Before and After: Debbie's Porch

I've been "too busy to blog" lately, but I thought I'd take a moment to show you a few repairs and improvements I recently made for my client Debbie. Debbie really loves her home, and she plans to stay in it for a long time, so she made a list of "little things" she wanted done to make her house just right. Everybody has those; even if you buy a great house, there's usually that one little thing that you want to change.

In Debbie's case, I was able to make a few simple changes that updated the house and brought it out of the 20th century and into the 21st. In this post, I'm going to show how just a few small updates gave a fresh look to the porch. Here's a "before" shot:

Her chief complaints about this porch were the railings (which were rotten and peeling) and the dated light fixtures and shutters. I replaced the railings with new Trex composite railings which will never need to be repainted:

Then I updated the light fixtures:

Before: Rinky-dinky

After: Much better!

And last, but not least, I updated the windows. She wanted the windows to look taller, so I added white trim at the top and bottom of each window, and then I updated the shutters with something more stylish:

Now she has a porch with solid railings that will last a lifetime, and trim and details that make it look fresh and contemporary. This is yet another example of how a modest budget can make a big difference.