Exterior updates complete: Roof, siding and soffiting

Guess what I got for Christmas! Just a new roof. And siding. And soffiting. And fascia. And gutters. And gutter screens! The roofing company we hired finished up all the work a couple of days before Christmas and now our house is looking mighty fresh.

And strangely quiet now that all the birds and other wildlife can’t get into the soffiting. I’ll spare you all the disgusting details, but the workers found old bird nests around nearly the entire perimeter of the house. Many of the trim boards were rotted out and had holes for birds and squirrels to come and go (and stay). Our wild animal hotel is now closed for business.

And the sea of brown is no more! Now our house has some actual definition between the brick and the roof and the second story. It’s all grown up!

The shingle color is Oxford Grey, which has a greenish tint to it. In the sunlight it looks… well, gray, but on cloudy days it takes on a mossy green hue that I love.

And you’d never know that weird boarded-up window was ever there. Everything looks so neat and tidy.

Yeah, this is still the ugly side of the house with all the utilities, satellite dish, a/c unit and trash cans. But now the siding on the dormers matches the siding on the back side of the house, making everything look a bit more cohesive.

I also had them put brown downspouts where they fell on the brick so they would blend in better. (The gutters and downspouts on the sided parts of the house are white.)

It’s fun to see how our house has changed since we bought it in 2008. I didn’t realize how shabby the outside really was until we polished it up this year. (Excuse the poor image quality above. That’s actually from the real estate listing when we bought the house.)

We’ve got things left to tackle: the walkways, the landscaping, but we are so far beyond what what we purchased 3.5 years ago.

See more of this year’s curb appeal improvements >>