Outdoor Happiness

When back in the day when I first bought my house the back "yard" was a very sad and terrible looking space. Since the dryer sat in front of the door just enough that you couldn't use it, I didn't give much attention to it. I would just cringe and pretend it wasn't there when I saw it. Here's an original angle:

A wondrous "before" shot of the door of doom:

The weird cheap light fixture that has never worked in my recollection:

Overall, I wouldn't describe it as a pleasant area. The cheap lighting, the scary door, the cheap tiny piece of gutter above the door, broken steps, and peeling paint. So this year I decided it was time to step up the game on the entire exterior. Last summer I replaced the light on the front of the house:

The lovely gentle that gave me the light for the front, also gave me another for the back! So after one year of having it around the house, I decided to finally install it:

The new stark white door looks so incredible and keeps the house so much cooler. I love it! But it did make the peeling paint look that much more terrible...

Here's a full range view, ignore the lumber and debris, that should be gone soon!

Every year I repaint the front porch, so it totally makes sense that I should repaint the back porch. Finally. After six years. I used the same paint from the front porch to keep costs down and make it look cohesive.

Ah fresh paint how much I love you! Here's another view from the same angle with the light and paint. The new steps also look fantastic! There are still a few things to do, for instance; clean up the rubbish, paint the new step runners, and fix the mulch and rock leading up to the steps. 

 

I feel like it looks a thousand times better! It makes the back of the house much more in line with the rest of the house. Plus it helps increase the resale potential, if I ever get to that point of course. Maybe next year I can build a wood fence along the chain link to create more separation and visual appeasement from the neighbor's yard. Hopefully before the summer is out I can get you a full updated image of the space with accessories and everything! I hope you like it as much as I!