welcome home

Finally (finally!) we have a new front door. I kid you not when I say that when we moved into our mid-century rancher, the first thing I said I was going to remove was the front door. It had an oval (ick) window with gold-inlaid (ick) detailing. The door knob was also gold (ick ick). Now, four years later, we've finally found a front door that not only matches the historical integrity of the house but is so much more aesthetically pleasing. The Husband installed it with the help of my handy grandfather with minimal cussing. We painted it "andiron," a hue by the folks over at Martha Stewart. I love my new door. It's gorgeous, isn't it?

planter project

The Husband and I finally came up with a solution to fill the gaping hole next to our front porch steps, a precarious drop that my Dad affectionately calls "The Death Trap." It was an awkward space that we filled in partly with expanded shale. My wonderfully talented hubby then built a cedar box planter, which we coated with natural cedar weatherproof stain. We then planted some horsetail reed inside and used a gray river rock as groundcover. We are so very proud of the result. And I'm truly in love with the horsetail. It really is the perfect plant -- spikey, bright green, and tall. I kept seeing it at the White Rock Home Tour and just had to get my hands on some.

Before:

The wonderfully talented husband at work:

Tah-dah:

A closer look at the horsetail:

refinancing the house

Yesterday, The Husband and I met with our financial advisor from Primerica. (If you haven't had a professional create a financial plan for you, get to it!) The purpose of the meeting was to discuss refinancing our 1960 rancher, which has, to my delight, gone up quite a bit in value in the four short years we've owned it (or, in our case, paid a mortgage payment to a bank). Spurred by the interest rate drop that's all over the news, we thought it would be smart to at least take a look at our options. But as we discussed things, it seemed there were a ton (a plethora, if you will) of options out there, besides the basic, refinance-for-a-lower-payment idea. I'm enthusiastic about the prospect of possibly doing some home improvements with our built-up equity, like replacing the 1960s-era windows, repaving the driveway, or (oh, how I wish it were possible) remodeling the kitchen. Suddenly, our little house has so much more potential.