Curb Appeal

It all started with the planters at the bottom of this photo.

They were hand-me-downs after the corporate offices of FMI (Drew's company) relocated and no longer had a use for them.  While assessing the front yard one evening and trying to determine the best placement and filler for our new planters (there are actually 3 of them) we almost simultaneously came to the same conclusion. 

Within 30 minutes the following happened.

Out came the sawzall





First section removed

Second section removed

A little help from the apprentice

Once more piece

And just like that we were free of the bulky and unattractive railing that always seemed to make the front door look off-center and was in desperate need of a coat of paint. 

Of course, when we sell the house some day we will have to replace the railing (building code and safety regulations, blah, blah, blah) and I suppose it's possible our insurance man would balk at the railing free steps (shhhh...don't tell!).  But we own the place.  And we don't operate a business out of it.  So we went for it.  And gosh darn if we don't love it!

From our perspective it was an immediately improvement in the curb appeal department, but we weren't done there. 

The next step was spray painting the concrete (yep...they're heavy suckers) planters.  While I don't dislike the natural concrete color, for our purposes I was going for something a little more finished looking.  I neglected to take in progress shots of the painting process so picture me laying down plastic, shimmying the planters on top and applying 3 coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint over the course of a day.

Then fast forward about a week and the planters, along with our other pots and a new hook by the front door, finally had some bright flowers to keep them company.

Here is a side-by-side before and after.

Improvement, right? 

We think it feels so much more open and colorful and welcoming. 

But we didn't stop there.  The backyard has seen some improvements too.  Stay tuned for those updates soon.