The Happy House

I think our house might have sucked before we bought it.

The maintenance on the house itself was superb--but we knew it needed some interior cosmetic work and attention to the yard...



Our house last October, when it went on the market the 1st time



After buying our house, we found out it had been painted just before it went on the market.  It went from being all white to its current khaki color.

But what's wrong with an all white house???  Nothing that we can think of!



In the past few weeks, we have gotten TONS of compliments on our house.  The neighbors have all said, "We really like what you've done--the house looks happy--it's like someone lives there now."

Justin has been spending lots of time outdoors and complete strangers have stopped to tell him our house looks "happy."

This weekend we were standing out front looking at the house when our photographer stopped by.  He asked why we were standing in the yard and well, we didn't know what to say.  Why do you just stand in your yard???  Turns out, he thought we lived on the other side of the alley and when we told him we owned THIS house he was floored.  He said, "Wow, this house looks happy.  It looks like someone actually cares."

Our house, October 2010--somewhat decorated for Fall!



Granted, he works caddy-corner to our house so he has seen this house on a daily basis for MANY years.  But we haven't done much of anything to the exterior of the house so far...next Spring the fence will be painted white, landscaping put in and the new stairs & retaining wall will be installed.  We've only really planted new grass, trimmed back some trees, put some hostas out front and decorated the porch.  Randomly enough, we found the original triple-sectioned window that goes in the top of the house--I'm hoping, hoping, hoping the Heating & Air guy says we can put it back in because that would bring so much charm to the house!

All these comments lead me to believe that our house must have been pretty pathetic in it's previous life.  When we looked at the house, it was back in January...everything was frozen and grey--we expected it to look worn. 



However, the resounding comment is "happy."  Don't get me wrong--I'm glad our house is bringing some cheer to the neighborhood...and secretly, I'm trying to compete with the stone historic Runyon House two doors down at 5th & Osage.  In fact, the house across the street is under new ownership and is experiencing a major facelift...and the bungalow behind us is also getting a new roof and siding after many years of neglect.  It appears that our neighborhood is experiencing a surge of TLC and I can't wait to see the results...as long as those results don't include me scooping smashed pumpkins off the sidewalk!