I know it’s been a long time since I posted anything but in real life time seems to be speeding by.  My daughter Sloan is graduating from the 8th grade which is a very big deal at her school and there have been many, many (did I mention many) activities to participate in.

We decided this year instead of a million little projects around the house we’d concentrate on one big project.  Our big project this year was this…

When we bought the house a few years ago I knew I wanted to change the color of our home as soon as possible.  Honestly, I’m not even sure what color it is in this before photo, sorta beige yellow?

I also wanted to change out the builder’s grade lighting and add some architectural features to give our new house a little more character.

We decided to paint the house green and lighten up the trim just a little. (I’ll do another post on specifics of paint and lighting next week.)

We had the house professionally painted and could not be happier!  They finished the whole house in 3 days!

As you can see a bit better in the next photo that we decided to have a pergola built.  It’s something I’ve wanted for years.  Our handy man constructed the entire thing in 1 1/2 days, he used the same lumber (cedar) as our trim and cut it to match the banisters on our stairs.  (Remember it all in the details.)

We also changed out our lighting.  The new fixtures are much larger and fit better with the style of the house.  We even changed the light post in the yard to match.  The original one was poorly installed by the builder (shocker) and wasn’t even cemented to the ground which caused it to sway to the right.

Here’s a closeup of the pergola and lighting.

We’re so happy with how the house turned out and it really stands out in a neighborhood of mainly beige homes!   I’ll share the back of the house and the porch and patio soon!