I see a blue door and I want it painted black...

Things are moving along!  Since we don't actually live there yet (we just do creepy stalker drive bys every day) there isn't too much we can really do, so I'm obsessing on what the front looks like.  It's a fairly standard colonial and is pretty nondescript, but I do like that there is no vinyl siding showing (and also that the garage doors are side-facing) but the colors on the house bring me right back to.. you guessed it.. 1987. In person the blue is not quite as light, and the brick is actually a fairly dark shade (both of which make it look a little better than this picture depicts). However, I think that some paint could bring us into the present. 

How it looks today:

After my mad photoshopping skillz - How I envision it looking with the shutters and front door painted black:

Classier? Definitely less 80s. Brad told me he doesn't like how I made the area around the lanterns dark, so that part of the plan is probably out, and we've also discussed a brightly colored front door.  The house directly across the street has black shutters and a red door, so we probably won't do that. But I've been spying on houses with colored front doors and pinning like crazy, so I'll bring some options when we are ready to tackle this project! If only painting in real life was as easy as painting on the computer.

I'd also like to change out the lanterns that flank the front door.  Up close they look something like this:

I could paint them (I've been itching to get my hands on some Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint and see how they transform) but I did see a few more modern lanterns while checking out our local parade of homes. I haven't done much research but liked these two in person:

On the homefront, Brad and I hated all the crappy chores we had to do today (getting rid of our broken treadmill, old rugs, packing clothes and moving boxes into our friends basement) and complained about our respective backaches and how we each did more that the other person.  I bitch, but I know in the grand scheme that these are annoyances and not problems and it will be so worth it someday.  Shout out to Pat and my sister for all their help so far!

We got the quote from the contractor for our first floor projects (taking out the wall between the living room and family room, bathroom vanity, kitchen countertops and hardwood floors).  It wasn't outrageous (truly, truly, truly outrageous) but some parts were more than we expected (like removing an entire load bearing wall on the first floor).  We still think it's feasible though, so all plans are go!  We also picked a tile to go behind the wood vanity in the bathroom, and while it isn't what I thought I would get I LOVE it. I'll let you in on all of our tile dilemmas soon.  Are you on the edge of your seat?