An Update from the Chief Home Improvement Diva

Greetings from the land of sawdust and cool window trim! It's makeover time at our casa!

I spent the past 6 months with my eyes peeled looking at other houses around town and gathering ideas to have the house painted...we have cedar siding which requires repainting every 3-5 years, and I decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the bland, dull beige color (did I mention the color was boring?)

I am not one to paint my house periwinkle (though I saw a multimillion dollar home recently that was oh so boldly painted), but I would like something a bit bolder. I have been eyeing up the newer craftsman homes with the incredible molding and thick front columns. The stone masonry on the front. The warm craftsman tones. Ahhh, just feels like home! OK; back to reality.

Now the trick is to turn a semi-cookie cutter late 80's home into one with a little more class and personality without making it look like we "tried too hard."

We have narrowed the colors down to three (we'll keep you posted) with a nice accenting trim color. The painter comes next week to paint a few of the colors on the garage so we can give them a test run...

And we all know that starting one home improvement project leads to another:

Yesterday we had the windows at the back of the house replaced (along with the back slider), and I can now open the back sliding glass door with one hand. Yes, new windows are none too glamorous, but the white vinyl look really brightens up the room -- hopefully it will help with the energy efficiency of the home, which will brighten up my pocket book, as well.

Today, a carpenter is placing wide trim around the windows at the front of the house (those windows were replaced by the previous owner for "curb appeal.") They are also replacing some rotten siding. Oh, even more glamorous, right?

And the shutters on the house? GONE! Every one of them. They were made of a plastic, hollow material. One hit from a baseball and they would have been toast! I can't believe I have lived in a house for the past 2 1/2 years with plastic shutters? This isn't a Barbie house, you know!

And you know it won't end with the paint job -- there's the brassy 80's lighting on the front porch and garage, as well as the golden brassy numbers on our house. And on, and on.