring!

Before and After?

So I mentioned that we’re selling our house and eyeing another fixer upper (WHAT are we thinking!?) and a friend suggested that we capture the process on film (but not really film – just little digital blips of zeroes and ones that magically turn themselves into photos that people can see on their computers a million miles away – yeah, that). So I’m thinking about it and I wonder if I can be that organized. I tend to jump into a project and a third of the way through realize that we’re completing a total transformation and should have really snapped one simple “before” shot.

Still thinking about it.

Once we’re slightly further along in the process of buying this place I will post some of the MLS listing photos which will suffice as “before” shots. And in honor of this undertaking, and because I’m ambivalent about leaving the place we’re in now and have called home longer than any other place, I will post a couple of before/afters to tide us over.

More to come.