Before & After {exterior makeover}

Our house got a new paint job in May...so I thought I'd finally blog some before & afters!

It was a stressful process for me! Picking out colors for interior walls isn't that big of a deal for me. I like earth tones, and I tend to like darker, cozier colors. AND it's just a wall...if you don't like it, you can easily re-paint it. Well, that's NOT the case when painting a 2-story house! I was super nervous to finalize a color, and have my painter buy all the 5 gallon buckets of it! Yikes!

I knew I wanted either a dark gray, brown/gray/taupe, or messenger green

I used the Sherwin Williams ColorVisualizer to help pick a color. I found a few I liked on my paint deck, and then uploaded a picture of our house and tried them all to see what they looked like. Once I narrowed it down to Foothills (SW7514, if you're interested), I had my painter get me a sample jug of paint. BEST decision ever!!! We only used about 1/4 of the little jug, and were able to paint a really good size patch on the back of the house. (Justin had to tell me that I didn't need to paint the whole house!) Anyway, it was soooo helpful! I was able to look at the color during different times of day, and against my white trim, and knew immediately I loved it!

I knew I wanted black shutters, so this was to help me visualize the house color, white trip and black "shutters"

After that, we ordered the paint, and the painters went to work!! They power washed the whole house, covered/taped all the windows, doors and trim, painted everything, touched up trim in 2-1/2 days! Oh my, I was so excited!! It was totally worth it to pay someone else to do the job. With a 2-story house, we would have been painting for 3years to get it all done! They had a lift and sprayers, making it so quick!

Here's the BEFORE & AFTER of the front...

(the before was taken the first time we ever came to look at the house, before we made an offer)

In December 2011, we had to have all the white trim painted in order to get our home loan, so it was already nice and fresh when the siding was painted in May 2012. 

We also had our garage doors painted! This was another stressful decision for me! My little brother told me as he has before when it comes to painting "Leave it white! You paint everything...leave it alone, Martha"! Well, I think I proved him wrong again :) I like them much better painted! It was like getting brand new garage doors. They were in pretty good shape, but it just made them all fresh and new. We also had some plastic sunbeam inserts in the windows that I removed.

Some more of the process...

Finally, we had my black shutters installed! AND my vision was complete. 

That's all for now!! I really wanted to do a mustard gold door, but for now it's still red. I like it red too :)

Our last step will be to take down all the existing light fixtures and give them a fresh coat of black paint. They're not really our style, but for now a little fresh paint will make due.  

Then the front walk needs some major landscaping help! 

Project 365| January 4th

DAY FOUR| JANUARY 4th

It was beautiful out this evening, so when Justin got home from work, we did some things outside.

Then we all walked down the drive to get the mail and trash cans. Geese were flying over our house. 

Our painter finished the trim last week, and it all looks so nice and clean!! I am excited for Spring, to start working on the landscaping and having BBQ's in the back yard!

New Year, new challenge {Project 365}

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

I have so many new photos to share (Christmas, new house, etc.), but today I am starting a new challenge!

My sweet friend, Bethany, has encouraged me to join her in a "photo a day" adventure!

Share one photo from each day of your 2012--I guess I'll call it {Project 365}

It can be someone...something...perfect and edited...simple and captured with your phone...

I am excited! I feel like I really failed capturing 2011. I used to take (and blog) my everyday/personal photos all the time. BUT I just got so busy with my business and client photos in 2012, I fell behind. So, I am ready to join in on this new adventure! Like Bethany said on her blog, I will sometimes take my photos with the 5D and edit. OR I may sometimes just snap them with my iPhone. I doesn't matter, I just want to capture our everyday life! COME JOIN ME!! Start your challenge too! It's only January 2nd! It will be fun to put the 365 photos into a book at the end of the year!

DAY ONE | JANUARY 1st

Home improvement fun with my hubby! We spent most of New Years day in Wichita, shopping for our home (shelving, towel bars, etc.). Then Mimi kept Barrett overnight, so we stayed up until 5am working!! We had so much fun, and I will remember this night forever! We sang along to Pandora. We talked about how much we LOVE our new home...how every step of this journey has been guided by God. All along the way, we thought we knew what we wanted, but He always had bigger plans. 

We put a second coat of primer on our Master Bath. It had wallpaper, which my mom (bless her heart) peeled. The walls were in bad shape after that, so Justin patched them with sheetrock mud, sanded, and we primed. Two coats of primer and two coats of paint later...I love it! We also painted the mudroom close and gave it a makeover! Will share that later! AND we put together a shelf and bench. We had a blast, and at 4:58am, we crashed. 

Oh, to be three again....

I (very) often wish I was three again!

With nothing to worry about but if mom will let me wear my Lightning McQueen shirt again today, 

eat cookies for breakfast, and run through the sprinklers shirtless tonight!

Ahhh....those were the days!

Justin spent almost every evening last week getting our sprinkler system back up and working. Even though it's on a irrigation well (aka costs us nothing), we hadn't turned it on yet this summer.  BUT all these 100+ degree days were making our lawn look like poo! So, with the first few waterings of the summer, Justin had some heads to work on. Barrett LOVED running though them as he tested each zone. Then, the day after he got them all working, I mowed the front yard and....mowed right over one of the heads that hadn't gone all the way back down! Oops! Lucky for us my dad had the part we needed, and now it's all fixed. I haven't been allowed to mow the front yard since ;(

And also...we've got some {hopefully} big changes happening for our family soon.

After many years of house hunting, and even thoughts of building, we've found a home we love.

Our house went on the market a couple weeks ago. If all goes as planned, our cottage will sell soon, and the new home will be all OURS! Prayers for a speedy sale, please!