Project Farmer's Porch...complete

We couldn't be happier with the transformation!

A little side by side comparison. The changes were the new porch (obviously) and a new door and new double upstairs windows. I'm so glad we did all of this.

Here's a better picture of just the 'after':

More updates!

I am so amazed at the transformation the house has taken on with the addition of the front porch. It seriously feels like a different place to me. We've gone back and forth lately on the upright posts and the railings and I'm not sure we've fully decided on anything, but I know at least these are issues that can be dealt with down the road.

The problem is we don't love the feeling of the white pvc type banisters. We both love the feel of real wood, it's just so much more sturdy and feels 'real'. BUT...I love the look of what banisters. I just feel undecided and I've been very good at making decisions regarding the porch.

Anyway, here are some new pictures:

At this point I think here is what's left:

Finish the decking

Two sets of stairs

Banisters

Put in ceiling

Finish lighting

Install ceiling fan

Replace siding on house

Siding on side of porch roof

Install new front door

Install new double window upstairs

I'm probably missing a few things, but we're SO happy with everything and we've really enjoyed watching it come together!

July 7th update

I was so shocked when I came home today!!

July 5th progress

The decking was delivered and we love it!

Making more progress!

July 1st progress

June 30th progress

Footings are poured!

And our permit!

We've decided on the decking color!

Saturday Pat and I went to look at the colors of the decking for the porch. At first we didn't love any of the samples they had there. We had sort of agreed on one, and then I picked up a catalog of the company's new hardwood line.

We both immediately agreed that the "Brazilian Cherry" was very close to what we envisioned (luckily we have pretty similar taste).

Since they didn't have a sample we didn't want to say yes immediately because pictures don't really reflect what they look like. Our builder dropped off a sample yesterday and we both agreed, that's the one for us.

Here is a picture of what it looks like (on the right with the dog on it). I hope we love it!

Contract is signed!

We met with our builder last night and signed the contract! He is applying for the permit with the town today and he gave us these drawings. It's starting to feel so real! Hopefully he'll be pouring the footings next Tuesday!

The front porch project has (sort of) begun!

We're really excited to have the porch, but I was very sad about pulling up our gorgeous walkway. It was one of the features I loved the best about the outside of our house.

The builder is hopefully going to be starting soon. We had to pull up the walkway so he could lay the footings as they'll end up right in the middle of where the walk used to be (8 feet out).

If you look at the top picture of the full house we're also going to make the upstairs windows match. I have no idea why they didn't build it that way, but it seems stupid to me and it has always bugged me.

We're also going to be installing a much larger front door with double 14" sidelights. I am very excited about that as well!

Here is a rough rendition of the door we ordered (should be in sometime next week):

I am so excited and I can't wait to share the progress with you guys!

Front Porch

We're in the process of potentially have a front porch built on our house. This afternoon we drove around some developments to try and get a feel of what we liked.

This first one is pretty much what we're looking for. I like the look of the straight roof line vs. the hipped roof below. The only problem with this one is the lattice work. I have a serious hate of lattice.

Hip roof with fancy columns. A little too fancy for us.

Another example of straight lines, although this roof doesn't go all the way to the end of the house. However, it does have these great straight slats on the bottom that I love instead of the lattice.

This is also similar to the doorway that we'll hopefully be upgrading to at the same time. When you add a porch you lose a lot of light so hopefully adding the two sidelights will let a little more in. I like this one.

So, keep your fingers crossed for us that the quotes come in affordable!

It's been a year!

A year ago today we put in the offer on our house. It was accepted two days later (the 27th) and we closed a month after that (February 27th). I can't believe it's been a whole year already, it feels like yesterday! I remember how long it took until the house actually felt like ours. I think that had to do with the fact we didn't change anything (paint, flooring etc). It was perfect and still us. Every week for this entire year we have commented on how much we love our house!

This weekend we really blew some of the money I've been saving grocery shopping. Saturday we bought blinds for the study and one bedroom upstairs (although we found them at Big Lots and they were more than 50% cheaper than Lowes). We also bought a table for the laundry room and a dvd tower. But we did have a 20% off coupon for everything!!

Sunday we went to brunch with Pat's parents at this wonderful breakfast buffet at The Red Fox and it was wonderful! Then we went shopping at the outlets in North Conway because we were both in need of some new clothes. We both hate clothes shopping so much, but sometimes it's necessary.

There is ONE thing I didn't mind shopping for though. A new purse! Coach opened an outlet this summer there and we hadn't been in. Probably a good thing since I found this beauty I needed!

It had been years since I had a new purse and it was high time. I love it.

Baked Stuffed Haddock

Do you know how great it is living close to your parents? Well, if you have awesome parents like mine...it's pretty great.

Last week Mom & Dad made this amazing haddock with crab meat stuffing and Mom dropped some off for Pat and I. It was delicious. They seriously made the stuffing with a pound of crab meat. Yum!

She even dropped off the potatoes for us. She's so great.

In other news, we had some friends over this weekend to help us with some yard work. There was this stump I wanted up righted and some more trees to cut down. So Mitchell & Phil made their way down from Fryeburg to help us out. We spent our evening sitting around our fire pit table enjoying some burgers and beers. What a great weekend.

The boys up righting the stump:

That's the huge brush pile we hope to burn soon if we ever get some rain.

Our backyard with the two leaning birch trees gone:

The front yard with the Daffodils up: