A Big Exterior Update! Painting Our Eaves and Windows Black

Since we moved in this house 4 years ago one big thing on my to-do list is repaint the eaves. Last year we replaced the grey roof with this beautiful black one I started thinking about tackling the eaves. I got stalled with choosing a color and then it was too cold out and then I was too pregnant. Fast forward to July and I finally started gathering my energy to start this project!

The New Roof is Up

Last week I showed you the different options we were considering for our new roof color from our roofer United Roofing. I landed on a dark gray and a lighter gray. After photoshopping both colors onto the house I decided on the darker gray called Charcoal Gray. A few days later the company showed up to work their magic. Yes, absolute magic.

Choosing a New Roof

We knew we were going to need to put a new roof on the house when we bought it 2.5 years ago. The current one is almost white and has weathered  (like a roof should) the elements since probably 20 years ago. We were trying to wait until it got cooler and maybe prices went down a little until we called someone for a quote, but we're finally just ready to get it out of the way and get it off our budget.

Last week we called a local roofing company to get a quote on when they could do it and for how much. They came quickly and told us they could get it done in one day and the price was in our budget. We prepared for the quote to be really high but hoped it would be less than we had planned for — it was only $200 less. We debated on getting other quotes but decided between this larger company or a self-made roofer, we'd feel safer and like we got better quality shingles if we went with the bigger company. The only cost savings we could see with a single roofer is in the quality of the shingles and we didn't want to skimp on that. These roofers even quoted us for taking off all the ugly, unnecessary vents and spiny-vent thing (I think it's called a turbine) off and replacing it with modern vents.

$100 Room Challenge Week 4 | Carport Reveal

Let me start out by saying, this is my second time participating in the $100 Room Challenge. I also participated in the One Room Challenge last season where we remodeled our laundry room. And while that challenge was a little bit easier in the sense there was no budget, we had to build a space from studs so it was a lot of work. But despite those things, if I had to compare both challenges, the $100 Room Challenge wins hands down for a small community of bloggers who support each other in their work/goals. I didn't feel the love from the ORC like I do from the $100RC. So a big thank you to Erin for creating such an incredible environment, it's truly what this whole thing is about. *end small rant*

Now welcome to the carport reveal! I'll keep it short since I know we're all here for the pictures. In 4 weeks and with $100, we turned our dingey, unattractive carport into a semi pretty, useful place to park the car. Catch up on the previous weeks below to see how I built the planter and installed the can light.

Week 1 | The Carport Before & Plans
Week 2 | A Modern Exterior Light
Week 3 | $10 Planter with Herb Garden

The before's aren't the worst, but I'm much happier with how it is now.

$100 Room Challenge Week 3 | $10 Planter with Herb Garden

Going into this 4 week project I had a rough idea of how I wanted this space to look, but I really had no idea about any of the details. Oh yeah did I mention I'm out of town almost this whole week for a work conference? Didn't think that one through. Anyways, the most perplexing little 4sq. ft. of grass/dirt/weeds was too big to have just an oversized planter but too small to put a mini garden. I came across this tapered wooden planter and knew I could recreate s bigger version. Either a tree or a bush or something would go in there. The actual planter itself only ended up costing me $10.

Week 1 | The Carport Before and Plans
Week 2 | A Modern Exterior Light

$100 Room Challenge Week 2 | Modern Exterior Light

Welcome to the second week of the $100 Room Challenge. You can see all of the carport befores in the Week 1 post. This week I had planned on making the big wooden planter to go in the grassy island, but I got as far as buying the materials before hurricane Irma hit our town. Thankfully we only caught the tail end of it when it was a tropical storm, and we didn't have any major damage. But that did eat up my whole weekend and the power being out got the first two days of the week. So this week, I'll share the one small update we did get to: replacing the old mason jar exterior light with a cheap, modern can light.

$100 Room Challenge Week 1 | The Carport Befores & Plan

This year is rolling on by, it's September and Christmas is right around the corner. In July, we participated in the $100 Room Challenge where we renovated the master half bath. And we got so much love from it that we decided to participate in another season! If you haven't heard, Erin from Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry started this challenge as a way to encourage people to improve their rooms, even if it's only a little at a time. We post every Wednesday in September and do the big reveal on the last week. You can read more about how she started this challenge on her blog and keep up with it on social media with #100RoomChallenge.

So what room are you renovating this time? Well, I debated HARD on that question. The full bathroom really needed a paint job and some storage options, and it would probably get more clicks than the second option - the carport. But at the end of the day, I want to pick what would make the biggest impact in our home and that means picking the carport. 

There is room for one car underneath the original house roof, but when we bought the house it came with a nice, big metal carport, leaving us with 2 nicely covered spots. As you pull up to those spots though, now that's a different and much uglier story.