A little preface so you aren’t confused: Let’s play catch up! So, Mr. LMB & I are from Grand Rapids, Michigan. We have lived in NewBern, NC for seven years now because he is stationed here in the Marine Corps. He is getting out of the Marine Corps in November so we will be moving home to Michigan in 4 months. We just sold our home that we built here in NC a few months ago & at the moment we are living in a historic rental downtown NewBern until we leave NC. We own a home in Grand Rapids that we have completely gutted & now it’s being worked on while we are here in NC to make it livable before we move home. Ok.. that should sum it up a little.
Wow! There has not been a Michigan house update in forever. Want to know the reason? Not much has been going on there. I shouldn’t say nothing. My wonderful, amazing, talented, loving grandpa has been working at our house on some pretty big projects like painting all the walls & ceilings, taking the trim and doors off, working on the landscaping, & so much more. Along with other family members who are way too good to us for helping us out. The reason those things have not been updated on the blog is because the little before & afters like that aren’t so noticeable in photos & we are in NC while all this is going on. The big things are starting to move very fast now {we will be moving to Michigan in 4 months!} so expect more frequent updates on the Michigan house as I can get them to you. Not being there for this fun stuff is KILLING ME. I want to get my hands dirty, rip up the floors, paint something, install stuff, but there will be lots of time for that when we get there. For now we are making the house livable before we get there. Anyways the first big thing that we have done since gutting the entire house is install all new windows in the house. Oh, did I forget to mention that on top of re-doing the entire inside of the house that we are re-doing the outside as well? Yah. that’s happening. I have never shown the outside of the house on the blog, so here we go with some before & afters with the new windows. Remember this is before the new siding, new roof, landscaping, doors, ok… I’m done because it’s stressing me out.
The photos may seem a little awkward because the shutters are gone, but these “during” photos make me super happy because things are changing! This picture doesn’t show clearly how awful the old windows were. They were foggy, brown, & just gross in general. The new windows have already freshened the house up & it’s a great start to where we are going! & I couldn’t find the before photo of the back of the house, but here is the after with the new windows & sliding doors. Guess what? The lower sliding door was actually a window up until a few weeks ago. Happy to have another door & more light on that level of the house! Now we need to build the deck back there {I need to stop listing things.. help!} We still haven’t decided on the siding color, but we are leaning towards gray with a black roof. Here is some inspiration that we are working with. What do you think?
Here is a little plan for the outside as of now. Later down the road I want to add a sweet little front porch & we are talking about an addition as well, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Do you want to know what else this means? This blog will never be boring. Just saying. What are your thoughts on gray siding? Would you do light or dark? I would love to hear from you & have you be a huge part of this process! It’s so exciting re-doing this house even if right now we are so far away. I’m thankful for friends who take photos for me & really thankful for my dad who is making sure everything is running smoothly. We truly are blessed beyond words. Thanks dad if you are reading this!!! This week we are ordering kitchen cabinets! It’s all so exciting to me & I can’t wait to update you on what we are doing inside the house. Leave me your thoughts & opinions in the comments below, find me on Facebook, or chat with me on Instagram! xx
Ps. You can read more about the Michigan house {here}.
cool