More House Shots

My big accomplishment for the week was staining our front porch! I used Penofin "Sequoia" and it turned out lovely. I still need to do a second coat when it dries out from our last heavy rain. Here are some new pics of the porch and house. We're getting close to completion with only a few things left to do.

Newly stained front porch with gutter. Notice the little black pipe sticking out from the right corner? A chain will attach there for water flow down from the gutter. No more rain dripping on our heads when we walk under the porch now!

The two hours of staining was totally worth the final product!

Front door to be replaced Monday and new porch light is coming soon.

Street shot of the house before the afternoon tree shadow is cast across the front.

View of the left side of the house from behind the trees.

Another side shot.

She's Painted!

At long last after almost eight months of paper work and red tape our 1875 house is finally re-roofed and painted back to her old glory!! It looks amazing and we all love how it turned out! Still to come: new front door, staining the front porch, new gutters, and a second trim color which is a chocolate brown color. (The base coat is Spanish Sand and the trim is Sierra Redwood.) It turns out that the original paint color was very similar to our base coat color. The entire front of the house was stripped down to the redwood boards! The painters did an excellent job and we are one happy family!! The house is ready for Christmas and we're going to blow it out with lots of outdoor decor. Stay tuned for more pics when the details are completed.

Sarah posing in front of the house.

The bottom two windows are new and the upper middle is new as well.

The porch over hang turned out awesome!! We're getting a new outdoor light soon.

Back porch area.

Side wall

Painting Has Begun!

The painting contractor started work today and the house is quite a sight! He has already sanded and primed the back of the house. Winter is almost upon us, so they're moving fast. We have 10 feet of plastic around the entire house, caution tape, and lead paint hazard signs. The exterior paint contains lead, so by law they have to put up signs and cover the ground where the paint chips will be landing.

The back of the house, sanded and primed in one day!

Another shot of the back.

Plastic and caution tape on the back porch.

Some areas of the paint are being completely sanded off.

The new roof!

Our lead hazard caution sign. We may not have many visitors until the painting is done!

Front of the house.

Roofing Day #2

Yesteray the roof was almost completely removed along with all of the tar paper and OSB board. I felt like I was in a 5.0 quake for most of the day...nothing has fallen off the walls yet though, phew! Today is much quieter I am happy to report. As Sarah put it, "It sounded like there was a big giant stomping around up there mom!" Here are some pics from late yesterday and today:

The roof to our play room which is below our bedroom and can be seen right outside our bedroom window. These are thick old growth redwood planks, gorgeous!

Another shot from our window. Note the porta potty in the far left corner of the yard. I never thought we'd have one, but lo and behold here it is!

The shingles arrived late morning and were unloaded on the roof with loud thuds. We didn't see hide nor hair of the cats all day yesterday, poor things!

Stay posted for the after shots in the next day or two!

Raising the Roof!

Today is the day our old roof is coming off! After seven months of planning and preparation the major work on our house is finally under way! The roofers were here at around 7:30 this morning, they don't mess around. Most of the roof should be removed today, and the new one will be installed by Thursday! I'm so glad we're having great weather, thanks God! There's not a cloud in the sky and I'm hoping it will stay this way for a few more weeks so we can get our new paint job done as well!

Justin and I took a walk down the alley and got a few pics of the roofing process.

It's a great day to lose the roof!