Exterior: Phase 1

Today marks the official "1 month" mark in the house!  Moving day was March 8, so that makes the 9th the first full day in the house.  To celebrate, albeit in a very boring adult way, a post about our home's exterior and the changes we've made!

One of the upgrades at the very top of our list once we bought our house were the gutters.  The sad, sad, drippy gutters.  I'm certain they were original to the 1968 house, and they needed major help.

Seams everywhere, all leaking:

And they had some weird placement issues, like here, where it just empties out onto the roof [which, over time, paired with an aging roof, has made part of the fascia sag, which is also on the list to fix]

 So I called a gutter company, had them quote it, and finally - after several weeks of either being snowy, icy, or dangerously windy - we got pretty new gutters!

Placement issues fixed, no seams, and fancy gutter helmets that match the roof to keep leaves out!

We went with white because - fairly soon, hopefully - the cream colored trim will be OUT. And fresh, clean white in its place.

 Below, you can see part of the back patio, where a mountain of leaves had been long glued to the cement.  The old gutters would leak all of the rain/melted snow onto the patio right there into the leaves, and it would refreeze every night.  So we had to wait until a consistent enough thaw to get them off.

 And we did!  My mom came and helped me, and after 3 hours of raking, shoving into trash cans, and hauling them to our field, they were all gone.  You can actually see the patio now!

Below, see the old downspout configuration [which, also, notice that there are no elbows on the ground from the downspout.  So essentially water just emptied right onto the patio, next to the house.  A HUGE no no when it comes to trying to keep water out of your basement.  Whoooooo does that?!]

Now, no pipes!  They've been moved to corners for a better look [which I love!]  And they're properly drained from the house.  Like it should be.

 Another view of part of the patio, which I'm not sure if you've seen before....  I adore this area and can't wait to get it all comfy and ready for outdoor sitting.  I've also given the ivy on the wall a bit of a haircut [which it so desperately needed] and I'm watching every day to see which plants green up next!

So, we're officially grown ups.  We excitedly spent money on new gutters.  BUT - in true homeowner fashion, the shiny new gutters just highlight everything else that needs to be done.  The white gutters made the cream trim and pink siding look sooooooo yellow.  So next up on our exterior list [aside from pretty patio furniture and decor, of course] is painting the house!  

Here are a few photos of it now, next to what it'll look like after some [quickly photoshopped] paint and stain on the fence:

 SO MUCH BETTER, RIGHT!?  I'm itching to break out some grey paint and get to it....

Crazy how different this view from our driveway is!  The fence is gonna look hella good with a good walnut stain.  Stay tuned!