What a Fixer-upper!

 I've mentioned before on my blog that we are fixing up a house we bought.  We were able to buy this house for VERY cheap.  Although it has good bones for the most part, most of the exterior has to be completely replaced if we want the house to last.  Of course, anything can be jimmy-rigged and made to "last" a few more years, but that's putting off the inevitable. 

 

We decided we'd try to fix this house up the right way.  That's good, but it can mean getting discouraged (especially for Dan) because there is a TON of fixing that needs to be done.  Almost all of it is fixing rot or preventing future rot.  Every now and then, we'll take a break from the real needs and do something easy that makes us feel encouraged like we're really getting something done.  This was one of those projects. 

The side porch was rotten and also made it really difficult to plow the driveway in the winter time.  So we decided to simply do away with it.  You can see how old this photo was...I was still pregnant in the picture.   

 

It came apart easily because of the rot.  I don't have an "after" photo, but the empty space makes it sooo much easier to drive to the back of the house. 

 

 

This is the work that Dan has been doing.  There were cedar shakes on the addition before, and rotten wooden siding on the left portion of the photo.  Dan replaced it all with new wooden siding. 

I've included these next two photos to give you a visual of what it looked like first, when we bought it, and the second, after we pulled the weeds, but still hadn't done any work on it yet.    

 

And this is NOW!

 

 

 

 

After he replaced this side, Dan sprayed it all with paint which we got on sale from a Memorial Day sale on paint Lowes had.  Of course, it's just the first coat, but wow...what an improvement! 

 

 

 

This is the back of the addition after Dan put up the new wooden siding.

 

 

And the back of the garage after the siding was patched and replaced where it was needed, and then painted, just the first coat.

 

 

 

 

 I didn't include any pictures of what I've been doing, because what I'm doing doesn't make the house look BETTER.  haha.  I've been scraping paint.  I've finished both sides and the front of the house as far as I could reach.  Now I'll be starting to do the same, with a ladder.  Last time I went (it's been rainy weather the last two days), I was caulking, which is always fun. 

 

That's where we're at with the fixer upper!  I'll keep on updating as we continue fixing.  This coming month of July, we have a lot planned by way of the church.  The 8th is our anniversary Sunday, the 15th begins Vacation Bible School, and the  29th, we're beginning a project of re-graveling our church parking lot.  We're excited about all of this.  Just as a brief update, Gwendolyn is doing terrific!  She was weighed last week and has gained over 2 pounds!  She's such a good baby...We're extremely blessed to have her in our lives. 

Until next time! Thanks for reading!