Saturday, March 01, 2008
Front Facade
I remember a few years ago the first time I stumbled into the Fairhaven Eichler neighborhood in Orange, CA. As I drove though I could tell that something was different about this neighborhood (other than the houses, of course). Then it hit me (and this was on a Saturday morning): it seemed like people were outside doing painting, gardening, paver-installing, chatting, etc at about 1/3rd of the houses.
I think a lot of times we start renovation projects with things we think we can handle and the things we think will affect our lives the most. In my case that meant starting with simple things on the inside. I've gotten to a point where I think most rooms are in decent shape inside and I've been getting a bit more adventurous with construction projects and ideas.
I've never been terribly happy with the front of my house. If you've been reading, one of the first things I ever did was start a gigantic cleanup effort and simply repaint in better colors. I also removed a larger-than-life ficus tree. As they say, even the longest steps begins with just one step. Here's mine:
Three pieces of advice:
I've long thought that the front of my house is missing some needed depth. Unlike the other homes on my street, my garage is around the back. As of right now, the left fence, right fence, and house are all in the same plane....which is pretty boring. I've been thinking about doing two things to alleviate that: move the left fence out towards the street by 5 feet and build some sort of extension on the front of the house towards the front door. I'm open to feedback:
And another angle:
I think a lot of times we start renovation projects with things we think we can handle and the things we think will affect our lives the most. In my case that meant starting with simple things on the inside. I've gotten to a point where I think most rooms are in decent shape inside and I've been getting a bit more adventurous with construction projects and ideas.
I've never been terribly happy with the front of my house. If you've been reading, one of the first things I ever did was start a gigantic cleanup effort and simply repaint in better colors. I also removed a larger-than-life ficus tree. As they say, even the longest steps begins with just one step. Here's mine:
Three pieces of advice:- Sledgehammering is fun, enjoy it
- Moving away the debris is not fun and will take you 4x as many trips as you thought
- Don't plan on doing anything the next day; you will be too sore to move
I've long thought that the front of my house is missing some needed depth. Unlike the other homes on my street, my garage is around the back. As of right now, the left fence, right fence, and house are all in the same plane....which is pretty boring. I've been thinking about doing two things to alleviate that: move the left fence out towards the street by 5 feet and build some sort of extension on the front of the house towards the front door. I'm open to feedback:
And another angle:
