Curb Appeal

Originally not posted on 12/9/08  this was a way to remind myself what my new Christmas tree was going to look like so when I got all buyers remorse-y I would be comforted by what a kick-ass tree it was (is).

I did the single most thankless curb appeal project evah on Saturday.

On Saturday, I repainted my patio railing For real. The paint on the handrails going to the front door were almost completely paint -free , which is weird because I don't think anyone has used my front door since I moved in, so its not from over use. It looked bad from the curb because it  revealed that the railing is made of  el cheap-o aluminum and not actually pricy wrought iron,  and it just made the place look unkempt. It is also in my best interest to make sure it is clear that someone lives here because the city code enforcement people are out in force and they will tack a yellow sign telling you your house is tacky and a mess and you have X number of days to clean it up or suffer the consequences to your door if they have any doubts of your properties occupancy. It would be really ironic if I got one of those because I'm pretty sure it was my non-stop bitching that got them out in the first place.

There are a lot of things around the front of the house that look a little sloppy but this was the easiest to fix and the only one that did not require a heavy truck and a tow line to fix. I am looking at you out of control, over grown, ugly, red-bud shrub!

Friday night  I went out and  bought a can of  black spray paint, with the idea that this task was going to be a one can of spray paint job and the project  was only going to include areas that really needed it - clearly forgetting that all home improvement projects no matter how small take longer and cost more than you had thought they would. This was no different.

The scale of the project was very small. Tiny. Two hand rails needed to be touched up. Emphasis on the "touched up" not repainted - and that was all I did until I realized I still had almost all the can of spray paint left and I didn't want to keep a almost full can of spray paint around  because I think its a safety hazard, so I started looking for other areas that might need a little sprucing up.

Four cans of spray paint and another trip to the hardware store later  and a whole Saturday gone every bit of the railing all the way around the front porch looks great as do my porch lights that even with a new coat of paint, I now really hate because they are too small and very ugly and not at all cottage-y! I have a curved door and a peaked roof I can claim Tudor if I want to and I think I want to claim Tudor cottage now and so the lights must go.

I am the only person in the entire world that will notice my labors, I even repaired the fallen handle on the front of the had rail that has been down since I moved into the house but still I am the only one who is ever going to notice how nice it suddenly looks. The railing is still black, it looks exactly the same except it is now more black, it is now all black. Very much like my lungs after inhaling four cans of black spray paint.

The postman might notice how stunning they look after years of being ignored but if I was the postman, I probably keep my eyes open for possible tripping hazards and stray dogs and not how awesome the railings on on of the houses my route suddenly look. I guess I could have gone with another color, bronze comes to mind because I think it would look nice with the bricks but in that case I really would have had to cover every inch of the railing and even in my gusto to tidy it up, I didn't hit every square inch, some inches didn't need to be bothered at all and some inches were too covered with plant growth to get painted. I do now have some black plant growth here and there but, well, it could be because it hasn't rained in a while. I saw some hostas once that had been burned black by the sun. Chilling really.