The Mint Green Must Go....

Although we haven't figured out what color we'll paint the new shutters, this weekend Paul spent the weekend pressure washing the entire house after removing the mint green shutters. Goodbye, green shutters. This first photo is the house after Paul pressure washed the front. He's still working on the back, patio, and garage today - a long process but it looks great and feels good to know it's CLEAN.

Shutters

Ok, our realtor, Ginger Allen, created this for us before we moved in to show us how the house might look with brown shutters.

So what do you think about this color scheme below from the Pratt and Lambert Williamsburg Collection of paints - the yellowish is very close to our siding color, the brown/grey is called Pelham Gray, and the red is called Spanish Brown (for the front doors).

Yesterday we were considering the below. Problem is, I am not sure if we can paint the trim around the windows this blue color because it is not wood. It's some kind of plasticy material. Hm... how else could we bring in the blue? Around the door or the doors themselves, but I don't want that to be the only place to bring in the blue....

Our siding is slightly more yellow than this, but not a lot, I wouldn't say.

Or what about this color green for the shutters?

Mailbox Post

Just a reminder of the original mailbox first...
Then here's our new one. It was "challenging" to get the box to be sturdy on the post. It's still not perfect, but Dad Madden spent a ton of time on it with family friend Nick's help and it is pretty steady now. Certainly not going anywhere. We obviously need to re-do the pavers to something more suitable, and build up the dirt and landscaping under the post.

More Powder Room

Mirror

Painted Register

Toilet Paper Holder

Towel Bar

Painted Baseboards

Powder Room Progress

Here are some pictures of how the powder room is coming along. We still need to hang the mirror and add the cabinet hardware, as well as paint and install the baseboards.

BEFORE

AFTER

Powder Room Updates

This weekend we tackled the powder room, and it did not go as smoothly as we'd hoped. We had made a big purchase several weeks ago when we had a 10% coupon for Lowes and we'd picked a new vanity with sink, and a new toilet for the powder room at that time. First Paul and Dad Madden tried to install the new toilet and got the wax seal put on and everything ready to go, and had it in place to screw in when they noticed a crack under the seal on the bowl. Back it had to go.

Then we realized after pulling out the old vanity that one of the plumbing pipes came out of the side wall instead of the back wall where the other plumbing was, and the first vanity we'd purchased wouldn't have worked with that side pipe. We also realized it didn't have a backsplash. Back it had to go, too!

Below is the new cabinet we finally decided on after several trips back and forth to Lowes and Home Depot. Sheesh! I think Paul and his Dad must have been in 3-4 Home Depot/Lowes today alone! Also, a photo of the granite top Paul found to go with the cabinet. I'll update in another post with photos of the final outcome.

Sayonara Wisteria....

We've been thinking carefully about this for some time. As much as we hated to cut down a living and sometimes beautiful vine, it was the right decision for us. We weren't using the patio at all because it was buggy and constantly covered in leaves and droppings from the canopy of wisteria outside our garage and sun porch. And Paul had already trimmed it back from the roof of our garage once, and it aggressively grew back again in a matter of weeks.

The seller told us that it didn't bloom the beautiful purple blooms every year, and in fact, had only bloomed recently when she fertilized it both spring and fall.

After our work today, we were able to blow off the patio, uncover our patio furniture for the first time in over two years, and have dinner al fresco! So nice to enjoy the balmy weather, and there weren't even many bugs out when we were out there.