The ugliest house/yard in the neighborhood

When we moved into our house in DSM, it had been vacant for over 12 months and was a foreclosure.  It needed a lot of work, but we have been doing it… sssslllloooooowwwwllllyyy!  I mean, there is a lot that HAD to be done (like getting the toilets to work and putting in flooring in all the rooms), and now we are at the things that we WANT to do.  But that list could go on forever.  There is nothing that HAS to be done right now!  YEAH! 

When we are out for a walk, we often see our neighbors and begin to talk to them – we greatly desire for our neighborhood to come to know Jesus.  As we begin to talk we always get asked, “So, where do you live?”  All we have to say is, “The white house on the corner.”  Then we get THE LOOK.  You see, since our house was vacant it had become the eye sore of the neighborhood. The white house on the corner was the ugly one that no one was taking care of and had grass that was waist high.  It was THE HOUSE that everyone talked about and was desperately hoping that SOMEONE would buy.  After the initial chit-chat we hear stories about our house and the dogs that once lived there and then they tell us how nice our house and yard look now… it wasn’t very hard.  Just cutting the grass regularly was an upgrade!

BUT speaking of upgrades, we have done SOME things to the house to improve the overall curb appeal.   We added shutters, painted the front door, put up new light fixtures, added some landscaping rocks to make a flower bed, and transplanted some plants and flowers.  We have also leveled the sinking driveway and walkway – you can’t really tell that from pictures, but it was a HUGE improvement. 

BEFORE (the only one I had was in winter, sorry!):

AFTER:

There is STILL work to do, but there is PROGRESS and for that we AND OUR NEIGHBORHOOD is thankful!!!

PS.  I am NOT in love with the white color of the house, but that is NOT something that I am willing to spend money on… there are FAR greater things in this world than adding a new color of siding!