We House

Quoting another of McKenzie's often misused terms, this entry is about 'we house'. I know as a proper parent I should correct her and instill the standard use of 'our' for plural instead of 'we' but I love to hear her ask about 'we house'... 'we car'... 'we family'.

Matt and I moved into our house in April six years ago and the time has flown by. We bought the house knowing it had good bones but needed a lot of work. We've invested a lot of time, sweat and tears into the house and love that our kids added the final touch of making it a home. It's amazing to think back on all the changes we've made and all the lessons we've learned about home improvement projects. One recent project has been on the list forever. We finally did the front yard landscaping and front porch reconfiguration.

Here's a before shot of our house in July 2004 shortly after we moved in. You can see Matt's brand new truck - still our favorite car. This shot also shows off the fantastic paint choice by the previous owner of peacock blue trim with bright yellow siding. We haven't done the remodel to add on over the garage at this point. The front porch rail is still on taking you across the entire length of the porch to the front door. If you try hard enough you can see Matt and me on the porch with Indy and JonesZ in my arms as a tiny pup.


Similar shot from October of this year, the 2006 remodel is complete with a master bedroom over the garage. The new front porch is on replacing the old worn out one. The railing isn't up yet because we were waiting for the path to the front door. The trim is white and we have a new roof and accent peaks which changes the appearance of the house a lot. We have also added on pavers to each side of the driveway to widen it.


A few short days later and a lot of hard work by Matt and some of his friends and we have a totally new look for the house and front yard.


The front porch now has two entry points - one next to the garage for easy access and then a second more welcoming entry that leads you across the treed yard on a winding cobblestone path to a nice wide set of stairs directly in front of the door. The only thing unwelcoming is our 'No Solicitors' sign but we can't be wasting our new landscaping on just anyone.

We had our friend Tom Hartzell, draw up the landscaping plans for us back in the early summer of 2007 before McKenzie was born with great intentions of doing all the work that summer. Needless to say we didn't quite get around to it for a while. Matt did an amazing job of following the plan and making a concept on paper come to life.

View from the porch looking out at our birch trees and winding path. Matt also installed lights along the path and then spot lights under the trees which added some much needed light in the front of the house.


View down the porch to the access next to the garage. We love 'we house'!