Improving the curb appeal

After two years, we finally are close to finishing the front porch.

The house originally had a half wall in front of the door, but we hated it. It confined the space and didn’t serve really any purpose.

With a handy sledgehammer, we busted it all out up to the planter bed. The edge was left unfinished until we could get a grinder or saw to make a clean cut.

And that’s how it remained for two years. Of course, I tried my best to hide it with pots, but I knew it was still there.

So when we were working on the bathroom I realized we could actually finish off the wall with Dean’s handy saw.

There was so much dust and debris flying we didn’t take any photos of us cutting it down. The process was simple. We cut a seam along both sides of the remaining block then broke it off with a sledgehammer. We repeated until we got it all off.

The saw blade did a great job cleaning up the edge with a little patience. I think we may have to buy one for our very own at some point.

Next Nate dug up the sunken cinder blocks that ran the length of the porch.

As he begun to dig each block up he found out that the row was two blocks deep and the bottom layer was fortified with re-bar.

So he dug and pried them out one by one. Once all the blocks and re-bar were out he packed the hole with dirt.

That’s where we stand now. The remaining projects are little aesthetic updates.

I’d like to paint the end of the block wall gray like the rest of the planter now that it’s all even. Then add some new grass where the sunken blocks used to be.

At some point in the distant future, I’d like to extend the patio out and add a walkway. I don’t like how you have to walk up the driveway to get to the front door. We are not going to touch that until we get a few other projects (bathroom, roof, backyard, kitchen) completed first.