Our house transformed

This spring, CP and I went  back and forth on what we should do to the house.  I was worried about shelling out tons of money, CP was thinking we should just get it all done.  Once we realized the pregnancy was sticking around, we had even further discussions.  The end result?  We decided to just get everything done for a number of reasons. New windows, new siding, and new gutters.  In other words, the most expensive summer I have ever had.

Then came the arduous task of meeting with contractors.  Who do you trust?  Yelp and Angie's List certainly helped.  I did most of the decision-making because CP was either traveling or couldn't get out of work in time to meet with the salesman.

In the end, I LOVE the results and I know that our neighbors do too.  They no longer have to look at our dented, faded, very sad aluminum siding.  And we can now open more than 3 windows in the house!!

Without further ado, the before and afters of our house.

BEFORE: Sad and old windows with rotting wood- this is a living room window

BEFORE: Another sad old side living room window

BEFORE: The inside of another sad, rotting window

BEFORE: Our large picture window in the sunroom was great, but the cranks on the two side windows didn't work 

BEFORE: More sad, old windows

BEFORE:  Hard to see, but in the gutter and siding we had birds nesting (you can see the string hanging to the right of the gutter).  The birds woke us up with their chirping every morning this spring!

BEFORE: Our front door with rotting wood

BEFORE: Missing siding pieces in the back of the house

BEFORE:  Gutters not connected and working

BEFORE: Rusting gutters at the side entrance

BEFORE:  Holes in the gutters due to the rust

This picture was taken before the new siding but after the new windows were installed.

New windows that we can open!!

Day 1 of the siding project- take the old aluminum siding off and find old wood siding underneath (which is kept on the house for insulation purposes.  If it was rotted then it would get swapped out for new wood).

Day 2- All siding on the front of the house is off. Insulation and house wrap starting to be installed.  (We decided to insulate because we have no idea if the house has insulation on the inside or if it does, what condition it is in.)

Day 2 back of the house

Day 3- starting to make the new windows look pretty!

Day 3- more window prettiness in the back of the house (yes that is our massive new air conditioner that we put in last year)

Day 3- New working sunroom windows are starting to look good

Day 4- more aluminum siding taken off the side of the house, insulation and wrap put on.

Day 4- 2nd floor windows and basement windows get prettified and the trim starts to go up

Day 5- we finally start to see some of the "Boothbay Blue" Hardie board go up on the front of the house!

Day 5- the side entrance doesn't look so scary anymore

Day 5- Back of the house is looking great (photobomb courtesy of Buster)

Day 6- more Hardie board put up in the back

Day 6- more Hardie board put up on the side of the house

Day 7- More of the front is covered in new siding

Day 7- side door frame is covered with Fypon and looks neat and clean

Day 8- east side of the house gets some siding

Day 8- crown moulding goes up on the sunroom

Day 9- crown moulding, shutters, and S hooks are put on the windows

Day 9- side basement windows get finished

Day 9- closeup of the side window

Day 10- side siding gets finished.  Now all we need is a good chunk of money to fix the chimney.  HA HA HA HA

Day 10- front windows look great and the siding is almost done

Day 11- Fypon is installed around the front door, siding is finished and new outdoor lights are hung (we are still searching for a new mailbox, numbers, and a doorbell)

Day 12- the project is finished and new (working!) gutters are installed on the house

Day 12- new gutters on the garage (note: we didn't have the money to get the garage re-sided.  We are going to color match to the house and hopefully paint it this fall ourselves.)  Also, please ignore the Christmas lights- CP was too lazy to take them down this year!!

Day 12- the house is transformed with the final installment of gutters!!

FINAL PICTURES

Totally transformed back of the house

Looks like a whole new house!


(Now we just have to fix the front garden bed which got completely trampled!  Boooo.)