Our new siding may have made a huge difference in how the house looks but it doesn't make up for the awkward way the driveway meets the house. The way the driveway leads directly up to the bedroom window makes it pretty obvious this room started out as a garage. 
The concrete front step could be repainted or even tiled, but that would not disguise the converted garage space. Our solution was to lay decking over the existing step and extending to the end of the house, resulting in a 23'x5.5' front porch. When we expanded our foyer and replaced the front door we also raised the door 1.5” to leave room for the new decking. Luke did all the framing and attached the ledger board to the house,
while I worked on pulling screws out of our used deck. In April I found an ad for some used cedar decking on Craigslist. For $50 I got the remnants of a 24'x16' deck. The wood was stained a redwood color and looking a little worse for wear, but the boards were still straight and without signs of rot. I pulled about a million screws from the lumber in this pile
After running it through the planer it's looking a little better.
We chose a semi-transparent stain so the grain still shows.
See how it transforms the front of the house. Before (Move-in Day 2008)
After
And finally a shot of the entire front of the house
See how it transforms the front of the house. Before (Move-in Day 2008)
After
And finally a shot of the entire front of the house
Comments
I just wandered over from houseblogs.net to see what the last few years of houseblogging has included. Wow! Chimney makeover - brilliant. Front porch extension - same. So impressed. Thanks for sharing, and good luck with your move. =)
Annie