Our new home: progress

We moved this summer - into our forever home. And it's amazing. And I love it. We all do.

There are still a handful of things I want to change, but money doesn't grow on trees. Duh. I made a few necessary-for-my-sanity updates when we first moved in. These include:

• Replacing brass knobs on all cabinetry throughout the house with brushed nickel or white hardware.
• Removing wallpaper and border all around the house. (Well, not me personally, but my wallpaper angel.)
• Painting over the dark shades that were everywhere.
• Bringing down the very brass ceiling fans and putting up more neutral, modern fans. (Again, not me, but I did the shopping.)
• Taking down light fixtures and bathroom fixtures and spray painting them brushed nickel or bright blue or antiqued bronze. Thanks, Rustoleum, for your awesomeness.

After just those few things, it already felt much more tolerable to me. I just wanted it to be at a point that I was proud of it when I gave tours and not constantly saying, "Yeah, those knobs. I hate them, too." And it's unreal what a big difference these little changes made, particularly in the kitchen. The heart of our home.

Meanwhile, Rusty tackled the curb appeal. I admit, when we first started house hunting I looked right past this house many times because I just didn't like the exterior. I know, silly. Rusty and I became weekend warriors, though, and got right to work.

We took down all the shutters and spray painted them. (Three coats. My tennis shoes and nose hairs were black, too.) I painted the front door. We had two bradford pear trees cut down (one was half dead). We cleared out all the shrubs that weren't our taste and seeded the front lawn. We (with the help of Asher and a few hard workers) relocated the little rock retaining wall to around the side tree and created a natural area. And I worked for hours on the bushes out front with my new trimmer. (No one warned me that my arms would be all quivery for hours after that I would be incapable of gripping anything.)

I learned during this process (and being home during work hours looking out my office windows that I can now see out of because the bushes are trimmed) that we are probably the only people in this neighborhood that do our own yard work. And our own painting and such. Neighbors (well, their landscaping teams) are laying sod, we are laying bright yellow grass seed mats. Ha.

All of this to say, we are so blessed to be in this home. And I'm so proud to show off some of the before, during and now photos. Check it!

Before: What were they thinking with these bushes, ya'll? This photo courtsey of Google maps.
When we purchased it, the weird perpendicular bushes were already removed.

During: The two pear trees are gone. Front giant wall of sidewalk shrubs remain.
Natural area with 'rock retaining wall' and two oddly-placed and badly-pruned crepe myrtles remained.

During: I didn't want to say goodbye to those crepe myrtles, but they were in odd shapes.
And, one was directly in front of our front door. With the other trees gone, they were really out of place.

Now: Grass is growing. (For the record, I hate that grass mat thing that's so bright and in your face.
But, it got our grass growing on that slope, so it'll do.)

Now: No more crazy bush wall along the walk.
Pretty house, I love you.