Jen at Sanctuary Arts is having a before and after party and since most of my B&A’s are usually rooms or furniture I thought it might be fun for you all to see the exterior of my house and how it’s changed since we bought it 10 years ago.
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10 years ago this was a fixer (and we’re still working on it)! I don’t know if I’d go through this again though. It was in bad shape when we bought it and every year we try to fix one major thing. It’s slow going but we’ve accomplished quite a bit! That’s why it kills me when I watch a show like HGTV’s House Hunters and they come back after the couple has purchased the house and it’s totally re-done…top to bottom! In as little as three months! You are very lucky if you are able to finance that kind of work. I think most of us just have to do a little at a time as time and money allows.
Yes, I painted the brick! I can’t tell you how many neighbors (all men) came up to me telling me what a mistake I was making while I was painting! I’m so glad I did. I thought the brick with siding chopped the house in half and having it all one color makes it look so much more cohesive.
The roof is new, as are the gutters, the windows are new, the storm door is new, that’s the original door but I painted it red and we added black shutters instead of the green and this year we installed a new garage door (mainly because the old one broke and we had to).
We tore out all those bushes along the driveway. Again, the line of bushes made it seem like that’s where the house stopped. Without the bushes you can see all of the house.
I added three Knockout Rose bushes on the other side of that concrete planter. They have since filled in quite nicely and are still blooming!
This is the deck we had built 10 years ago. The one that was here when we bought the house had to be torn down since it was unsafe due to termite damage. I haven’t done a thing with the concrete patio. That’s a project for next year or maybe the year after that!
This is the screened porch we had built the summer of 2007.
The little planting bed you see in front is one I started two years ago. There used to be a big ‘ol pine tree there that we had removed a few years ago because we were always afraid it was going to fall on the house during a storm! So I started planting a few things last spring and I’ll add a few shrubs now and then as I find them and enlarge that bed as I go along.
I found some before photos of my kitchen, my master bath and a few other rooms but I’ll save those for another day!
Sometimes all you see are the things that still need to be done or things that you just want to change. It feels good to look back and see all that has been done! I was pleasantly surprised!
What an improvement! We too are tackling one major job a year at our fixer-upper. People always tell me what a difference we've made but all I can see is that we need new siding! Thanks for reminding me to take time to look back!
Jane
Everything looks so pretty! We too are tackling one job after another and we built our house 6 years ago! There's always something that needs to be done. Great job! Love the red door!
I think it looks great with the brick painted white. I love your new garage door and your screened in porch. We had a 20 year old Weeping Willow tree that we lost in our yard {Hurricane Something-or-other 10 years ago} that has become a planting bed. I put things together slowly and even moved some plants from other spots in my yard. So, it does take time. I've been there. We have our house on the market now to downsize and I am looking to move into house that I don't have to do anything except paint ~ I'm done with renovating!
So lovely! You have a split level just like us. Your garage door is beautiful.
The changes look wonderful!
Your home is beautiful Manuela. It clearly defines what can be achieved, with sweat equity and lots of talent!
Wonderful post.
All the changes you have made have made such an improvement. You must be so proud of all that hard work! I'd LOVE to have a screened porch like that, by the way!!!
And your landscaping choices are great, too!
Suzanne
I like the bricks painted white.
You have done a GREAT job on your house.
Ally
Wow!! You have a BEAUTIFUL home!! You have done a great job with it… Thanks so much for sharing!
~Whitney
Sooo much better! We built our house over 20 years ago and are beginning that stage of things needing repaired or replaced. Ugh!
Absolutely gorgeous and I think you made a very brave and very WISE decision in painting the brick. I have a brick house… pretty enough…. but there is NOTHING like a white house to me. I am hoping for one more "final" move for my husband and me… and I want a white house!
What lovely changes. Now it looks like a home that's really loved and cared for.
I love your house. I love your decorating. I too am in a fixer-upper. It is so hard when you want to make everything pretty and you need things like electrical wiring and furnances and roofs. Now, we've been in our house ten years and things are starting to fall apart again. I just concentrate on the things that look good.
Laura
Mary'smom
Oh my, you did a fabulous job! I know the feeling of constantly getting things done. Our home is 19 years old and needs quite a bit done-mainly cosmetic but some renovation work as well. We have to save and do what we can when we can. Darn debt getting in the way!!
What a difference! You have such vision. Painting that brick white and the door red was exactly the right thing to do. Your landscaping and the angle of the sidewalk is just gorgeous!
I soooo want to paint the brick on my house too, but hubby would need serious convincing! You're home looks fabulous…very welcoming and 'homey'. It's also nice to know that it takes others a long time to tackle home updating…sometimes I look in the magazines and get so frustrated! Where do these people get the time and money??!!
Hi Manuela,
I LOVE how your home looks now. I think it was a fabulous idea to paint the brick because it does look cohesive now. You have done a LOT of work and it definitely shows. LOVE it!!
Y'all have worked hard and it definitely shows. Everything looks beautiful! I am always for painting brick if it will improve the way it looks. I see houses all the time and redo them in my mind and think how much better they'd look if the brick were painted.
I LOVE YOUR HOME! Painting the brick was exactly what needed to be done so you were right about that. The landscaping, red door, everything…. perfect. I adore the screened porch! Would love to see inside pictures!
Way to go, Manuela! What a good idea to pause and look at how far you've come!
Manuela, your home is so pretty! I think painting the brick, as well as changing the walkway, made a huge difference. I had a 100 year old Victorian cottage at one point in time and the work was overwhelming!! You are right about House Hunters! lol I think that's why I like it so much..almost instant results! I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. I have spent mine going back through my GW stuff to give some of it back as you did recently. What was I thinking??? lol Happy week!…Debbie
Manuela,
You have done a beautiful job! We bought a fixer also, and are still working on projects as we are like you and must do a bit at a time and as we can afford it. We have done the work ourselves.
I love your house colors – it's one of my favorite combos – white with a great red door and black shutters!
Thanks for showing us!
You have such a great eye for seeing potential…. my goodness you home is a masterpiece…. it would be interesting to see how much in value it has increased…. with your touches it should be a lot..
HUgs
Linda
~GORGEOUS! LOVE your red door and all you have done! ~Fabulous job!
You have done an wmazing job with your house! I love that you painted the bricks. It makes it so much nicer! the back of the house is incredible!Congrats!
Fantastic job you and your husband have been doing. You have a good decorating sense that certainly comes into play with the exterior of your home. It looks great! And, while I might not have been brave enough to paint the brick, it sure looks fantastic that way.
What a beautiful transformation. Painting the brick was the perfect thing to do. The landscaping looks great and the screened porch is just the icing on the cake.
A lot of hard work but all worth it!
Hope you have a good week.
((hugs)) Rhondi
Wow – Looks great! I like the brick painted. You have a very pretty home.
Ok, I am soo loving that screened in porch! I would love to be seating in there while it rains outside or even snows! Perfect place to read a book!
wow! it looks amazing. i love all the improvements you've made- especially painting the brick!
What a beautiful home you have! I like all the improvements that you and your husband made.
Blessings!
~Nadine
A screened porch is on my ultimate wish list! Yours is just beautiful.
It looks so classic and beautiful! The garage doors are fab-u-lous!
Manuela, I really enjoyed seeing the transformation the outside of your house has taken!
We live in a 70's brick ranch that was a foreclosure/fixer upper and over the past 10 years we have been fixing it a little bit at a time too so I understand what you mean about the shows.
Love how you painted the brick. What is it about men not wanting brick to be painted???
The new landscaping looks wonderful and I adore your screened in porch.
It hardly looks like the same house! You've done a marvelous job. And men think they know everything. But one of my favorite things to say when I'm frustrated with them is: what do men know?
Brenda
Wowza! What an amazing transformation. So glad you took before and after pictures.
Okay Manuela, your a certified genious! Really! you never cease to amaze me! you have done a wonderful job and I feel the same exact way as you living in an old farmhouse, that we are currently remodeling, but you do what you can when you can, I posted picks at my old house journal and I feel the same way as you, you really see a big change when you take photo's and document every detail!!
keep up the good work honey!!
kaylee g.
divinevintage.blogspot.com
oh and I love the planters!!!!
Your home is beautiful! It looks so much better now! It was pretty before but now it is beautiful! I love your screened porch! That is my favorite!
WOW! Major improvements! The front of the house looks spectacular! I really LOVE the screened in porch you guys built.
Love the painted brick! What is it that men have against painting brick – and wood for that matter! My dad had a fit when I painted the bead board paneling we put in our house. (he thought I should stain it)
You have done a great job – your house looks wonderful!!!
Oh wow Manuela, you guys did an amazing job on your precious home. I could call you Martha Stewart because you do everything so Martha. I love your home and please don't sell and move after all the wonderful work and memories you have captured there in your home. Thanks for sharing, I give you an A+ plus an A++++.
One of the reasons I love coming here is that you are so real. I love how you stated that you did things a little at a time. Very realistic. The changes are amazing. The deck is wonderful. Did you hire an architect for it or do it yourself? I wish I had the talent to pull something like that off!
I know what you mean — we forget everything we have done. After 12 years, we are on our last big project and I can't wait. I truly love my small, simple home mostly because there is so much of us in it!!! Have a great week. Sally
I enjoyed the tour! You have done such a beautiful job!! Great landscape and I love the painted brick!!
Jen
I can totally relate to you. We bought our house going on ten years ago, and it was a fixer as well. We still do projects here and there, but they are smaller. It was exhausting at first, so never again. I think doing it a little at a time is better, because it makes you live outside of your house. We did a lot in the beginning but had like no life, and were so tired. Some of it had to be done, but now we just do some things a year and make sure it doesn't consume our time. Your house has turned out beautiful like a work of art. I can totally see why you say never again though, its hard on you and at the end of the day it is only a house, that personally I would rather just paint once in while or decorate. All the big projects take so much time, it robs you of a life. Its good you have been able to enjoy it and take it slow, after all the work will always be there, but time will not. Have a great day!
seriously, how great does your home look with that brick painted?! I find most men have a knee-jerk negative reaction to painting any thing Bricked Or Paneled…I have no idea why…
Our home was a really really ugly brick (okay, I feel really hateful saying that but it is so true…my stipulation for agreeing to #17 as new home was the brick had to be painted :)) and sooner rather than later..
Lovely, lovely! We are redoing, well actually, repairing a 1917 farmhouse that is built from chestnut (note the year; the blight left a LOT of dead trees to mill!). We didn't have electricity, plumbing or 20 windows. The porch was gone all the way around the house and the yard was full of cow poo. And we will not even discuss the snakes and bats who lived in the house. This was 15 years ago. Are we done? Nopers! However, you give me great hope! Beautiful home!
You have done a great job, I do agree that painting the bricks white looks great. What do most men know anyway….lol….great job, I love it. Debbie
Hi Manuela~
This certainly demonstrates what a good vision and a heck of a lot of hard work can accomplish! Your home is beautiful now and it must feel so wonderful to see how far you have come from the original.
I loved seeing the before! and of course the afters.
Donna
Hi Manuela. What a pretty home. I love the look it has with the brick being painted.
Yep, we're also working on our house. It's one thing after another. 🙂
Blessings,
Sandra
Wow, such lovely changes! As much as I would love to make all the updates I have in mind to our house right now, I think having to wait and taking time to accomplish each goal makes me appreciate it that much more. You've made beautiful updates to your house!
Do you have any tips for painting brick? I plan on painting the brick at our new house next spring. Do you have to power wash it? Can you spray the paint on or just have to use the old paintbrush? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Your house looks beautiful!
Manuela, your house looks so pretty and bright! I love all of the changes! Thanks so much for joining in on the party! Jen
Beautiful…you and the mr did a wonderful job! cherry
Brilliant transformation! It looks like a different house. And, oh how I love that second story screen porch. I would never have thought of doing that, and it is such a wonderful idea! laurie
MUCH improved! Great landscaping to boot? The neighbors must be inspired.
WOW! You done a great job, I agree the brick looks wonderful white. The whole house looks better! You sure made a lot of changes. I working hard on my library in the parlor. Stopped and cleaning out a room we have all my looms and books stored in, Hubby going to put in 4 windows, it was a porch we enclosed. I hope to get my old claw tub in and a bathroom built in the room, add a hospital bed and all my things, and maybe a computer, WoW I might just love staying in there. lol Hubby says it too far from the Master bedroom, before we added a recliner and I sleep in it for months, Not this time! lol Hoping to have it done and a lot more before mid Oct. I got to go buy something for the walls, I do not want sheet rock, so we will be on a hunt for something I can paint later on. Love all the landscaping you have done! I think you never sleep!
WOW! What a difference! Love the black shutters and I think you're right about the brick. Mimi
Thanks for sharing. You improved the looking of the house so very much, I liked waht you did, great job. And I can't wait to see the next project.
Wow, what a tremendous job you've done, Manuela! I know what you mean about the shows on HGTV, and how they do everything immediately. I just figure they're in debt up to their eyebrows. It all looks super, and you should be very proud.
What an improvement. Your touch makes everything pretty.
It all looks so beautiful, you are truly talented.
My husband has an M.S. degree in Wood Science (Forestry… wood and furniture section).
You wouldn't believe what I go through each time I want to paint WOOD. 🙂
Wow, Manuela, lots of great changes. We have lived in our home for 30 years….so can you imagine?
You have done a great job.
Barb 🙂
I am totally covetting that screen porch!
oh man – that's just awesome….
very nice to meet you.
Thank you for sharing!! I love to see befores and afters. Especially on the outside of a house. Ours is looking better, but there is a lot of landscape work I want to get done this fall. Plantings will be done this fall and in the spring. Hopefully next year our house will look totally different!! :0)
That is an amazing transformation. You should be featured on HGTV!
This is only the second house I have ever seen where the owner painted the brick. It is not something that I would ever have thought of but in both instances it made an amazing difference! Do you have to use a special paint or process?
What great changes! You have such a green thumb. I think you were 100% right to paint the brick in this case–great improvement!
We (or should I say mainly my hubby) are working on getting a brick side patio with raised garden boxes. A project that's been in the works since last fall… It's easy to get overwhelmed with all the home projects. We should have taken pictures of the many befores…It's true though, we should all look back and see what we've accomplished, and not focus so much on what still needs work.
As always, great improvements! I just barely returned that same Country Living book back to the library!! Love your screened porch by the way!
Pamela
well that rocks! painting the brick was such a good move – so much cleaner and classier looking!
Wow Manuela, you've really transformed your home over the past ten years! And good for you for taking progress photos! (I always forget to do that)….it helps to see how much you've accomplished!
I think HGTV must help those couples "decorate" when they come back to show them in three months! lol!
It looks great! I think the brick is much better painted. Such a transformation!
The outside of our house needs some love. We did get it painted, thankfully. It WAS Spongebob yellow. Now it's a soft green. We really need some plants though.
And thanks for visiting my blog! I appreciate your comment on my cabinet turned chair.
All of your changes are great! Subtle and not too shocking. Painting the brick was a great idea. I have seen several house with painted brick lately and I really like the look of it. =) It's really great that you have tackled one project at a time. i don't think people really realize how much money is involed in renovating all at once! I'll bet you will really have fun with the concrete patio when you are ready for it.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Jennifer
You have done a wonderful job…We take on something new every year too. So expensive now that DH can't do all the work himself…
Your house looks lovely..love the porch!
Your home is beautiful and you have done a wonderful job renovating it. Just wanted to say the brick you painted white looks fantastic, those neighbors were wrong! ; )
BTW, I left you an award on my blog…
Your house is lovely….just what I thought the outside would look like…all your beautiful plants..the new garage doors look terrific….I love the red door…I have one of those too…and I agree the house looks much better painted all white…Oh and I can't forget the back screened porch..that is terrific… Have a great weekend…Sue
Wow, what a beautiful differnce xoxox Clarice
Wow! You have really this house your home:)
What a tranformation! Thanks so much for sharing the outside of your home as well as the inside. It's beautiful through and through.
Your story gives me hope. We've lived here for 13 years and our house was a mess when we bought it. It's still somewhat of a mess, but over time we've made numerous big improvements. It's encouraging to hear that others don't always come right in and totally remodel right away ($$). Plus, your patience to wait year by year is a big inspiration to me!