Our Farmhouse-Before Pictures

Our home

What you've all been waiting for-- a stunning photo of our new home in Sewickley, PA!  :)

Yes, it's a little sad looking (okay, a LOT sad looking), but this is only temporary.  We plan on fixing the outside and our 1 acre yard this spring/summer. 

For those of you who don't know, my fiance, Steve, is a contractor.  He focuses on luxury bathroom remodeling for his business, SRW Contracting Inc. (http://www.srwcontractinginc.com/), but he is pretty much able to do anything and everything to a home.  He is amazing!  I love that I'm marrying him! :)  Anywho, when we were house hunting back in September/October 2010, we were looking for a "cheap" home that needed just about everything.  We saw a lot of crap... but then we came across this beauty in Economy Borough- a farmhouse built in 1910 with a ton of character. We both LOVED the area, the land, and we saw its potential.


Left side of our farmhouse (used to be the front years ago)

It was severely neglected by its previous homeowners (more pictures to come in the future, promise!) and we wanted to turn it into the beautiful farmhouse it could be.  So, after months of negotiating and waiting, we finally signed the mortgage on December 15, 2010, and the house was ours!  Steve and I were ECSTATIC!    
We worked on it for 2 and a half months straight, and the construction has taken a toll on the outside.

Notice our mud pit of a yard?  That is from all the trucks during the winter months.

Well, today we got to work on the outside a bit, cleaning up the yard, and I figured it was a perfect time to take some "before" shots of the outside of the house!  The way Steve works, I need to get the before shots in sooner rather than later.  He is quick!

Even with our clean-up efforts, our yard is still pretty "Beverly Hillbillies" looking...


  Nice rug on the swing set!  And do you see the burn pile in the background on the left!?

Where the pool sat (this is actually a HUGE improvement)

The shed-or a gateway to hell?

Garbage from the woods (there is STILL a lot more).  Happy Camper dog!

Despite the redneck landscaping we have going on, I still LOVE my home.  I love not living in Pittsburgh anymore.  I love being able to see the stars at night!  I love not hearing traffic and sirens constantly.  And I really love not having to deal with nosey neighbors. 

As for the plans of the exterior, Steve is thinking BIG!  He is going to be putting a wrap-around porch in the front and to the right.

Front

Right

Also, Steve plans on putting a red tin roof on the main roof and the porch roof, kind of like this:

Picture from http://thefunctionalspace.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-cheer.html

As for the exterior colors, we obviously want to go with a lighter, natural color.  (Quick side note: Do you believe the exterior of our house used to be dark brown?!  It faded to that olive color!)  Steve and I like the beige/gray family.  We were thinking something like this for the house.   

I'm not even sure where I want to go with trim color yet.  Any ideas?

Steve is quite ambitious and motivated, but there are budget constraints.  I know he is pushing to get the outside in shape because we are getting married here in October.  I'm feeling optimistic and I believe him in (and in me!).  I'll keep you posted on our progression.

Time to get back to unpacking my art studio (those pictures to come this week!).

Peacing out,
Nikki