Hey y'all! I've been lurking on GardenWeb for months and finally decided I needed to stop lurking and start posting.

We're doing a full top to bottom remodel of a Queen Anne cottage I bought just under a year ago - we first did a remodel of the existing house and now are working on an addition to take it from a 2/1 to a 3/2 and to about 1700 sq ft.

I live in a historic district so everything on the exterior has to be approved, which is one of the reasons we started with the interior remodel while we were waiting for addition approval.

The front exterior has been a massive change so I thought I'd show it off -

Exterior during the home inspection -- House was vinyl clad with no idea if we still had original siding underneath.

Condition: Vinyl in terrrrrrible shape, front porch roof rotten, regular roof was over 25-30 years old and attic showing signs of water staining/damage. Electrical box was hotwired together with multiple grounds coming into same breakers, etc. First thing done was to kill the box and wire a new in so we could safely work without the fear of burning the house down.

But... it had super cute bones and in one of the hottest parts of the city (4 offers the same day it went on the market)

Exterior in progress:

Removing the vinyl from the west side. The thread-like things you see were a vine that grew under and throughout the entire house and we've finally killed.
We did all the exterior work in the Texas summer - not the best timing, but at least the paint and primers dried quick.

Primed and looking better!

West side done, front untouched.

Vinyl pulled off the front - original 117 lap siding was still under the entire house and in great shape!

My poor momma - neither of us have been "paint-free" since this renovation started, she's a serious work horse! We found a second "front" door (Most likely the original is the one we uncovered and the second one in the bay area of the house looks like it was added on later.) We're keeping both entries although the bay door will be the primary function one since it comes into the living room now.

The front gable completely stripped - shows the trim outline that was removed when vinyl was installed.

Almost there!

Trim work replaced, only replacement doors, railing, and finish painting the porch to go!

We scraped off loose paint (Most of the house barely had any original paint left, thankfully!) and patched any holes and nail heads with Ready Patch, then sanded smooth. The original 117 was in great shape and hard as a rock - no rot or damage - most likely due to the air gap behind it.

Brushed on all paint and primer to be sure we got a well-bonded finished product and since we did it in stages didn't want to have to mess with a paint sprayer and cleaning it out.

Primer is Zinser oil-based which the siding just drank up, then top coat was Behr Marquee Exterior.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guest Bathroom re-done