The First Six Months: Front and Side of the House

Nothing could top the grand housewarming present that was our blossoming cherry trees, but I must admit, our newly red front door gives me a smile every time I see it. The new hardware (light, door features, house number) also takes us into this decade, which I think we can all agree is a good thing. (1970s does not equal "historic Capitol Hill" in my book.)

When we moved in, we thought we'd repaint the exterior of the house a deeper, more vibrant color. It's the side of the house that prevents us from doing so now; due to our side yard (yay light! yay windows!), we fear a dark color would simply look like a wall of darkness, instead of something great. The jury's out on the house color... but we do think repainting our creamy trim a bright white would be an immediate upgrade.

Front of the House, Done:

• Painted front door
• Replaced door hardware
• Replaced front light
• Replaced house number

Front of the House, To Do:

• Landscaping
• Replace fence
• Repaint trim
• Investigate cast iron stairs

House Paint

• Exterior: Unidentified taupe/gray
• Trim: Unidentified cream
• Door: Benjamin Moore Heritage Red

Here's a look at the side yard that demonstrates our Wall Of Darkness concern. The light color of the house breathes nicely along the corner, in my mind. You'll also see that our dining room window trim is painted a bright white instead of the cream of the rest of the trim - and it looks a heck of a lot better. For my "6 months later" photo, I couldn't catch the side without cars parked alongside us, so I took a closeup shot of the side yard instead. This serves to demonstrate that we've done absolutely nothing there except allow weeds take over. Sigh.

Side Yard, Done

• Nothing! Okay... placed my grandmother's old garden bench there? Set up a hose? Yeah, not much.

Side Yard, To Do

• Something! Namely, landscaping. I'd love a real garden here. And our hedges and falling-apart fence have got to go.

Note: For this week's First Six Month Series, I'm using the realtor photos that advertised our house as the "Move-in" photo, and my own images for "6 months later."