Lots of progress lately at 538.  The house painting marathon continues...about half the front is done!  Just bought the light blue porch paint this weekend, so that's next on the list, after I strip down the front porch area.  Hope to have the front of the house done within a month or so.  

Also, WE FINALLY GOT A DRIVEWAY!  About 2 weeks ago, the guys came and ripped out all of the drive and sidewalks, formed it, and poured it all back within 2 days.  It's like driving on glass instead of the bumpy gravel roller coaster we had before.  And it doesn't hold water!  The neighbor's side holds water a little bit, but we'll have to get the guys out there to do something about that.  Overall though, we're super pleased.  

Still working on the plans for the new bathroom/back porch, and that all hinges on us paying off the loan for the central A/C.  Hopefully we'll get er dun before the end of the year...we shall see.  

The process:  strip, sand, prime, caulk, paint(twice). 

All white and solid.  Not pervious, but the kids LOVE it!

Surprise of all surprises:  

when you leave an artichoke unattended, 

you get this stunning beauty!

Workin all the live long day...

OK, so I haven’t really been slacking.  That much.  I completely underestimated how busy life was going to be with two kids and the desire to still have a social life!  Add on top of that a second job teaching at a local Technical College, and you have one busy Justin.  I have, however, been working around here.  We decided recently (after a lot of painting has already been done on the house) to add on a second bathroom and just stay put at 538 for a few more years.  Hopefully we’ll get to that by the end of 2012!

Last weekend was a banner weekend here at 538.  After MONTHS of dragging this project on, I FINALLY finished painting the back of the house.  I used a heat gun and a sander and got the house down to the bare wood…then primed and painted the house and trim!  All I have left to do is scrape the windows and put the screens and shutters back on and the back of the house is complete!  Until we rip it off in 6 months…

I also got around to re-painting the back door after it had been scratched up and test painted ages ago.  We went with a deep, almost brownish purple color after seeing how great it looked on Lara’s house.  Which brings me to my next project:  the new front door! 

I’ve been looking for a door like this since we moved in.  The current front door is a solid metal door with no windows whatsoever.  It’s the definition of depressing and makes the house look like it’s still a rental property. 

 

Well, I snagged this bad boy for less than $100…so we’re gonna paint it the same purple as the back door and splurge on the hardware…which will look something like this: 

 

Last but not least, we finally replaced the dining room light fixture.  I really liked our old cantilever lamp that came with the house, but it was a bit too heavy and blocked the view into the kitchen after we opened up the wall.  This new fixture is from CB2 (via craigslist at 30% discount!).  Installing it was a BIOTCH, as moving the fixture 3’ over to the south resulted in re-wiring the living, dining, and kitchen because there was absolutely no slack in the wiring in the attic and the circuits in this house are whack!

Really brightens the space up!  Now it's time to patch the hole...