Ugly House gets a Makeover!

Our ugly fixer upper got a much needed makeover!

Scary!  Isn't it!!! 

We bought this beauty because of its location!!  See my previous post Here!

But it wasn't just that it was ugly, there were animals living between the old cedar siding and our walls!! Mostly birds and a family of bats!!  Now, I realize that bats are good at the lake, they eat mosquitos - but I don't want them living in our walls - just saying!!  We would wake up in the morning to animal noises in the walls, our dogs would go around pointing at the outlets because they could hear the birds chirping in the walls!

  It wasn't very safe either.  None of the balconies were up to code.

The inspector said they would hold people, but when we had anyone over to see the house, for some reason, they were very hesitant to go out on the balconies!!

So we decided to bite the bullet and do it all- new deck, balconies, siding and several windows! It was a huge project and it had to start with the decks and balconies.

There was no access to the upper balconies from the outside.  The lower level is a walkout basement that had a narrow, badly cracked cement pad. Not anymore!!!  We ripped that out!

We extended the lower level out and made a nice size wood deck.   The middle level is where the kitchen and living area are- we wanted to be able to put a table outside the kitchen but that would mean extending out what was there by several feet.  We also wanted to have access to it from the outside so we put in the stairs.  

I should clarify here, that we hired a professional to build our deck and balconies.  There was no way my husband and I could do all this work!!!  My dogs grew quite fond of the two gentlemen who worked so hard for several months to build all of this, they almost became part of the family!

               

We went back and forth with whether or not we wanted to have the second level covered or not. If we put a full roof over the second level, it would have blocked out a lot of light in our kitchen and dining area and we did not want to do that - we liked the light and brightness of the kitchen area. When my husband suggested we just put up a pergola - it was the perfect compromise - it lets in light, yet gives us a bit of shade from the sun.

                            

So once the new siding went up we no longer had the ugliest house on the lake!!

 Here is a picture of the side of the house -

  same view as the second photo in this post - with the new siding. 

This house had a newer brown metal roof and brown stack stone on parts of the home, therefore we stuck with the brown family for the siding.

Since the garage is pretty much all you see from the street when you pull up to our house- I wanted to make sure we did something nicer than a plain garage door.

 This was one of the first things we had done- and I was immediately in love with

my new garage door!

Then when they finished the siding and we put up the new light fixtures

it all came together.

Now we look at it and say we need a new driveway!!  and we definitely need some landscaping in the back.  It never ends!

But it sure looks a lot better than it did - and I am no longer embarrassed to say I live here!!

I am linking up to the following parties:

Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

The Scoop @ StoneGable

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style