Removing A Forest

OK so maybe it wasn't a forest but it felt that way if you looked at the before pictures! Last week while I was visiting my parents with the boys (their awesome sitter was on a much needed vacation) work began on the new house. First up? Tree removal.

Let's start with the before shot so you can reference what trees I'm talking about...

What house you say? Exactly. That's the point. There is was a giant cedar tree in front of the house that was massive. Everyone who saw it said it had to come down or we had to put lights up and have a giant Christmas tree on year round as a landmark. There were also huge azaleas and other overgrown shrubs in front of the house that really dated it.

Here's another view of the front yard before de-foresting:

I'd also reference the roof which was in very poor shape but you can't see it BECAUSE OF THE MASSIVE TREE. So imagine my delight when I receive an email from our contractor with this!

 

You can actually see the house! Well most of it since The Big Red Box is blocking a small portion of it.

They took out the giant cedar along with 5 additional small trees that were scrubby and/or dying. I learned from our new neighbor that one was just planted 2 years ago and was expensive. Ooops. We also went ahead and asked them to remove the overgrown shrubs in front of the house so we have a clean slate when we start landscaping in 2020. Seriously, it's going to take that long to save for landscaping after we update so many other higher priority items.
 

Shortly thereafter they started work on the roof. In the before picture the old roof is on complete with the little twirly ventilation thingy's (I'm sure that's their technical term) that were on the back. But now we have architectural shingles, no twirly ventilation thingy's, a newly installed attic fan and all the other small repairs that were required when they ripped the old roof off. It's not glamorous but very needed (and expensive).

Eventually (or maybe sooner) we'd like to tackle painting. The brick has a lot of stains and paint drippings that make it look old. The shutters are faded and the aluminum siding wasn't painted properly the first time. All that = much needed paint job. We're strongly considering painting it ourselves. I love a painted brick house. Anyone have any suggestions on how to paint brick? I'm almost tempted to start it now so it's done before we move in. I hate sitting around during all this time and not doing a little DIY.
 

Next up this week via our contractor, starting the kitchen cabinets (adding where there were none), widening a few doorways inside, building a laundry closet in the hallway and the removal of wallpaper. They might even get to the painting of the ceilings. It's going to be an exciting week in Schrallville, ladies and gentleman!