The End Of (What Seems Like) An Era: a house log

Is it simply us, or does it seem like we have been pleading for your votes for months now? Ever since we pimped our porch for BHG’s 48-Hour Challenge back in April we have been bouncing over to BHG every morning to check the ever-changing tallies. And what a roller coaster ride it is been. We do not know what we will do with ourselves when the contest ends this Friday. Will our sweaty palms go back to normal? Will our nails grow back? Will we ever digitally experiment with John’s facial hair again?

Instead of begging for votes one more time in the frenzied final days, we thought we’d take this opportunity to thank BHG and Home Depot for such a lively experience and to congratulate our co-challengers for a job well done. Each project, from Marc’s grill cart and Dave’s arbor to Jen’s potting bench had us eager to give in to the outdoor sprucing bug that bites every spring.

And then of course there is the lovely Nicole over at Making It Lovely. We adore Nicole (we have been large fans of MIL since our early days of blogging) and we cannot get over how perfectly she injected style into her porch. In a word: remarkable. We have grown to be journal friends with her over the last year and were thrilled to find out (what seems like ages ago) that she was doing the BHG challenge with us. We are so glad to be in such good company and it is no exaggeration to say that we wish we all could win!

So with that we will simply leave you with a few of our go-to porch photos and a few words about you folks, our wonderful readers.

To those who have taken the time to vote for us (be it once or daily) please know that we are endlessly appreciative of your efforts and that we thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. Who knew thousands of people would care sufficient to click over and support us on this wild ride? I know it is corny but $5000 or no $5000, this experience alone has been priceless. Now sufficient with the enjoy-fest before my bottom lip starts to quiver (ok or before I do the ugly cry). In short: we enjoy you folks.