I’m happy to report that our backyard is now larger. (jazzhands!)
Remember back in this post, I discussed how we planned to extend our fence closer to the street? Well, thanks to Joey and his dad, the mission is complete.
So, let’s look at a few progress shots and then a few before and afters.
First off, let me just say that I really love our neighborhood. For the very first time as homeowners we live in a place where our neighbors actually talk to one another. It’s pretty awesome.
But, it is an adjustment.
For example, when your fence is down like this…
You must learn to not walk out into the backyard to take pics in your pajamas. There, inevitably, will be a crowd of sweet neighbors who are inquiring to your husband about the project at hand staring back at you. And you will awkwardly turn and flee as if you fear human contact. Which, at that moment, you pretty much do.
So, at this point, instead of just getting it together and changing into actual clothing, you will resort to Plan B. Taking progress pics from inside the window…
The next day, you will have learned your lesson and donned appropriate outerwear. And you will meander out into the yard to snap pics of the two-man team. Surprisingly, they will be not as excited as you are to stop and pose for pics mid-project. But, you will prevail….
And you will ogle the newly gained space in wonderment…
I heart you, new fence. You are beautiful.
(For details about moving a fence, check out this post from when Joey moved the fence in our last house)
So anyways, just so ya know, the pic above is pre-stain. The following weekend after the fence was completed, Joey got to staining the fence. He powerwashed the entire thing the first day, then took on the staining process the following day. I didn’t get any progress pics, but it basically consisted of Joey spraying on the stain and then back-brushing with a large brush to ensure that it was even. We used a semi-transparent stain in cedar, which we were pigeon-holed into using since another segment of our fence by the pool was already stained cedar. We chose semi-transparent since we had both old and new fencing to unite. Semi-transparent stain offers more coverage than transparent while still allowing the wood grain to show through, thereby, creating a more cohesive finish.
Now, for the fun part. Before and afters.
Before…
After…
You may recall that the arch in the branches in the photo above is where the walkway to the shed will go.
Before…
After…
Before…
After…
And here’s the front on that side of the house now…
Nice, right?? Joey and his dad rocked it.
And check out the freshly stained amount of yard we gained…
Heck yeah.
Now this one isn’t a total before pic. It was taken just after we had the house painted (and after joey gussied up the landscaping and added a stone border). It was just the only pic that I could find that really showed the side fence ….
And here’s our house now…
But since I’m a total sucker for TRUE before pics, here are a few shots of our house on the day we closed…
I haven’t looked at some of these before pics in a really long time. I’d forgotten how ugly it was at first. Very institutionally prison-like, in my opinion. Those old windows. Woof! What was really, really encouraging was that while Joey was staining the fence, one of our neighbors whom we hadn’t met yet walked over to Joey and thanked him for helping to make the neighborhood beautiful. And I thank him too. Aside from painting the front door and our metal gate, I can claim no responsibility for our house’s exterior transformation. My husband never ceases to amaze.
Sadly, with all the crazy weather we’ve been having though, there has been one casualty. This awesomely unique evergreen went to the giant forest in the sky after all the rain we had in May…
Goodbye, my LOOOVVVE…
So, now that the fence is extended we’re gonna get going on installing the shed. Which means our garage is gonna look might purdy. Well, for a minute anyways (donttelljoeyisaidthat). And once the weather cools off we plan to work on landscaping both the shed and exterior fenceline to soften it all up.
So, that’s our exterior progress up to this point. How are y’all faring in this heat?
