Promises, promises

I probably shouldn't promise that I'll post anything "tomorrow", as it usually never happens that way. But you already knew that, right? Promises, promises...

Anyhoo! Without making this a longer story than it needs to be, I'll preface this photo montage by saying that we may or may not have gotten a violation notice from the city for chipping paint on the outside of our house. And it may or may not have arrived on the husband's birthday. And I may or may not have gotten really, really mad. I'll let you be the judge.

True, we really did need to touch up the paint on the outside of our house. It's been a long time coming, but the inside of the house has gotten our full attention for the last 4 years. Who can blame us? Afterall, we live indoors, not on the front lawn. The chipping paint has bothered me since day one, but nothing like a city violation (that we may or may not have gotten...ahem...) to get you into action!

So here's the before...yikes. Although, before you take a good look, I'd like to point out that this is the worst (ie. weathered) side of the house and this photo was snapped after I scraped away the chipping paint (and almost a few very weathered shingles). I can never seem to get myself or the camera together before a project ever begins...sigh...



Bad news bears. And no, I'm not referring to our ugly gas meters either.

And here's the after (sorry, no before shot of this area...but it was far less worse than the photo above)...

If you look closely, you'll see one of my dead plants hanging from above. Which, come to think of it, I really need to take that thing down. And you'll see that the ugly rotting steps are still there. Contrators who "promise" to get things done in June, aren't really on my good side right now. Okay, moving along...

So in case you want the full effect, here's a little perspective for you....

What!?! I know. The good news is that I'm over halfway finished with the porch. And then it's up to the husband to get on the 'ol ladder and touch up the paint that's chipping just beyond the porch area you see here. The husband wasn't too happy that I took on this project without him (I waited until he was out of town last weekend...I'm sneaky like that), as he wanted to do it all himself. But with his work & school obligations, I had no problem taking on the task of the porch myself. In fact, besides the occassional neighbor who stopped to admire my work, I hid myself behind the landscaping & painted in peace for several hours (minus a visit from the neighbor's busy-body cat). Who knew painting your house could be so serene?

Oh, and for anyone who's curious (I'm sure that would be all of you), we matched the paint at Sherwin Williams with a quarter sized sample from the porch...and voila! Our gallon of outdoor paint became instant twinsies with the existing paint on the house.

And that folks is all she wrote. I'm off to enjoy a long weekend...and hopefully stay cool!