A Bittersweet Change to 173
Before we bought 173, the front porch looked like this:
I loved the grill work in the door and the windows. By-the-way, the lady in the picture is (along with her husband) the only owner of this house before us! They owned the house since it was built in 1928! The guy in the picture is the father of one of my best friends! As a matter-of-fact, she's one of the kids in this picture:
A couple years after buying 173, we put a lot of work into the front porch. At the time, we did the best we could with what we had, and it turned out pretty good. The picture below shows the front porch after stripping the clapboard down to the bare wood, putting in a new ceiling, installing a ceiling fan, and a lot of painting.
Notice how the windows opened into the porch? Looks nice doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. They were constantly in the way, and they weren't the least bit weatherproof...
The other thing about our original remodel was that there are 13 windows in the front porch! That's a lot of money, and back in the day, we just couldn't afford to replace them. Well, a couple months ago I told you about hiring a contractor to work on the porch roofs. Well, the guy did such a great job, I hired him to replace all the windows and doors! So, last week (or maybe the week before) we moved all the porch furniture into the dining room, and I hinted at the project here:
Oh...and for years now I have lost sleep over the wisteria that we planted on the side of the porch. That stuff may be beautiful in the summer, but it's insanely invasive, and beginning in the fall, all the way through 'til spring, it looked like this:
I was oh-so-sad to learn that in order for the windows to be properly replaced, the wisteria would have to come down! (Can you read the false sorrow? LOL) Anyway, the outside of the porch was really looking rough too. The wood was so old and weathered it wouldn't hold paint anymore.
Now, 173 is by no means a fancy house, but we do take pride in it and want the ol' house to look nice. THIS does not look nice:
Five days after the contractor started...we have new windows, and a new door with side lights. I haven't taken the "after" pictures yet. The inside of the porch won't get the spruce up from a painting perspective 'til spring, so I'll save that for another post in a few months. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak...
