Summertime- Outside Projects!

Summer was busy- between everyone traveling and doing....well, summer things. But we made the most of the weekends we did have free, and I'd say we had a pretty productive few months- check it out!

~ The biggest exterior transformation yet, NEW SIDING AND WINDOWS!!! Now this, we actually cannot take full credit for, as we (and this was a first) hired someone! Genius, something that would have taken us all summer- took these guys 1 week ~

Before- This was the house "move-in" weekend, November 2010

During- the guys did the siding and NEW WINDOWS all in 2 weeks!

AFTER! 30 brand, spankin' new windows, and shiny new siding- looks like a new house!

Bri builds a back deck!

Before

After....well, still in the process. But look at those steps- sturdy!

Now, with basics of the deck done...we can finally put Tony Piscitelli's masonry expertise to work! We were lucky enough to receive about 2 truck loads of red brick pavers from Addie Landscaping, which ended up being JUST enough for a pretty sweet back walk way. With some amazing teamwork, and a trip or two to Home depot, we had the patio completed in one Saturday!

Fist things first- remove the MILLIONS of HUGE rocks we apparently have in our back yard, and dig and prep.

Tamper time- Tony earned his beers that day!

After first round of tamping, fill in, stone dust down, leveling

All level, time to figure the pattern and lay the bricks!

HEAVE...HO! First the fill, then the stone dust.

Placing and hammering the edging...why so nervous dad?? I'm great with a hammer, just hold still.

Polymer sand in the the cracks, and all is done!

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View towards the front yard.

GREAT JOB GUYS! Finished the job before dark- time for dinner and a few beers, well deserved.

 And thanks to a little storm called Irene....we got a little work done on the bedroom as well. Paint, trim, and even a new bedroom set.

Before- stark white walls and chipping brown trim work.

After- off white walls (wax statue to be exact...who comes up with these paint names??), and white trim. Side note, painting trim is my new least favorite job.. 

~So that'll about do it for summer 2011 renovations- moving right along. Trying to get all the major outdoor stuff done before the (ewww...I cannot believe I'm about to say this...) snow and cold weather. The 2nd floor concrete counter tops should go in by the end of September. Keep and eye out for the next entry....guest blogger Brian Saunders (the man himself), will conduct a tutorial on how to do your VERY OWN concrete counter tops~