6.14.2010

Serious Curb Appeal - Oldies but Goodies!

 

As a follow-on to my previous post about curb appeal, I thought it might be helpful to show the progression of our curb appeal over the years.  Here's our house as it looked pretty much when we bought it.  Notice the crazy overgrown azaleas and the original shutters with the clover leaf detail.  What you cannot see is that there is really no grass in the front yard, just a lot more clover!


During the first summer we lived in the house (2002) we tore out all of shrubbery and grass.  Regraded the lawn, planted seed, and new shrubs.  We did all of the work ourselves and it was a HOT summer!  Here's a picture with no shrubs (looks way better than the old ones).


Here's the after picture with the new shrubbery and grass growing.  This picture was taken in October 2002 (I remember being very proud of my pumpkins and mums).  Not sure why I didn't move the ladder before taking the picture!

The next year I decided that the trim was too much of a contrast and decided on tan trim.  In addition, most of the houses on our street at the time were brick with white trim so I wanted our house to be a little different.  We had the trim and windows painted tan and the shutters a nice chocolate brown.  The door was (and still is) a very deep eggplant to play off the purple tones in our brick.


A few years go by and our shrubbery grew in nicely.  I cannot believe how small our plants were in the above pictures.  We had also replaced the windows and changed the trim color to match. 


During our major home renovation in 2009, we added the overhang on the front so our guests don't get soaked while we make our way to the door.  We also moved the gutters which I think makes a huge difference in the front.  Finally, we had the brick washed to remove the old white paint and other gunk. I love the current look of our house, but I'm sure I'll think of some new projects (and Jim is cringing as he reads this!).