Casa du Café

Dried-out wood is a sad sight.

So it's with a great deal of relief--and happiness--that I can look at the exterior of my house now that it is finally painted.

We've been living here for 6 years. When we moved in, Cece and I created a master list of all projects, conducted independent ranking of those projects, and then merged the two rankings into one.

"Obsessive," you say? Maybe. But in all the years together, we've never had a less contentious relationship when it comes to the priority of home projects.

Here's the house before the paint job:

And here it is afterward:

The color is much warmer and the job also managed to repair the south wall (left), which was a battleground a couple years ago between a Northern Flicker and me. It was covered with pock marks, metal plates, and a very attractive hanging net. I'm sure the neighbors are pleased with the improvements.

All of our work on the house has been gradual and it's really coming together. From a time capsule POV, here's what the house looked like 4 years ago (Courtesy of Google Maps):

And here's a similar view today: