Before and After

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a great time with our three kids (young adults). My daughter was on a training trip (swimming) for 2 weeks in Florida, then came to CA for Christmas. Fortunately, she missed all the snow storms in IL. From what I understand, all the melting snow is now causing floods. My youngest son will be moving to Portland in another week, so it's probably the last time we will be together for quite a while :-(

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything too creative during our exterior remodel. It's just amazing how a broken water heater has snowballed into a major remodel. We still don't have plants or paths, however, we do have new stucco, new concrete entrance, new paint, new fence and new gutters. The new stucco on the front walls seem to be dry, so we'll be painting the front today. Once that is done, the plants and paths can be installed. Yeah!!! There is an end in sight.

Here's the before and after view from my front door.We removed a hedge on the right hands side, so we decided to widen the entrance. Here's the new entrance. I was tempted to stick something into the wet concrete, but I was good.

Hmmm . . . this concrete and rebar is pretty interesting. I like the industrial feel and the grid.I like it even more after he contrast was increased. Hmmm . . . should I make this into a thermofax screen? Just goes to show that you never know where you'll find inspiration!