How a little custom goes a long way

Part of our remodel involved tearing off the south wall of our house and bumping it out six feet. So we went from this:

 

To this:

And then we had the stucco painted because tinted stucco does NOT look the same as painted, and that’s what we had on the rest of the house:

To be honest, Lonnie and I prefer the way the house looks with the additional gable, but still this side felt a little flat. Because it was.

We decided to add some character by installing window boxes, and we wanted to match those on the front of our house. I was skeptical that it could be done right because the ones out front are terribly detailed, and I didn’t know whom we would ask to replicate them. If they weren’t a match, it wouldn’t look right.

Here’s one of the boxes on the front of the house. 

I cruised around the newspaper and looked for a handyman with no promising leads when Lonnie told me one of his coworkers could possibly tackle the job. I had my doubts. I thought, “Oh boy, let’s not call in a favor for this one.”

Well, I’m the one eating crow this time because check out these window boxes:

They are a perfect match to the originals and add a lot to our exterior.

Pre-flowers—cute scallops, right?

Lonnie’s coworker, Bruce, and his son took photos and templated the original window boxes, then built these to match. They added drainage holes, tacked in screening to the bottom of the boxes to prevent soil from falling through the holes, and mounted the boxes to the house. Turns out Bruce was a finish guy from way back. Shame on me for doubting without asking any questions.

So if you’re looking to add something special to your house, go custom. It doesn’t have to cost a million dollars, and it sure makes a difference. And if you’re from southeast Idaho and looking for someone to do a special project, I’d be happy to share Bruce’s number with you.

I will be taking a few weeks off of the blog to get some writing done and spend time with my family, but I’ll still post updates on Instagram. I hope to see you there! I can’t wait to share photos from our annual Fourth of July breakfast—we’ve got one week before the festivities begin. Hope you have a wonderful holiday wherever you celebrate. •