We’re still in Richmond for now (but not for much longer!), and we wanted to wait until we were there in person to publish a full progress post about the exterior of our Florida house so we could take lots of progress photos. That detailed exterior update is coming next week — by then we should already be living in Florida — but this post is no consolation prize. It’s just as dramatic as the before-and-after tour we recently shared of our current house’s interior. In fact, the transformation of our Richmond home’s exterior might be the biggest update we’ve ever done. So let’s dive in.
We actually forgot we filmed a before tour of the exterior back in 2013, but many of you asked for a final exterior video tour like the one we did inside, so we dug through the archives and found it. Seeing that old footage was a real blast from the past. We always knew we’d done a lot of work on the outside over the years, but even we were surprised by how far it had come.
We thought it would be fun to share an “after” video of the exterior as well, but first enjoy the before tour below — it makes the after video much more satisfying when you remember how things started.
Note: You can also view this video on YouTube.
Now for the after tour we filmed about a week ago (which is why there aren’t exterior planters or outdoor furniture — we’d already packed them in a POD heading to Florida).
Note: You can also view this video on YouTube.
If you’re curious about a specific project or change, we’ve linked many of the original posts about them at the end of this article. First, though, here are some before-and-after photos for anyone who can’t watch the videos right now.
You saw the front of the house above, so let’s look at the backyard — this is what it looked like when we bought the place.
We removed a few trees immediately for safety and insurance reasons — one was literally growing through the deck and the inspector said it was “tickling the house’s foundation,” and others were hollow inside. Over time we made bigger changes: we converted the enclosed sunroom into an open porch, removed a deteriorating deck, and more recently added a DIY vine trellis that has grown substantially since this photo was taken. We’ll share a quick Instagram story to show how it looks now.
The backyard itself evolved slowly but surely to match the vision we had for it.
One thing we never quite got to was upgrading the pea gravel patio to a more permanent stone surface, though it remained on our wishlist.
Over the years we graded the yard, installed our own irrigation system to help the grass thrive, and added landscape lighting ourselves — good lighting is one of my weaknesses. In 2017 we hired pros to add perimeter landscaping, and I can’t forget my beloved backyard shed, which became one of my favorite projects.
Looking back at these photos highlights how much potential we saw when we first bought the house and how much work turned that potential into reality.
Seeing the contrast between “before” and “after” is what made us realize we’d achieved our goals. We’re proud of the transformation, but we’re also relieved we won’t be maintaining nearly an acre of lawn anymore — we’re moving from almost an acre to about 0.10 acres. Our smaller Florida yard will be faster and easier to shape, and we’ve already learned a lot about making a small outdoor space feel special from our beach house experience.
If you want more details on specific projects, here are the posts that cover many of the changes we made. You can also browse the site’s “Outside” category for additional updates and inspiration.
- Converting an old sunroom into a back porch
- Tiling the back porch (it used to be a carpeted sunroom!)
- Vaulting & planking our back porch ceiling
- Adding landscape lighting out front
- Painting our brick house white (including the cost)
- The shed
- Updating the shed with new lights, window boxes & paint
- Our pea gravel patio, string lights & other updates
- Creating a DIY vine trellis
- Adding an awning over the front door & a bluestone path
- How we grow lush grass ourselves
Next week we’ll share the full exterior details of our new Florida house. We’re scheduled to move later this week, so fingers crossed we can get new photos uploaded by Wednesday the 20th. You’re in for a treat.