A Face Lift

Did you think I meant a facelift for me?  😎  LOL!  I could probably use one, but that's not really on my to-do list anytime soon (or probably not in this lifetime).  Anyway -- what will be getting a facelift is our house.  Yay!!  We've been saving our money and holding out until we could pay for this with cash, so our house will get a new roof, all our exterior trim work will get re-painted (and any repairs needed will be done).  Our four front-porch columns will be replaced, as some damage from rot has occurred.  We'll also get new shutters (probably the two panel style) and either a new front door, or at the very least, the existing door will be repainted.  We've gotten quotes over the last couple of weeks, and made our decisions, so I'm ready for the work to commence!!       

         The above picture was taken in the fall of 2014.  This is our existing roof, almost seven years ago.  It was installed two years after we bought this house to replace a roof damaged by the tornado which hit our neighborhood in 1998.  That was such a stressful time -- I could barely think straight.  I just let the contractors put the same color roof on as what was already there.  As soon as it was on, I was seriously wishing I had chosen another color.  The color is Desert Tan, and ugh!  I've always hated that color on our house.  This time around, we'll go with a charcoal color, something like this.     

   I found this picture online of the color we're (95 percent sure) we're going with.  The picture is blurry, but you get the idea.  We'll also get the architectural shingles and the ridge venting, which should keep our attic a little cooler and hopefully prolong the life of the roof.  In addition, we're switching from green shutters to black, and the exterior trim will be painted white, rather than staying with the current cream color.  I think black and white is such a classic look.  I'd love to have our brick painted white or treated with a limewash or whitewash, too, but that's another project for another time.  I'm not sure Mr. Forest Manor would be on board with that change.  After all these repairs/upgrades are made, we'll get some landscaping done.    

  This is more of a close-up shot of the roof, taken in 2015.  You can see the brown shingles have not aged well.  Since this picture was taken, we've had the big tree in the foreground taken down, as well as new gutters installed,  

 and new thermal pane replacement windows.  I'm so excited to get the rest of the exterior updated/repaired and some new landscaping done.  We've had a lot of work done on the inside of our house, but the outside just looks so tired.  I can't wait for the work to begin on the exterior now.     Now for some aesthetic details, I want to add these to the new shutters --   

   shutter dogs   

I have loved these for as long as I can remember.  They just add that extra something to the shutters, and as we all know, little details can make a big impact.   

Also, I want to put something along the lines of this metal exterior wall art on the wooden gable over our front porch,   

   Let's face it -- a 1970's ranch-style house can look pretty boring, and I don't mean that as an insult to those of you with homes similar to mine.  I actually like the symmetry of the front, but I want to keep it interesting, too.  Thankfully, there are lots of ways to do that these days.     If you're still here, thanks so much for visiting today and reading about our upcoming home improvements.  Do you have plans for any changes/improvements to your home in the near future?  I hope you have a great week!!     Hugs,