After...The house

Now that everyone has seen the before I figure its time for the after pictures. This is what six long years of work, blood, sweat and tears on a tight budget looks like.

Quite a difference! At least I think so.

Sure there are a million things we would change or have done differently now. But we did what we thought was right or fit out tastes and budget at the time. The learning curve was so steep on this house.

For instance, we didn't pick the current paint color. It was quite a shock when we got home and saw this green brown instead of the light sage we thought the paint really was. Picking out the paint color meant an hour on a model home street in Maryland where we climbed over fences to hold up paint chips to actual homes comparing and debating all the different colors. Finally we left with what we thought was the perfect pale green shade.

Somehow paint chips must have gotten mixed up, or too much time passed and we forgot what color was right. After getting a huge drum of custom mixed Ralph Lauren Khaki and handing it over to the contractor, we came home to a house of a completely different color. But it ended up working out just fine and I think fits the historic feel of the house more than the original color we wanted.

We know now that you should get tester cans of all exterior colors first and apply them in two foot sections. That way you can see the color on your house in all different lighting conditions. Not just peeking into a giant drum of paint and saying "huh... I'm sure it will dry lighter"