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Curb Appeal:: Garage Spruce Up

It’s official:  we are the slowest home renovators on the planet. I generate fun home improvement ideas at a lightning fast speed, and then boring things like old toilets needing to be replaced eat up my budget.

One year ago I talked about our grand plan to add curb appeal to our house, and we’ve been taking baby steps in this department. Teeny tiny baby steps. Instead of putting in some kind of fabulous new front door, we opted to take our family to Texas when my son’s football team made it into a very exciting national championship. We are so happy we chose to take the whole family and make some wonderful memories instead of do our front door project, but in the meantime I’m doing everything I can to spruce up our abode with the power of paint. It’s the cheapest way to make a dramatic difference to your home, don’t you agree???

So….you may recall this photo of our house before we moved in.

We took down all those pine trees along the driveway, and the leaning fence. Behind the fence, to the right of the garage, was this door leading to a utility room.
(The former owners added this space onto the house and of course, had it painted in shades of peach. A story for another day.)
We use this space to store our trash barrels, tools, paint, etc. in here. It’s awesome.
Since this little room is so spacious we decided to have double doors added so we can drive our lawnmower in here, just like a shed. 

Since I had already painted my front-facing doors BLACK, I kept the party going on the garage side too. You know me and black. We’re besties.

I also finally spray painted the lights next to the garage doors (I did the matching front door lights 3 years ago!)  What a difference this makes – the lights look brand new. {Here’s a tutorial on how I paint outdoor lights if you’re interested.}

For comparison, here’s our abode a year and a half after moving in….a lot of trees were removed, the fence was down and although it was looking rather bland, it was slowly but surely starting to come together.

And this morning, after a little blackifying:

A can of paint makes a huge difference, doesn’t it?

If you have a very small budget for changing your house, PAINT. PAINT. PAINT. It will shine up your house like a new penny!!

The portico project is still in the wings, along with a new front door and shutters. And something needs to be done to make those double doors look a little less awkward and utilitarian – perhaps a pergola like this….

In the meantime what else can I paint???

Tomorrow I’ll show you my One Room Challenge progress, I better get my butt in gear and do something about that!!

Have a wonderful day my friends!

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Comments

  1. Vel Criste says

    Love the BLACK Lisa!!!! The work never ends and don't worry about doing things fast, I've had my boys bath and guestroom in the works for 3 years now and still it's at a standstill! It truly never ends, but the best part is even if we don't get to doing the plans we plan and projects we come up with, its' OK, life goes on and all the more enjoyable when we do finish something – even the little things right/! So CHEERS to procrastinators!

    Reply

  6. Dana Frieling says

    Your bestie did you right! It looks great. Every time I open my garage door I tell it it'd look much better dressed in black! 😉 Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply

  7. pam {simple details} says

    First, I'm reminded again how much I love your gorgeous wooded lot! What a HUGE difference!! What would we do without our paint to pretty things up when the budget doesn't cooperate?! I just Googled whited house w/black garage doors, ummm not quite the same, I'll just have to admire yours!

    Reply

  9. Kimberly Lemmon says

    Lisa, first of all I love your house! Classic architecture is my favorite. And the black accents make it so memorable!!

    Reply

  11. Nancy C. says

    Your house is adorable and I love the new black paint. I just had my house painted and we painted the front doors black – inside and out! Now I need to pick new hardware. Thanks for sharing your home!

    Reply

  13. Calypso In The Country says

    I love the black, Lisa! And what a great idea to put double doors there. Your house looks so pretty! By the way, if I would have known you were in such a painting mood, I would have flown you down here to paint my bookcases!…Have a great day!
    -Shelley

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  15. Jane says

    Ack…it looks Amazing!! I love black paint. It's so dramatic and adds a classic look to anything. Great job, your house is beautiful!

    Reply

  18. pat pullen says

    I’m looking for a pergola/portico like you show in the last photo. Do you know where I can find one? I like the wall mount (no posts).

    Reply