Ding Dong. The Red Is Gone.

(almost)

The weekend after our new windows were installed, the exterior of our house got a mini-makeover that we are so excited about! It had occurred to me that though it seemed like the outside of our house had a ton of red, it was actually only on the shutters (just 6 of them), the front door, and the trim around the garage. That's so manageable.

I keep using this old picture from last year and feeling like a fraud, but in this case, it's the one that shows the red looking the "reddest"

The window guys had to take down our old shutters to put in the windows anyway, so I ordered some new ones and pinned some fun repurposed shutter-craft ideas for the surplus that was headed my way. Well, let me tell you, as soon as the first shutter hit the front yard in a mangled twisted mess of rotten wood and cobwebs I knew I would not be needing those pins. Pity...I had the spots for a shutter-mail-holder and a shutter-console-table all picked out. The window guys also wouldn't put up our new shutters because they weren't exactly the same size, so we couldn't reuse the existing holes. Lame. Even though the dirt left from under the old shutters was so thick it almost looked like they were still up, we really couldn't leave the house looking like that, so there was only one thing doing.

Oh, but look at those pretty windows...

Husband had to go up on the roof. Actually, I suppose I could have done it, but come on. It was not easy going-up there (not as bad as The Worst Ever, but close). The plastic nail-like fasteners bent and broke off if they got snagged on the siding and weren't reusable.  Husband was so frustrated with the things, and I was showing my support by passing him supplies through the window and endlessly nagging things like "Are you sliding?" "Why aren't you holding on?" "Don't get cocky!" or, the one I'm most proud of: "No whistling on the roof!!" Don't judge, I know what happens when you fall off a roof, I was really nervous.
It all turned out mostly well in the end.  The new shutters went up. They are very slightly bowed, and didn't quite cover the holes in the siding from the old ones, but I don't think either of those things would be noticeable if you didn't already know.
The house looked totally confused until the next afternoon when Husband switched out the downstairs shutters to match.  I wasn't around, but it apparently went much more smoothly.  I'm not saying those two things are related, but I'm not saying they're not. I can't get over how good they look against the brick! And how the brick looks prettier with the brown to play off of!

So next, we turned our attention to the trim around the garage. Husband took one of the shutter fasteners to the store and matched it to a couple of paint samples, and once we tried them up on the trim there was an obvious winner. I scrubbed down the trim, siding, and garage doors (man, was that satisfying!)...

and then we filled and sanded as many of the imperfections as possible and slapped up two coats of Behr's French Roast in Exterior Satin (that name!), and we LOVE it.

The dark brown is so crisp, and I can't get over how much more I like the color of the brick now than when it was next to the burgundy.

Unfortunately, those rusty gold light fixtures have become even more painfully, painful.

I'm also taking suggestions on what color to paint the front door, the last remaining spot of red - I'm thinking green or yellow.

Rest In Pieces, Magnolia

Well, we're going to lose our beloved magnolia tree on Saturday. The crack has worsened significantly over the last few days since I noticed it, there's already lots of decay inside, and the carpenter ants are having a field day with it all.

It's ironic really because there are 8 trees on our little square of property, and they all either drop something irritating (maple helicopters, rotting cherries) or are kind of ugly...except this one. I loved this one. It gives us shade on the patio and back of the house, and it's the first thing to bloom in the spring.

I didn't even know what kind of tree it was until this year when it bloomed in April (I think?) and surprised me. Magnolias will always remind me of springtime in college when, after suffering through the worst frigid days all winter long, those pink blooms were a beautiful sign of beautiful days on the horizon. I was so happy to have one of our own in the yard to let me be nostalgic for those times again every year.

The tree guy asked how attached to it I was, and actually gave me the option of thinning it out, putting a huge bolt through the trunk and basically wiring it back together (at a higher cost than cutting it down - by the way), but that obviously doesn't make any sense. It's not going to get any better; it's not going to repair itself. It would just be delaying the inevitable day we'd still have to cut it down (or it falls down and causes more damage). It's a no brainer.

Thanks for all the shady times, Mags - we'll miss you!