prepping the exterior

Our plans for 2012 went something like this:

1. Get Married (gawd, that was soooooooooo 4 months ago!)
2. Fix Up Main Living Space: new wall color, actually hem the curtains properly, paint the ceiling, install moulding so there's no gap for Jaq & Gus-Gus to get in
3. Paint Exterior - All of it.
4. Paint & Spiffy Master
5. Start Kitchen Re-do?

... yeah, no biggie.

So, seeing as item #1 is done and item #2 is somewhere kinda-sorta done (I'm still edging the ceiling... ugh,) we've moved on!

On the right side of the house, there's a flower bed and a walkway to the backyard. On the left side? Oh, that would be the wilderness!

though, the azaleas are lovely in bloom

Sure, ivy-covered walls are romantic or for smart/wealthy-kid schools...

maybe in a little while I could scale the house via ivy?

... BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS

yes. bars. that's where we keep our pet tiger.

Ugh. Just, ugh. Do you SEE that piece that's inside the screen???? You invasive jerk of a plant!

So, obviously, the ivy needed to come off if we were to paint the house. With just a little pulling, most of it came down, and 3 or 4 bags later we had this:

CLEAN!

While back there, we also trimmed the bushes. The one good thing about this area is that between the large bushes, shade from a nearby pine, and the ivy, not much else in terms of weeds (or poison!) grows back here. Which is nice.

The bars, not so much.

seriously, I look like a freakin' warden

We will give this area a good power-washing before painting to clean & remove the ivy debris. The last remaining pieces of ivy will just hang out upstairs until we get a large ladder/scaffolding to tackle it.

After this was cleared, we moved onto demo....

Because, honestly, who wouldn't jump at the chance to swing a sledgehammer at innocent brick?

Back-story: the houses of this model in the neighborhood all have this little planter to the right of the door. No other styles have that. Just this raised-rancher. It's handy for setting items on as you open the door, but not handy as it is tough to get things to grow in there. Let me rephrase. It is tough if you want something pretty, but low-maintenance and year-round to grow in there. Sure, I could have planted annuals ever 5 days to keep things in bloom, but it's a narrow pain in the butt area to work with. Oh, and it was falling apart. There was that. So, we just helped it on it's way to eventual demise.

Fun surprise? There was a line of cinder blocks inside the brick for added support and headache. And, unfortunately, no pics of the after. Someone MAY have had the camera outside when a passing shower started and they MAY have freaked out and wrapped their baby in a towel to be left alone in the hopes that it was ok all along (totally was.) And now, well, now there's primer over it... so... this is more just a leave-you-hanging kinda post, isn't it? You're welcome.

After a long day of exterior work, this is the proper reward:

grilled branzino with a lemon-herb butter