Between Two Pheasants...

I find that one of the most aggravating part of doing any sort of home improvement is that once you spruce up one area, everything else looks a little sad and dingy. Such is the case with our front porch. Our house is looking beautiful but the front porch is a totally Debbie Downer. Wah-wah! At some point in this Pheasant's House's history, the owners painted the red concrete porch red. Probably to match the brick, but it looks so bad. And, the color of the concrete below is pink. There's NO WAY it can look good. The paint has been peeling off over the years and left the porch with a blotchy red look. Like, worse than a teenager's face. It looked even worse once we power washed it.

So, here's our beloved home between May 1st and Memorial Weekend. This first picture shows the giant hole in our siding that was covered up with sheet metal. We took out a wall a/c unit when we put in the mini-split system. Hence, the hole. Knowing we were going to patch and paint the house anyway, we left it. So ugly. Here's the next phase in the process on this part of the house. Patching the hole! Our new handyman (not to be confused with The Handyman), Ricardo, and Jesus took siding from underneath the double window to match the second story siding. And, here's the patched hole. Viola! As you can see, the back of the house has also been primed, but the trim paint hasn't been put on. Not sure about that smiley face. By mid-May, the back of the house started looking like this. Lots of patching and extra layers of primer. May 16th, front of the house! Shut the front door! Literally, it's yellow and beautiful! A close up of the front porch. T...

Well, hello there, old friend! Yeah, it's me. Totally slacking on updating this blog. Particularly lame because we've had lots of progress with the Most Exciting Update. Yep, the house is finished! Shhh! Don't tell anyone that it's actually been 99% finished since June. There was so much progress in April and May that it doesn't feel right to skip to the end. Gotta prolong the suspense a little longer. In April, we finally got body paint! Still looking like the Coat of Many Colors. At this stage, I am so giddy because the color is just perfect! The house really started to transform on both sides. Here's a close up of the windows.  After scraping and after painting. Huge difference, don't ya think? Here's the same window during different stages of the process. The front of the house started to get some attention too. (Neighbors let out a huge sigh of relief) It already looks so much better, but what about those shutters?  Th...

Remember the Valentine's Day roses we planted? Well, guess what? Happy Spring, y'all!!!

PAINT! We have paint, everyone. It's amazing! Last week, my mom and I went to NYC to celebrate a big milestone birthday for one of my most favorite cousins in the whole world. While we were gone, Jesus started painting our trim. The Handyman was so great about sending me pictures so I could see the progress.  Western Wall Front of house House from the street: Doesn't it already look much better even though it still looks like a Calico Cat? I'm so giddy with excitement.

The alternative title to this post is "Cosmetic Work: Fillers and Plumpers." Remember how I was telling you about all the rain we had at the beginning of March and how there wasn't any work on the exterior paint? Well, things drastically changed over the last two weeks. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and Jesus has been able to do a lot of cosmetic work. He's filling cracks and holes and plumping up depressed areas. We're going to turn our house from an aging Hollywood Queen to a fresh, young star! Check it out! These pictures are from March 24th through March 30th. The yellowish-beige color is the putty that's filling the cracks.

Question: how do you really freak out your neighbors? Step 1. Paint your house bright blue. Step 2. Change color to gray half way through. Work progresses around the house. Here's the latest Front of the house:

For Valentine's Day, the Handyman and I agreed that we would  treat ourselves to a nice dinner (and a babysitter--thanks Gramma) and get roses that wouldn't die in 5 days. For a while now, I've wanted to plant rose bushes in the little strip of grass between the sidewalk and curb. Fun fact: this little space has a name, actually a bunch of names. According to Wikipedia, it's called a  road verge ,  besidewalk ,  boulevard ,  city grass ,  devil strip ,  government grass ,  hellstrip ,  island strip ,  nature strip ,  neutral ground , out lawn ,  parking strip ,  parkway ,  planting strip ,  road reserve ,  sidewalk buffer ,  tree belt ,  tree lawn ,  utility strip , or just a  verge. Our neighbor on the West, a certain well-known swim instructor, also has rose bushes and mulch in his hellstrip (heehee). Here's the before pic:

You know when you're waiting for something, and waiting, and waiting, and then finally you get to do it. It's bigger than your birthday or Christmas or a trip to an ice palace. Okay, maybe not that last one, but what if you had to wait TWO whole years for your birthday. That would suck, but then it would be amazing when you actually had your birthday. Well, 730 days after moving in, we are getting our HOUSE PAINTED!!!! It's so exciting! It's so expensive! It's so exciting! It's so expesive! Okay, well there is a little mixed emotion here because picking out paint that you're supposed to love for a decade or more is hard. Like, really hard. Maybe even harder than picking your child's name? Okay, maybe not. But, the time is finally here and we have to get down to business. Actually, Jesus is getting busy (heehee) on the house. He's going to work on it slowly...on the weekends...which is good because it gives me more time to think about colors. Today,...

So, the meaning behind the name of this blog "Between Two Pheasants" came from the Funny or Die segment "Between Two Ferns." Well, I'm happy to report that we finally have our two ferns. I received two basic flack urns as a Mother's Day gift last year and finally got around to planting them.

At the beginning of March, we said goodbye to our furry child, Blaze the Wonder Dog. It was a sad time in our lives as so much was happening all around us. She was 14 1/2 and lived the most amazing life. She loved playing frisbee, "herding" us, chasing the cat out of the yard, giving an infinite number of kisses, sleeping on the bed, and spending time lying at our feet. We've had a dog for so long that I forgot what it felt like to come home to an empty house--no one to greet you at the door. Even after nearly three months, her absence is still felt. We loved her so.