An end in Sight

Whew. This project is just about over. Well, at least the fun part is. Melissa and Cathie really pulled through for us and managed to finish the house within our budget. I'm not really surprised that they ran short... Our house is surprisingly big. It can absorb so much ... At the same time, all of that space is really livable and workable. But how do you make people see it?

Next week we will get new photos taken, and hopefully the marketing-fest will get started!
But for now, rumor has it that Cathie will be hosting an impromptu open house this afternoon. Kind of a sneak preview, to see how other people like the changes. It would be fun (and nerve wracking) to be a fly on the wall. All this time, all this effort. It has to make a difference.

It's interesting, looking at these "after" snapshots, I really see how much this house was supposed to be about "indoor/outdoor" living. There are a tremendous number of windows, and most of them are south facing. But for some reason, in the "before" pictures, your eye was always pulled inside, into the vacant core of the house. With the staging, my eye keeps going to the outdoors. Maybe that is because of the scale of the transformation in the yard, but I think it must be more subtle than that. This house was designed for indoor/outdoor living, as much as that is possible in Wisconsin's climate.

The shady, wraparound front porch is perfect in the intense summer heat, and the screened-in porch is perfect for a more private retreat. We really lived out on that screened porch.

The work that these ladies did in the back yard really paid off big. The walk-out to the back yard is so engaging, it does really draw you into the yard in a way that it never did before. The yard is just a fantastic space for children to play, with plenty of room for play equipment or ball games, although with the park across the street, it can be reserved for more adult uses.

I love this picture of the little garden bench. I think it really draws out the charmingness of the back yard. Like the rest of the house, the largeness of the yard only makes its vacantness seem more overwhelming. It's intimidating to know that you have to expand to fill up all that space. How weird is that, everyone is so hungry for space, we all have too much space, but when you are faced with all that space, it overwhelms you.