Our 4 Year Houseiversary: Part 1

Yay!  It's our 4 Year Houseiversary!!!  We moved into our 1961 Cape Cod four years ago, knowing our home would be a work in progress for quite awhile.  Sometimes I forget that was the plan all along, and get frustrated thinking of all the projects that still haven't been completed.  We are committed to not going into debt (unless there would be an emergency) for house renovations, so the "big projects" take some time to save for (especially now with an adoption and two trips to Ethiopia in the not too distant future!)  Anyway, when I sit back and think about it, we actually have done quite a bit in the four years we have lived here.  Interested?  Keep reading.....and stay tuned for our "inside" updates, coming soon!

Today we'll start with the outside.  Here's what it looked like when we moved in...sorry for the poor quality pictures....they were taken with an old camera in a rainstorm....

We started by pulling out lots and lots and lots of ivy.  I wish we would have kept track of the number of hours spent ivy-pulling....it was insane.  We also took out all the shrubs in front of the house - we wanted to be able to see our cute house, not have it covered up by a hedge!  We reseeded the lawn and took out some of the trees (and the fountain/birdbath).  Just this summer we painted the shutters from the country blue color to "Lincoln Cottage Black" and redid the porch swing.  Here's what our house looks like currently....

Still a work in progress....I'm still wishing for that new red front door and we need some landscaping on the left side, but it's improved, don't you think?

Here's the front porch before....

and currently....

Woohoo for being able to see past hedges!

Moving around back...picture life deep in the Amazon jungle.  Add some chainlink fence in random places, and you've got our backyard.  Seriously, it was bad.  I even entered it in an "Ugliest Yard" contest and I'm pretty sure I didn't win because whoever was choosing the winners probably thought it was just a joke.  Here's some "before" pictures (although most of the random chainlink was gone by this point, and we have kept what was around the perimeter)....

 

Pretty, huh?  Yeah, I was scared to walk back there because of all the creatures I knew were lurking in the weeds.  Our little dog actually caught a mouse in the backyard the first week after we moved in.  Not cool.  Well, it was a little cool that our dog caught a mouse, but not cool at all that I had certain proof of rodent life.  And the shed?  I pretty much feared for my husband's life every time he walked in.  On the brighter side, demolition was quite easy - a few kicks and it was down!

Lots more weed & ivy pulling, a landscaping crew, a firepit (blocked in the following picture by trees), a swingset, and a new shed later....

We do still plan on putting pavers or stamped concrete in the firepit, but again, much better, don't you think?  Come back later this week to see some of the changes that have happened inside the house!

Click here for a list of parties I may have linked up to!