Our House at 4.5 Years

When we bought our house in July of 2017 we knew it was a fixer upper. I had many plans in my head of how we could turn this very blah split level into something cozy and warm for our family. Four years later, and we are getting very close to having our home feel close to complete. Here is a list of some of the major changes we have already done:

Built a new deck (Jon designed, got it permitted and built it with the help of one contractor)
Re-finished the wood floors (hired someone to do a Swedish Finish/Acid Wash . . . not so eco friendly . . . oops)
Got new windows (Used Window World – highly recommend. Best price AND windows come with trim!)
Re-landscaped the entire yard (My pet/passion project)
Renovated the basement TV room (Jon did most of it himself and it’s amazing!)
Updated the main bathroom (Jon did it himself)
Built a shed (Jon designed and built it himself)
Gave the kitchen a budget friendly face-lift (I did this myself)
Painted the outside (Jon and I did this)
Got new garage doors (Used Distribu Doors and were SO happy with the company and the doors!)

I’m sure there is more I’m forgetting, but those are the major checks off the to-do list, with a large portion of them being projects we were able to tackle on our own. It’s so fun seeing the transformation, but often we forget just how much we have accomplished, so it’s fun for me to document it in photos.

Enjoy the curbside evolution of our house!

Before it got spruced up for sale, this was what it looked like on Google

The new windows in 2020 made a big difference in updating the exterior of our house.

Below are some galleries of how the outside of our house transformed in 2021. Here is a look of the house and garden in the first half of the year. As you can see, the yard is pretty sleepy until about mid-March. After that it is alive and thriving with new pops of color rotating in all the time!

During May and June we started prepping for the big paint job. Our new garage doors were scheduled to be installed in late June/early July so we needed the front of the house painted before then. I did NOT want any drips of red paint on the brand new doors!

We did all the painting with brushes and rollers, and let me tell you, painting those high parts above the garage was scary! I am pretty afraid of heights so I had to really just focus on the painting and going as slow as I needed. I didn’t want Jon doing any of that area because he’s the only one in our house that actually earns a pay check so we couldn’t afford for him to fall and get hurt (I “earn money” by saving us money on childcare . . . but that’s another discussion). He did the power washing and prep work there so that was enough for my comfort level.

The new garage doors and new paint color and new garage doors had a huge difference in making our house truly feel like our own. I painted the front door dark brown to go with our new color scheme, but perhaps in 2022 we will splurge on a nice new natural wood one. I plan on adding some natural wood shutters and eventually a nice trellis above the garage. Then the front of our home will truly be fully upgraded.

But for now, I am so incredibly happy with the results of the paint and the garage doors. I love the feel of our house. In the PNW so many people paint their houses some shade of gray and I just don’t understand that. We have gray skies for nearly 9 months out of the year! I want some vibrant color in my life to help add a little excitement when we are stuck in those dreary gray days.

Here is a yearly snapshot of the exterior of our house:

July 2017:

Spring 2018 after a few updates:

April 2018: 8 months in and we had painted the front door, added some accent color to the garage doors and gotten a decent start on the yard.

Summer 2018: One year later and the yard is filled with wildflowers and other easy to grow plants to give some color while we wait for the tiny (read: affordable) shrubs and trees to grow.