Facade remodel at our house

This post is about our gable make-over, but I feel like Cindarella dancing around with birds and mice and shit. I have three nights of sleep under my belt, and a solid plan to help me stay on this path. I feel like doing air pistols, but of course I can't because of the cartoon birds all in my grill.

Before:

Last year when we had our kitchen done, we also asked Scott, our awesome contractor to look at our gable. We had asbestos siding up there! A bitch to move and dispose of, but since we had so little of it, we just paid for it, and moved on. This is one of those classic stories of starting a remodel and ending up going whole hog, and it was expensive. Well, not expensive, but I had not budgeted for it. We were only going to fix the trim, and Scott built the new grill, and that white area under the top bracket (no idea what actual terminology is), and we designed that exaggerated dentil moulding business together too. Anyway, he was looking at it, and was all: Michelle, you need to change the siding, it isn't fair to all the new trim. So we chose cedar b/c I couldn't decide what color it should be.

I stripped and painted that window myself. Never again! All of the siding had to be stripped and re-painted. We hired someone for that job.

When it was all done, we had our painter come and do the trim up nice and bright, and the porch, and the masonry. I hated that burgandy so damn much, but really I love that green more than anything! I think it would look amazing with black and white tulips against it, but I digress.

After: 

We still have the old fan, and old door in this image.

I changed the fan since then, and the plants have gone gangbusters. See below. 

Nice detail of the work Scott did. I heart dentil moulding so much, but we couldn't find anything with the right proportions, so he just build this.

 Now, our porch needs to be re-painted, so don't look at it too hard. We also need a new welcome matt, and O needs to take down the intercom thingy he bought wich totally doesn't work and I am still annoyed about it! Anyone else have a tech-geek husband who wants to rig up your house with cameras and gadgets? Sigh.

I have purchased a rosemary to replace that ill-advised butterfly bush on the right, but I have not actually done it yet.

Remember when we went to Spain, and I fell in love with the gardens at the Alcazar?  Well, that was totally the inspiration for the balls.

Chairs that my dad made.

I changed the door. Just want to Lowes and said, I need a sold wooden entry door, no shenanigans  I bought the least expensive one, is it Fir I wanna say? It looked yellow, so I stained it black, and then wiped it off so the yellow sort of shows through, so it has a dark green look. I bought new entry hardware b/c the crappy one we had before made me scrape my knuckles all the time, plus it was all curvy and stupid looking.

Next we installed security storm doors. They have great UV protection, and we are west facing, so that is important, plus we like having two doors. Our front door opens into the living area, no buffer, and that kind of energy isn't restful. I choose a home on a hill, so you don't see the road from the door, plus we live on a dead end, extra wide road. We have almost not traffic, and pedestrians feel far away too. I like to feel like I am in a little next in my home, an apartment is really the perfect living situation for me, especially if it has roof space, but again, I digress.

I am hiding the huge outdoor electrical socket with this flat, tall planter. I think its really pretty. The other terracotta one I had was enormous.