Home Hoping

May I introduce you to our home:

She was probably quite a looker in her day....some thirty years ago when cutoff jeans and crimped hair were in. And she DOES have some nice assets too...dental molding...brick exterior....two car garage...and LOTS of hardwoods inside. All that considered, she is our first home and we think she is lovely...not beautiful, bless her heart, but lovely - you know, on the inside. Sorta.

But she needs an intervention to let that lovely shine through! She needs a Stacy and Clinton to give her fashion advice with love and a 'that-looks-terrible' face! I mean...I don't want to point out all her flaws or anything...

at least, not to her face.

When we bought her we knew she was going to take some fixing...knew she needed some LOTS of TLC. We wanted to take her from being a yellow shirted, odd-eyed, orange-headed mess like this guy:

To a sophisticated, grey-skirted, perfectly put together lady like this:

Or to give you a better idea...like this:

Ooooh-la-la! Isn't she purty!?!?! I now dub her Emma Brick (you know...instead of Stone...I'm so hilarious!). Oh, Emma...I have dreams for you...big painted, planted, refurbished dreams! What's that? You say you want to hear a more detailed break down of those dreams? Well....if I MUST.....then I must... ;o)

Besides the obvious repairs that need to be done (ie: replace rotted siding, broken window panes, leaky gutters, etc.) we want to give Emma some window dressing too...literally.
Here is the break down:

1. Paint all the siding a lovely gray like Behr's "Elephant Skin" or Martha Stewart's "Gray Squirrel"
2. Paint all that dental molding trim a bright white.
3. Paint those shutters a dark, shiny black.
4. Add some depth to the front door - black or a fun red.
5. Get some urns like these on that naked front porch.
6. Lay sod.
7. Get some greenery - I photo-edited in some Yellow Mums, Gardenias, Hydrangeas, Dwarf Leyland Cyprus, and a Crepe Myrtle...you know, just the basics ;o)

So basically, if our house really were a person, I'd want to put our strawberry blondish lady into a pretty, pleated grey dress, give her teeth a good bleaching, make her eyes pop with some black mascara, and paint on some doesn't-clash-with-her-hair-red lips. And once she's all dolled up and ready to go, I would go out in the front yard and tell her 'Oh DAHling! You look positively smashing!" (because I would suddenly become British and say words like 'smashing')
Yeah...I talk to my house. I'm awesome like that.