#small signs of progress but big elephants in the room that need to be addressed

[jacketpotatoo]

“Why are people choosing to interpret an idiom literally, that’s so dumb.” guuys. there are billions of idioms to choose from and this one was picked intentionally. Multiple interpretations and implications exist simultaneously and the writers know that. It’s honestly insulting to assume they don’t.

[utterlyinevitable]

In all the drama of getting Ethan I feel like there are some important conversations that have been skipped. MC is young and would most likely aspire to be married and have children in the future. Ethan has seemingly closed the doors on these options based on his answers in book 1.

Do you think he has changed his mind or is changing his mind as the relationship progresses? And do you think that PB will address this elephant in the room as their relationship becomes more serious in book 3?

How do you think your mc and Ethan would navigate this?

I LOVE this question 😍

Oh there are so so so many important questions that Ethan and MC need to have in order to have a successful, lasting relationship. 

I touch on a lot of what you’ve brought up in my fics; the most prominent being Was It a Decision to Stay (summary: they keep breaking up bc they don’t have these important conversations). 

At least for me, my MC is 26 and holding onto a romantic notion that to be a happy and successful adult she’s gotta have the husband and babies thing. 

In Stuck, Ethan literally tells MC that she’s young and may change her mind about wanting marriage and a family once her career takes off. And he’s right! She’s so young! She’s still figuring life out and maybe what she thinks she wants now she might not want anymore when she’s settled in her career. Maybe kids actually aren’t for her? Maybe she’d come to understand she never wants to be pregnant because of all the risks, or would rather adopt or use a surrogate? Ethan understands that he certainly isn’t the same person he was when he was 26, and that she’s still figuring things out even though society is telling her she needs to be married and have babies before she’s 30. 

MC may also hold onto hope that Ethan will change his views on marriage/kids since he already made exceptions to his rules for her. He’s shown he’s capable of changing for the woman he loves. So what’s a few more exceptions? 

In book 1, Ethan did say that he doesn’t see kids in his future because he couldn’t be around for them in the ways that they’d need. Maybe, now with the way Bloombrook (i refuse to call it bloom edenbrook) is going, he’d be more open to taking a step back and letting MC run things for a while. It would give him time to do more research and be home a little more. They’d be able to balance their family life with work a bit better. 

Remember, he also said he couldn’t understand the idea of unconditional love or soulmates but in 2.19 he told Alan that he understands now. So he is capable of change. I think the aversion to marriage makes sense because of 1. what happened to his parents and 2. Ethan really hates capitalist institutions. 

I HC that if they do ever get married it would be a small courthouse wedding, or they’d just sign papers to become civil partners (would love to see pb explore this aspect - like another idea of family where it’s just these two and what it means to be an adult on your own terms. big and carrie satc2 vibes here). And they’d really only get married to legally share assets, with the added bonus of giving MC the opportunity to throw a party. 

Wow this is getting long, sorry 😬

I definitely think Ethan is changing as the story progresses! MC is opening his eyes to all the things he filed into the ‘never happening’ box and he’s loving every moment of it. 

PB definitely will not address these issues in Book 3. I have 0 faith in them. I’d think before the rewrites maybe, but after rewrites I assume they’re going to keep the story as tasteless as possible to keep from having people freak out again (i’m glad rafs back, just hate how disjointed the writing is in book 2). 

My fic MC Becca and Ethan I don’t think will ever have a proper wedding. For them it’s just a transactional paper that won’t influence how they act with and feel about one another. As for kids, I only see them having them as an unplanned sort of thing. But once they have one they have to have a second because they like the idea of siblings. 

[also i hc that ethan is very soft and adores his children and could have a whole gaggle of them. whereas becca complains about the state of her vagina and stomach all the time. ethan is doting helicopter dad and becca is doctor drill sergeant]   

My canon MC is just kinda living her life. She’s broken up with Ethan once in the time jump because he wasn’t giving her signals of them dating no matter where she ended up. They never really resolve the issue and take things one week or so at a time. And then once Bloom buys the hospital, they are going to have a long conversation about what the rules are to maintaining their personal and professional relationship. I don’t foresee my MC and Ethan talking about marriage and kids in the context of them having them (she’ll muse on the idea briefly sometimes; like, of what she’d like to do with kids or like the idea of having a donut wall at a wedding reception). They wouldn’t really sit and have that conversation until the idea of moving in together started floating around at the end of residency, presuming MC keeps her job in Boston. 

I really want my canon MC and Ethan to get married and have babies because I’m selfish and never want them to leave me. I’m praying for a 9 book series here 🤣

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:

HARRY DRESDEN -- WIZARD Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower. The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man. And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him--and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name. It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything...

*Opinions*

Harry Dresden is not having a bad day, or a bad week, no he is having a pretty bad year and the only thing that is going to break him out of it is the threat of death and possibly the end of the world. Neither of these things are new to Harry, but they do seem to help get him into gear. Summer Knight begins a half year after the events of Grave Peril and Harry isn’t is much of a different spot than where we left him. Luckily, the Alphas who we met in Fool Moon, led by Billy, aren’t about to let Chicago’s only professional wizard wallow in self-pity or get evicted. On top of letting Harry know that it was literally raining frogs, a sign that something is not right in terms of magical energies, he also set up a meeting with a client that would pay the bills. This new client is more than she seems and along with the White Council bringing Harry to trial for the events that lead to the current war with the Red Court of vampires, things aren’t shaping up any better for Mr. Dresden. Now he has to juggle a lot of different threats while also attempting to figure out how to be a member of society again, no easy task even for a wizard. Summer Knight is a fun read and while I enjoyed Butcher finally digging into some of the more complicated politics of Harry’s world, I feel as if the characters and plot suffered a bit because of it. I also can’t avoid spoilers in this review as a pretty big spoiler is a main plot point throughout the novel so continue at your own risk.

 Probably my favorite part of the fourth installment of the Dresden Files is that it really brings the supernatural world and the powers that govern it into sharper focus. After three books of vague hints and explanations of those who are stronger than Harry and dictate how things go, we finally meet the White Council and some of the other elusive wizards that span the globe. Seeing as Harry is beholden to the White Counsel and they have kind of been this looming authority that we never learned much about, aside from the Warden Morgan attempting to kill Harry in the first novel, it was nice to get a better idea of who they were and how they operated. They operated exactly as you’d expect, but it was good to meet some of them. However, we do need to address the elephant in the room. Injun Joe? Really Butcher? Even with the in book explanation, you thought that was a good look? Especially since Listens-to-Wind isn’t even that long, not that matters! You also can’t play that “oh McCoy is a simple farmer” bit when the man is fluent in Latin and like a century old. I cringed when I read it, but I do enjoy Listens-to-Wind character and Little Brother, along with the Gatekeeper, and hope we see more of them. I am not going to get into the minority culture representation of the wizards that are part of the council or the novels as I am not of a minority culture so unless it is a glaring issue like listed above, I don’t think I’m the right person to fumble through explanations in a book review. However, that small part alone made this book lose a star.

 This novel also told us more about the hierarchy of the Fairies that live just on the other side of the NeverNever and how they affect the mortal world. As Dresden’s godmother the Leanansidhe was such a big part of Grave Peril, it was nice to see the powers and world that she was beholden to and understand more about the fairies as Butcher created them. I enjoyed our time with each Fairy Court, Seelie and Unseelie, and while they were predictable in their characteristics, Butcher does describe the world in a way that you can see the brutal cold beauty of winter and the dangerous lulling comfort of summer. Butcher also makes Fairy business matter because they not only control the seasons on Earth but also have power that is beyond even Harry’s comprehension. We are starting to get past the things that go bump in the night and into serious battles and wars. It’s a fun progression.

 Now, onto the women in the novel because how they have been represented previously has been a sore spot for me in the past. I think that Murphy is actually well written in this novel, she had real issues outside of Harry’s magical disasters (as far as I know at this time) and also has agency in this novel. She is only in it briefly, but I can see that Butcher used this novel to signal that she is going to be a bigger part in the future and now a full ally to Dresden in the upcoming novels. The women that run both of the courts were given just as much page space as needed, but I found the Mothers most compelling and fascinating even though they were not around long. Now for Elaine, who I don’t think anyone really thought was dead even before Bob’s pronouncement in the last novel, and her reappearance. I have…mixed feels about her as she is little more than a damsel in distress the first half of the novel, by design, and then not really well rounded in the second half when she is working with and then against Harry. I’m guessing we’re going to see her again, but other than Harry having flashbacks of them having sex I really didn’t care or understand why Harry was so invested in her other than the fact he thought he accidentally killed her. Also, I know there was a lot going on for Harry, but like his emotional recoil from the fact that she was alive was rather short. Then again, he hadn’t slept in days so I guess I can let that slide. We never found out (in this novel at least) what she did for the Summer Court for them to grant protection for all those years or if they were just playing the long game for the potential break in the power balance. Still, I honestly just don’t care about Elaine. Then we get to the plot devices, Meryl and Lily. Lily was not part of most of the book until the end and I am assuming we will see her again, given the role she now holds, but Meryl was done dirty. Probably the first individual in the novels that hasn’t been described as breathtakingly beautiful, or at least having nice legs or tits, and she is there just to get Harry on the right track and then is killed saving him and Lily. She deserved better.

 As I mentioned at the beginning, the plot of this novel was so-so, I was more interested in learning more about the world than I was about who killed the Summer Knight and at one point I completely forgot about the Trail between the Summer Knights death, the vampire war, the Fairy politics, and Lily being missing thrown into the mix. While I liked each part separately, I feel as if there were maybe one too many plotlines in this novel. Still, it was an enjoyable read and I will continue on with the series.

[itsblissfuloblivion]

Kindle - Chapter 4

A/N: It’s here!  Happy Monday!  We hope you enjoy :)  Let us know what you think <3

Also available on FF and Ao3!

Harry grinds his teeth and dials Ron’s phone number. The day has been a real pain even without Teddy to watch over and he blames it all on his fun little dream session from the night before. Still, it’s been awhile since he allowed himself to say bugger, grab his keys and wallet, throw on some random t-shirt and jeans, and just go out with the boys. Well, technically, it is the boy. The other part of their young adults complaining about life gang was stuck in her office - by choice, if he might add. Hermione never missed an opportunity for some extra studying, so working as a lawyer meant exactly that. Sometimes, he thinks Ron is the only one with a smart and successful career path.

He sighs and waits for the line to connect. On the other side, his mate’s sleepy voice forms a barely distinguishable “Hullo?” and Harry wonders how can someone be sound asleep at nine in the evening. Precisely because, yes, unlike himself, this someone is the only one with a smart and successful career path. Working when he wants and how he wants, Harry thinks with a trickle of envy fuelled by roughly ten liters of coffee and a couple of sleepless nights hunched over his desk.

“Wake up, we’re going out. Rosmerta’s pub down on Abbey Road,” Harry utters strict instructions.

“Hello to you too, you nutcase. Who phones a bloke in the middle of the night on a Saturday and commands him out his bed with no shame?” Ron complains, but nevertheless rolls out of his sheets to put some clothes on and swiftly brush his teeth.

“First of all, it is nine, which means there are three more hours until the middle of the night,” his old sass comes out as he impatiently explains.

“And second of all?”

“There is no second of all,” Harry drawls as if Ron just asked why two plus two do not equal three, but four.

“You can’t say ‘first of all’ if you don’t plan on following with a ‘second of all’, mate,” the ginger haired man points out matter-of-factly.

“Ron, I reckon spending all that time with Hermione has permanently damaged you,” Harry shakes his head and checks the time on his old battered watch. “Just meet me there in forty, alright?” He addresses the question in a rather harassed tone and slams the phone’s lid shut. Grabbing a pair of sneakers and mentally thanking his parents for agreeing to look after Teddy for the night even in the midst of another crazed packing session, he makes his way towards the hall and closes the apartment door behind him.

“So the reason you summoned me at an ungodly hour is?” Ron raises a ginger eyebrow as his best mate makes his way back clad with two pints filled to the brim.

“Ungo-Nevermind that,” Harry clicks his tongue and takes a seat opposite Ron. “I needed a break,” he shrugs and takes a long sip to get through the annoying foam left on top by the bartender. Not his day, it seems.

“Right,” Ron nods and mirrors his friend, lifting the pint to his lips. “But why?”

Harry ruffles his hair in frustration, searching for a way to phrase his answer. “Teddy - I reckon I’m all he’s got left and I can’t abandon him, I can’t!”

Apparently the expression on his face alarms Ron, because he bends over the lager stained table and pats Harry on the shoulder twice, whispering something close to “breathe” and “let it all out.” Harry has a hunch that this might be another of Hermione’s tips and tricks, but chooses to shut up, for the moment at least.

“I’m fine,” he huffs.

“Of course you are,” Ron replies, seeming unable to decide if he should repeat the shoulder patting or not.

“Listen to me, I only need a break! Or, at least, a break once in awhile, particularly when I’m working under a deadline from hell and so far my best option is not sleeping for at least a week,” he adds, conscious that he’s sounding a wee bit dramatic, but it’s not really the time to care. He did call his friend out of bed to complain, so complain he will.

“What about James and Lily?” Ron asks, wiping his mouth with the back of his palm. Briefly, Harry is reminded of another person with a freckle just above her upper lip, but nearly faints when he realises that he’s projecting those thoughts on Ron, the person he’s having the conversation with, and not his sister, who is probably out with some tall dark and handsome good-for-nothing at a fancy place or whatnot. He has a feeling this small detail, unconsciously burned into his brain, might have been the coal which fired his imagination into overdrive last night.

“They’re moving, along with Sirius,” Harry says with a sigh, “Yeah, the whole gang is packing as we speak and will soon move overseas, to New York no less.” He knows the lack of enthusiasm for his parents’ progress careerwise does him no honour, but it’s not really the time to start feeling self conscious. Sirius always did say that there are mornings specially designed for that, so where was the rush?

“Oh. Good for them,” Ron pipes up and lifts his pint in cheers. “Right. How about Ginny?”

Harry feels beer flooding his nostrils as he starts coughing wildly. Ginny? Ginny Weasley aka the girl he’d been thinking about mostly every second of his existence after that glorious day at the bakery? The girl that has haunted every one of his dreams, adult content included? Well, that seems like a mighty fine idea! Why not invite her to his home on a regular basis and just smack his head against the wall every time he wants to gawk at her? Yes, why not?

“Look, you don’t have to make a decision right now, but I’ll give you her number just in case,” the young man flips open his phone and punches the keys to find his baby sister’s number and sends it via text to Harry - who feels the urge to caress the bleeping screen that now shows the five letters forming her name. He blinks as he reads the name and the digits next to it for the sixth time, feeling like he’d just been told one of the best guarded secrets of humankind.

Ron tosses a peanut into his mouth with the same expert accuracy he honed in their school days and glances at Harry, “I know I do the whole sibling bit with Ginny, but she really is good with kids. Fleur even picks her over Gabrielle - which is a big deal since Ginny doesn’t know how to bake an adequate souffle, which is apparently considered a legitimate concern in that household.”

“I don’t know, mate. I reckon it might do me good to have a helping hand with Teddy while I work,” he ponders, tracing the brim of the pint with one finger. “My department head did put my name up for that big grant, by the way,” Harry suddenly grins and lifts up his gaze to meet Ron’s, leaving out the fact that he’d also signed him up for a burnout the size of an elephant in a mission impossible three months race to the finish line. There was time to commiserate about that later.

“Bloody brilliant,” Ron chimes and clinks his glass to Harry’s. Although his eyes sparkle with genuine enthusiasm for his best mate, Harry can’t help but wonder whether there has been any moment of regret for Ron, for giving up on his academic career when family took first place. The thought makes Harry’s stomach shrink and he’s filled with a wave of compassion for the man standing opposite him.

“You’re an amazing friend, you know that, right?” Harry speaks his mind on impulse, but is surprised to find that he does not regret it. Expressing emotion and feelings is not his strongest point, that much he knows.

“Aw, you’re not so bad yourself,” Ron grins toothily as his ears color a faint shade of pink and then coughs to hide his obvious glee at being complimented. “Now about Ginny,” he swiftly changes the subject, “I reckon she’d say yes, if you gave her a call.”

“W-Why is that?” Harry stammers and his heart wildly beats to an ever-increasing pace.

“Just a guess,” Ron replies and Harry thinks he might have even winked, but can’t be certain it’s not his tired mind playing tricks. “You seemed to have a good time the other day,” he cocks an eyebrow, studying the dark-haired man who is currently looking intently at his fingernails.

“Yeah, she’s nice,” he mumbles pathetically.

“Mhm,” Ron sips his drink slowly, “Right.” Harry believes his mate left something unsaid, but doesn’t feel bold enough to ask what. Looking down at the screen of his phone once more, a brief vision of Ginny laughing and spinning Teddy around in his living room plays before his eyes and he feels mollified. He gets an idea.

“But what will her boyfriend think about her spending all her time in another bloke’s house?” He asks smugly and Ron nearly asphyxiates himself with beer.

“Blimey,” he sighs, “I’ll be gentle with you and just say that she’s recently become single, but, mate, I need to add this - and it’s only as a favour to you, because I care about you, okay? If you want to have an actual date this century, bring up your charm game.”

“Said the man who wouldn’t have noticed that Hermione was in love with him even if she danced naked in his face and shouted it herself,” Harry comments, visibly incensed.

“Hey, that’s a different story, alright?” Ron blushes and slightly pouts, while Harry chuckles and gets up to order another round. Counting the empty pints piling up on their table, he realises they’ve already downed five each and immediately knows this is not his best idea yet. The young man braces himself for misery and regrets in the morning, but being so far away from the imminent moment, he chooses not to spend another second lingering on such an irksome thought.

Hours later, he’s violently woken up by a massive headache and has to fight his way out of the tangled sheets strangling him and run to the loo to hurl his stomach out. Eyes turned to slits because of the searing pain, Harry fumbles for the medicine cabinet and retrieves one ibuprofen, his cure of choice for the scarce mornings when he experiences the effects of an intense hangover. Chugging a full glass of water in one go, Harry notices his phone bleeping and flips it open. To his stupor, a text message from one “Gin” pops on the screen and Harry is a hundred percent positive he’s about to receive permanent brain damage from the shock.

Gin: Did u know the first time the concept of carpe diem was written down was in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

Sweating, Harry punches the keys to get to the sent folder and see what drunk slurrings he’d written in his state of inebriety and overconfidence. Bloody hell, he swears hard under his breath as the text “there are no messages left” appears on the screen. Apparently, at one point during his fun night he considered deleting all his sent messages to be a brilliant idea. And, to spice things a little, he’d also saved her number as “Gin”. We’re not even dating and I already came up with pet names, how efficient of me, he thinks, mentally kicking himself.

“Darn it,” he curses again, hitting one of Teddy’s strewn toys to blow off the steam. “The first time in a long time I get a girl’s number and it’s from her brother, for babysitting. And even then I somehow manage to scare her away by getting pissed drunk and generally being allowed to carry a phone with me,” he continues his annoyed musings, plopping down on the couch with his arms crossed.

Still, the message has been there for a while, so he at least needs to figure out some damage control.

Harry: I confess I did not.

He pockets his phone with shaky hands and pulls it out every other second to look at it. Feeling stressed out, he ruffles his hair and makes his way for the shower to at least attempt to relax.

Squeezing more shower gel than usual and massaging it into his muscles, Harry closes his eyes and tries to forget the whole text message fiasco. However, it’s no use as his mind goes haywire, delving into scenarios of disaster built around multiple ideas of what he could have written. Prayers are being sent to the heavens so that it won’t turn out that he’d acted like a total creep and promises to never lay lips on alcohol are being made to whatever deity is watching over him. Minutes later, he gives up and exits the shower to towel himself thoroughly and find his glasses.

Just as he reaches for his phone to call his parents and see what they’re up to and if they can come by and drop Teddy - there’s no way he’s leaving the house this hungover, the small device starts to buzz.

Gin: Ah, then that kinda kills my well prepared seize the moment joke :(

A smile creeps on Harry’s face and his deft fingers immediately start pressing keys. Oh thank God she’s not scared yet, he gushes inside his head.

Harry: Sorry? Can I ever make up for my disgusting lack of knowledge?

Feeling smug at his own wickedness and creativity, Harry throws the phone over his shoulder on the couch cushions only to dive after it three seconds later, for fear that she might respond and he might not hear the sweet beeping sound announcing it. To his utter pleasure, three dots appear on the screen, signifying that she’s composing yet another reply. Harry starts breathing hard under the pressure.

Gin: For this and for asking me to give up my only free Sunday to watch little Teddy ;) You’ve got a lot of making up to do, mister.

He’s mortified and would gladly dig himself a hole and hide there for the rest of his life. At this point, drunk texting her that she’s beautiful and sexy would have been a million times better than requesting that she sacrifice her weekends for his sake.

“Oh God, tell me that at least I asked nicely,” he breathes and falls back on the couch, shoving off his glasses and covering his eyes with the back of his palm.

Gin: Jk, don’t panic. See you at five, right?

Contrary to her request, Harry does panic. Why are they meeting at five? What did he say? Time for damage control suddenly became a thing of the past. Great job, Potter, you sly seducer of women.

Harry: Sure thing, but why?

Smooth. Real smooth. He thinks that if he’s going to make a mess out of the situation, might as well go in head first.

Gin: Erm you invited me to come for a test drive, see if Teddy and I would get along. Or was it some kind of joke? Because I cleared my schedule for the evening and let me tell you that I do not appreciate having to be that flexible when my thesis deadline is basically knocking at my door.

She sends in a harassed looking emoji after the long text and Harry is filled with new found hope. He did not invite her out on a date, did not offend her with drunken flirting (hopefully) and, most importantly, was sane enough to formulate a proposal that Ginny would accept. He mentally hifives himself and works up the nerve to respond.

Harry: I have tripped, fallen down the stairs, rolled down to basement level and have since been experimenting momentary lapses of memory and reason. Does this qualify as an acceptable answer?

Gin: Lol no

Gin: I’ve just run into my brother being very much hungover. No need to explain anymore

Gin: Psheesh boys

Harry: Oops busted! But I will make up for it, pinky promise

Gin: Now you have three things to make up for, I’m counting ;)

Harry: ughhh do I get off one or two if I say I’m terrible at maths?

Gin: Nope. See you later

Gin: Btw I like going wild with cheese toppings on pizza

Harry blushes. Did he just have the most amazing written conversation with a girl ever? Yes, yes he did. And it came so naturally, he didn’t even have to think it through. Grinning madly, he skips back to his bedroom to put some house clothes on and whistles as he starts tidying up and inspecting the premises to hide anything embarrassing.

[weirdfetishes123]

Nick and Rons Growing Love (S71)

The first thing that Ron felt when he woke up in the morning was his boyfriend nick spooning him. It was a Saturday morning, a rare day which they both had the day off. A whole day for the two of them to be together. Ron turned around and gazed at his dosing boyfriend. Nick was tall and fit with piercing green eyes. Ron gently caressed his boyfriends stubbly face and gave him a peck. “Morning babe.” Nicks eyes stayed closed, but a smile lit up his face. Ron lowered his hand to trace his jawline, then Nicks firm pecs, down his smooth abs, through his coarse bush, before finally ending at his stiff cock. Ron couldn’t help but smile. “Looks like you’re already ready for the day,” he said. Nick dozed on but he said, “Haha go ahead. Take a load off.” Ron gently lifted the sheets. He fondled Nick’s throbbing morning wood as his boyfriend slumbered on. Ron decided to start his boyfriends day off the best was possible, and slowly pulled his manhood into his mouth. Something was off though. The musk that usually surrounded Nicks bush was gone, it smelled strangely sweet. Not only that but the salty taste of his cock was replaced by a mild flavor that Ron couldn’t quite place. However Ron felt that he strangely didn’t care. He kept on sucking and sucking. He could feel Nick tensing beneath his touch as he neared the climax Nicks starting moaning with intense vigor. On the final thrust Ron felt Nick shoot his thick load deep into his throat. He swallowed every last drop out of habit, but that sweet taste didn’t go away. It tasted faintly of blue berries. Nick lifted the rest of the sheets with a grin plastered on his face. “Damn boy, you still got it.” Ron snuggled up to Nick as he felt his arms embrace him. “Haha I take it you had fun at that new club last night,” said Ron. “What was its name again?” “Studio 71. It was weird, but kinda fun. They had this special with new guys,“ said Nick. Ron raised an eyebrow in a way that could only mean mischief. “Oh really? What kind of special?” “New guys get the chance to try a new drink and name it. However I’m pretty sure mine was water so I didn’t bother. Got a free cocktail out of it though.” “Hmmm that sounds fun,” said Ron. “Yeah the weird thing is though that the MC gave me a card. Told me to call the number if anything happened. I have no idea what he meant by it though.” Nick shrugged it off and left the bed with Ron in tow, and began to get ready for the day. Ron went into the bathroom to flush out what was left of Nick’s seed. He gargled some water and spit it out into the basin. Something happened then that made Ron pause. The water he drank and spat out was mysteriously blue. Curious he stuck out his tongue. It also had a slight shade of blue, as if he just sucked on some blue candy. Looking closely he noticed a small blue dot on his nose, barely larger than a freckle. As he watched his tongue slowly darkened, and the blue speck on his face subtly grew. “Babe!” He called, “Do you still have that card you got at the bar last night?” From the other room Nick reasoned, “Yeah it’s right here! Why?” Ron returned to the bedroom and pointed out the blue speck on his face that grew to the size of a mole. “I think we may have found some of those side effects they mentioned.”

Nick looked closely at his nose and his eyes widened. All the color drained away from his face. “Oh fuck...” he said under his breath. He dropped down to the floor to find his jeans he wore last night and to find the card. He pulled it out of the pocket and started fumbling with his phone and called the number. Ron could feel panic rising in him, and he knew something bad was happening to him. Nick held the phone up to ear and waited for someone to pick up. “Hello is this Studio 71? Yeah something is happening to my boyfriend! There’s a blue spot on his nose and it’s growing! Is he...is he gonna...you know?” As Ron heard a muffled voice on the other end Nick glanced over his boyfriend with horror plastered all over his face. The garbled voice spoke again “YOU WILL?! Oh thank you! We’ll be right over. Is there a discreet entrance or something we could use? No? Ok I hope it won’t come to that but thanks. Ok we’ll leave now. Bye” Nick spoke with a voice thick with an artificial calm. “We’re heading to the Studio and they can take care of this. It’s a 30 minute drive, so they told me to tell you to wear cloths with a lot of stretch ok? They’ll fix this.” Ron was terrified. Suppressing his fear he look at his reflection in the bathroom mirror again. The blue spot now had spread to cover the tip of his nose. “Ok. I have an old tracksuit I had before I lost the weight. I’ll throw on some flip flops too.” Ron could help it; he had to address the elephant in the room. “Nick, what is happening to me?” Nick stoped throwing on whatever cloths he could find and said. “It’s impossible to explain, but I hope we can get there before the worst part happens.” Five minutes later the two of them were sitting in Nicks car driving downtown. His phone said that it would take about half an hour to get to the Studio, but it did warn that there was a change for construction delays. Nick flew down the road as fast he could with Ron in the passenger seat. He sat in an old grey tracksuit. It was at least two sizes to big but that was the least of his worries. His eyes were fixed on the mirror on the flap in front of him. His nose was now completely blue, and the color was starting to spread. It had reached his forehead, his upper lip, and was starting to discolor his cheeks. As he watched his eyes turned from brown to blue. Ron turned to Nick. He was gripping the wheel so tight that his knuckles were bone white. He was keeping his eyes fixed on the road, and Ron could tell he was avoiding looking at him. For Ron that cut like a knife, to see someone he loved so much seemingly repulsed by him. A stoplight delayed their progress leaving them in an icy silence. Nick broke the silence, his voice heavy with emotion. “Babe, I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” His voice was cracking under the guilt. When Ron replied he swallowed his fear and reassured the man he adored. “I love you, but please tell me what happened last night. Tell me what is happening to me. I don’t care what you did, I know you wouldn’t intentionally do this to me. Please just tell me the truth. The light turned green and Nick eased up on the gas. The silence was defending. Ron’s face turned completely blue and his hair and beard followed, but he didn’t care. He fixed his eyes on Nick. Nicks eyes darted everywhere in panic. Every now and then an odd syllable would emerge from his mouth as he tried to start a sentence, but words would fail him. Ron turned away and looked down At the floor. It was then he noticed his wrists had turned blue. He lifted his jacket, and saw that his flat stomach was also the same shade. It seemed that the only part of him that was still pale was his hands. They turned a corner ten minutes away from the Studio. Lo and behold the street was being dug up, with only one lane open for traffic. It was bumper to bumper, and the GPS added 5 minutes to the arrival time. Nick slammed his hand on the wheel. “FUCK! Shit man I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have taken that stupid dare! Fucking Jon!”

Ron was puzzled. “Jon from work? What does he have to do with this?” “He dared me to take that shot at the Studio,” Nick explained. “We were celebrating his birthday and they took me with them. Had to sign a waiver and a NDA just to get in. It was insane in there and I had to get drunk just to process everything. Then the Emcee asked if there was any first timers who would want to try a new drink. Jon dared me to walk up and take it. Damn thing tasted like water so I thought it was all a joke. Then they gave me the card, I had a few more drink then took an Uber home and I thought that was the end of it. Until now that is.” Ron was processing everything that he just learned. Staring at his blue palms and pale finger, he realized it didn’t answer his biggest question. “Babe, what will happen to me. Please just tell me, I know it wasn’t your fault.” Nick sighed and mumbled something under his breathe as the blue color finally covered Rons fingers. “What did you say?” Nick turned his boyfriend with nothing but regret in his eyes. “I said that you’re gonna swell up with juice.” As if on cue, a loud gurgle came from Rons stomach. He felt pressure behind his navel, and a lump the size of a pea, but it was growing. Slowly but surely he was growing. Rons panic returned with the force of a freight train. “What the FUCK do you mean swell up?! How big and I’m gonna fucking get?!” “I don’t know! I saw some guys last night grow to balls that were up to ten feet across. That’s why we need to hurry!” Ron felt his heart drop to his stomach. “Ten...feet...of FAT?!” “No it’s not that simple,” said Nick. “It’s juice in you man.” Ron felt the lump in his stomach that was now the size of an apple. It was starting to hide his abs. Out of curiosity he pressed into it. “Oh God,” he whispered. It felt like an overfilled water balloon. He was really filling with juice. It all clicked. The Blueberry musk and cum on Nick, the blue color, and now the juice. He was going to swell up into a blueberry in a car stuck in traffic. “What can they do at the Studio to fix this?” He asked with fear in ever word. “I don’t know,” said Nick. “I’ve seen some guys rolled away and come back a couple hours laters back at their normal size. It’s reversible. We just have to get there first.” Ron felt some relieve, but his fear returned when he noticed the GPS added another 5 minutes to there arrival time. He look down at his new belly. His abs were completely gone; they sank below a sea of sweet juice. Out of curiosity Ron ran his hand across have his new gut. “Oh fuck.” He said under his breath. A wave of juice rippled across his belly. He could see his belly undulate beneath the track suit. The weirdest part about it though was that it felt...good? Ron lifted his top and looked down as his belly. A blue berry belly and some sloshes and gurgles greeted him. He ran his fingers across his belly again. “Mmmmm” Ron has to stifle a moan. Something purely orgasmic took over his body. It was like his whole belly became an erogenous organ. He continued to rub his belly as it grew, moaning to himself the whole time. The pressure spread behind him, and he could feel himself being lifted up off of the seat. He was growing bigger and bigger, and all his attention was on his juice. He didn’t notice Nick’s concerned looks. He didn’t care when they got out of traffic. He could hear Nick asking if he was ok. He was having too much fun playing with his new body, his right body, the body he new he was destined for. Nick parked the car in front of Studio 71 with the passenger side facing the curb. He walked around the car to let his boyfriend out and a blue whale greeted him. Ron looked surprised at the open door. “Oh are we here?” he asked with a hand still on his belly. His tracksuit was being pushed to the limits. The top slid up to his soft pecs exposing his round shape. The bottoms were still around his waist, but they were holding on for dear life. Nick grabbed Rons juice filled arm to lift him out of the car.

“Come on man we’re almost there.” Nick tugged hard on his bloated boyfriend. He was pulled free from the car. He was so heavy that the car rocked on it wheels. He pulled Ron along who was moaning and sloshing the whole way into the bar. All that weight on his frame was making it harder and harder to walk. Ron could barley lift his his feet as he waddled along through the bar. On one step he lost his footing as juice was starting to grow between his legs. He tripped and landed on his bulging belly. “OH GOD! OH SHIT! FUCK!” A tsunami of juice racked his body from his toes to his head as he rocked on his stomach. It was the best orgasm he felt in his life, yet he felt as if I he could again immediately. He wanted to. He was a sexy berry. He wanted to grow bigger. He was Nick’s toy. He was a toy for everyone and anyone. He growth finally slowed down and stopped when he was eight feet across. For the first time in about an hour he could think clearly. Nick was staring at him on the brink of tears. “Fuck man, I’m so sorry. I never wanted this for you. I’m sorry about everything.” Ron looked at him confused. “What are you talking about?” “You were moaning in pain since we got stuck in traffic. It must feel terrible to be swollen that big.” Ron couldn’t help but laugh. “Hahaha babe this feels amazing! I’ve never had more fun! Roll me onto me gut and you’ll find some proof!!” Nick hesitated, but he pressed his hands on Ron’s side and pushed. He could feel the juice flow beneath Ron’s skin and hear Ron moan in total bliss. Nick finally finished rolling Ron and looked for the proof that He was talking about. Nick looked between the stubs of Ron’s legs and felt himself harden at what he saw. Ron’s cock grew massive and thick. It was at least a foot long and three inches around, and his nuts swelled up to the size of softballs. Sweet, sticky, and aromatic juice was dripping his head, begging to be tasted. Nick was drawn to it and put his lips on the head and began to suck. Ron quivered and moaned beneath his touch and berry juice filled his mouth. Nick could suck on this for hours, but he was interrupted by a member of Management. “Looks like you won’t be needing to use the juicing facilities anymore.” Said the man in the crisp blue suit. “Naw I think we’re good for now. We’re both off today so there’s no rush. Right babe?” Ron moaned a response. “Right,” said the man. “We knew that sample you had gave you one shot of blueberry cum, but we expected you to use it at the Studio last night. Your lucky you got here when you did. We don’t often let berries out of the club. In any case you get to name the drink that you had last night. Any ideas before we start selling it?” Nick looked back on past crazy hour and how this all started by his boyfriend waking him up with a blowjob. The perfect came to him and a sly grin blossomed on his face. “Call it Morning Glory.” The man in the blue suit could help but laugh. “Very well! Morning Glory it is! Now you too have fun. Let Vinnie at the bar know if you need anything.” With that Nick and Ron continued to spend the rest of their day off at The Studio. Morning Glory is still on the menu and one of the two men drinks it the night before the two of them spend the day in the club. Nick and Ron are now closer than ever thanks to there adventure, and it’s all thanks to a mystery drink Nick had at Studio 71. 💙🔵💙

[statusreview]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking���. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really a ceramic-like material), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

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[truereviewpage]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really a ceramic-like material), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[endlessarchite]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really a ceramic-like material), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[billydmacklin]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really a ceramic-like material), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

[interiorstarweb]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really a ceramic-like material), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! published first on https://novaformmattressreview.tumblr.com/

[additionallysad]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! https://ift.tt/2SLMjnJ

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really ceramic) from Home Depot (can’t find the link online), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

[lowmaticnews]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really ceramic) from Home Depot (can’t find the link online), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

[vincentbnaughton]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really ceramic) from Home Depot (can’t find the link online), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex! appeared first on Young House Love.

[krisiunicornio]

Unionize Yoga—the first-ever yoga teachers’ union—reaches a negotiation with major studio chain YogaWorks.

This story is part of a series covering the future of yoga during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Here, we take a look at the progress the yoga unionization effort has made. Read more about the the specific challenges facing the industry in our second story: The Future of Yoga: The Change We Need.

For yoga teachers around the world, their worst case career scenario arrived mid-March, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of yoga studios and limited in-person contact for an indefinite period of time. As more than 40 million Americans file for unemployment, many of whom lack health insurance or paid sick leave, there has never been a more pressing time than the present to consider the possibilities associated with a yoga teachers’ union.

It’s not a new thought. In fact, it’s an initiative that started with a small group of YogaWorks teachers in New York back in February 2019. These teachers formed Unionize Yoga, the first-ever yoga teachers’ union to become certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

What began a series of internal discussions among YogaWorks NY teachers about what job security, health insurance, and equity could look like for their profession, reverberated throughout the company. The more conversations that took place, the more teachers realized that many of their individual frustrations were aligned around the same issues. 

Then, just prior to Memorial Day, Unionize Yoga negotiations with YogaWorks concluded. An internal email from the Unionize Yoga Bargaining Committee to YogaWorks NY teachers obtained by Yoga Journal disclosed the details of a severance package for members of the YogaWorks Bargaining Unit. That unit, according to the email, includes any YogaWorks NY teacher who had worked two hours or more in the four months prior to the closure of the NY studios—which shuttered in mid-April due to financial challenges.

See also After Years of Financial Struggles, YogaWorks to Permanently Close in New York

The severance package offered paid health care benefits to employees who were enrolled in the company’s health care plan (again, any employee who worked at least 10 hours per week, which excludes many teachers) for three months following the closure date. Employees would also be guaranteed preference in hiring over non-YogaWorks employees at other YogaWorks’ locations should a New York employee relocate to another market.

It is a small step, but one with implications for how yoga teachers can organize moving forward, especially in a new era of online teaching and potential studio closures.

Equity, Diversity, and Job Security

The issues at Unionize Yoga’s bargaining table were not specific to problems at YogaWorks NY—they were industry-wide, the union says. These problems include a lack of equity (a teacher with over 15 years at the same company making, say, $40 a class, while a brand new teacher with very little experience could make twice that depending on who shows up); a lack of diversity (studios that continue to hire and favor white, young, thin, able-bodied teachers instead of prioritizing different body types, ethnicities, cultures, ages, and identities); a lack of sustainability (the majority of teachers have alternative sources of income that supplement their teaching, or may have financial assistance from a partner or their family, and in some cases, even inherited wealth); and a lack of job security (many teachers may work for very low wages without health insurance and lack financial stability). The union has also recognized the many teachers who don’t have other sources of income at their disposal live under the poverty line and receive public assistance such as subsidized housing, food stamps, and more.

A fair wage for yoga teachers, according to the union, is one that would increase over time with experience, and considers other factors such as the rising costs of living. YogaWorks teachers have pointed out that the pay structure is all over the map with different teachers at different pay rates. Unionize Yoga has argued for a set and transparent pay structure so that all teachers are aware of where they stand and know where they’re headed as they progress in their careers.

One of the biggest elephants in the room, however, is the perpetuation of existing privilege, the union says. If the yoga industry is defined by those who get to participate in it, Unionize Yoga indicates that by continuing to exclude marginalized communities, we’re defining what the industry looks like based on pre-existing biases. “It’s hard to see the big picture until you’ve worked in the industry for several years and see these patterns repeat,” wrote David DiMaria, a representative for the Machinists’ Union, in an email.

Of course, this perpetuation of privilege is a byproduct of capitalism and systemic racism in general and is not unique to yoga. But aren’t yogis supposed to be leaders and changemakers? 

More teachers of color are featured in magazines, emerging on social media platforms, teaching in studios, and giving their communities a voice. Rising star Lauren Ash of Black Girl in Om has been carving out a safe space in wellness for people of color since 2014, while yoga teacher, body positivity advocate, and Instagram megastar Jessamyn Stanley has been outspoken about how yoga is marketed toward “thin, white, affluent people.” Still, a 2017 National Health Interview survey found that more non-Hispanic white people practice yoga and meditation than non-Hispancic black people; 17.1% compared with 9.3%. While the industry may be starting to move the needle toward more diversity and inclusivity, we still have a ways to go.

See also What It's Like to Be a Black Yoga Teacher

Yoga Alliance, the biggest nationwide professional organization for teachers that exists within the yoga industry, provides guidelines for studios and parameters for teacher qualifications and aims to promote integrity and diversity in the industry. In late February, 2020, Yoga Alliance up-leveled its standards and launched a new ethical commitment code of conduct as an effort to address inequities and lack of diversity in the industry.

But, according to Unionize Yoga, only a teachers’ union and the federally protected rights that come with it could actually protect teachers, since unions have the right to negotiate legally binding contracts with employers. Unionize Yoga says that a universal teachers’ union would prioritize the greater good of the group over the self-serving interests of the individual. 

The nature of the studio business model in general is to create a comparison culture among teaching staff, with pay structures often set up to encourage competition. In short, teachers are often rewarded financially based on the number of students in the room.

As a teacher myself, I have observed that the paid-per-head industry standard can force teachers to become salespeople, responsible for recruiting and retaining students in order to raise—or sustain—their salaries. Just as a freelancer or entrepreneur is not paid for the time spent marketing their business, a yoga teacher is not compensated for the “invisible hours” spent promoting their classes, let alone preparing for them. This could help explain why so many teachers find themselves vying for the spotlight. This notion of hustling and jockeying is rarely, if ever, discussed in teacher trainings.

If the yoga industry in the West has indeed perpetuated a culture of homogeneity that spawned separateness and competition among teachers, it’s possible that an industry-wide collective with the standards across the board could serve as a healing salve. 

“From the start, our vision was to reimagine the yoga industry and to come together to ensure the sustainability of our profession through fair and equitable pay, transparent and truthful communication, and a clear path for growth, job security, and benefits,” says Tamar Samir, a yoga teacher and co-organizer for Unionize Yoga. 

While some are saying that the pandemic has forced a long overdue shift in the yoga industry, without brick-and-mortar studios relying on teacher trainings to survive—many have already begun to shutter their doors permanently. And we’re still faced with the same problem of too many teachers and not enough students. A teachers’ union could promote workers’ rights, seniority, equity, and diversity for a more promising industry and a brighter future. 

See also To Pay or Not to Pay for Yoga During the Coronavirus Shutdown

Marketing material for the Unionize Yoga campaign.

The Timeline of Unionization Efforts at YogaWorks

Within a few weeks of the early discussions at YogaWorks NY, what began as off-the-record talks among colleagues led to meetings with management, and eventually, the decision to officially organize and form a union. By the spring of 2019, the group was 80 members strong and dubbed themselves the ‘Teachers’ Initiative.’ They had reached out to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), which specializes in the gig economy, under the recommendation of CorePower Yoga teacher Effie Morgenstern, who, at the time, was attempting to form a union herself (though CorePower employees filed a series of labor lawsuits against the company instead).

By the summer, teachers at all four remaining YogaWorks NY locations at the time began signing union cards in favor of the union, despite that Heather Eary, a regional vice president for YogaWorks, sent an email encouraging employees not to. Once teachers had reached their goal of obtaining 80 percent of employees’ signatures, they filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On September 9, 2019, with support from the IAMAW, the Teachers’ Initiative took their campaign public as Unionize Yoga and sent a formal request to YogaWorks asking the company to recognize their union. That request was initially denied. Then on October 17, and again on November 14, all YogaWorks NY teachers were given the opportunity to vote either for or against the union, to which an overwhelming majority voted in favor. Following that victory, YogaWorks teachers were certified as a union by the NLRB in New York.

Fast-forward to March 2020: A bargaining committee of YogaWorks NY teachers and reps from IAMAW were in the throes of their second round of negotiations with the company.

Unionize Yoga had moved mountains; its efforts echoed across the industry and beyond—even Senator Bernie Sanders has Tweeted about it—and teachers around the country were inspired by their efforts and began to mobilize in pursuit of higher standards themselves. Many teachers have reached out to the union for advice as to how they might start one of their own. What had once seemed inconceivable for the yoga industry had become a reality.

But then COVID-19 changed everything. In mid-March, shelter-in-place restrictions put a pause on bargaining efforts between Unionize Yoga and YogaWorks. In an internal email that was sent by Heather Eary on March 16 and obtained by Yoga Journal, YogaWorks teachers and staff were notified of a temporary two-week closure that would go into effect the following day. The email stated that teachers could use any accrued pay from their sick leave bank, and that any staff member who wished to donate their accrued leave to a “Leave Bank” had the option to do so for those who had run out of leave pay. It was available on a first come, first serve basis until the bank was empty, with a maximum of five hours per employee (a noble effort, sure, but hardly enough to pay the bills).

See also Teaching Yoga in the Age of COVID-19

YogaWorks teachers, unlike most teachers at independent studios, are regular employees of the company, not independent contractors, which is why they’re eligible for perks like sick pay and which is also why they were able to legally form a union within the company. And though YogaWorks employees who work 10 classes per week (or equivalent) are considered full-time and eligible for benefits like health care, according to Unionize Yoga, no teacher at YogaWorks NY had worked that many hours. The number of hours worked, of course, does not include the countless ‘invisible hours’ (class prep, travel, training, etc.), involved in teaching a class

As studios everywhere closed, including all 66 YogaWorks locations across the country, the entire industry changed in the span of a week and shifted to online platforms. With the exception of its studios in New York, the U.S. epicenter of the novel coronavirus, YogaWorks began live streaming its classes, offering more than 1,000 per week. In a statement provided exclusively to Yoga Journal, YogaWorks said that despite considerable obstacles resulting from the impact of COVID-19, including the nationwide shutdown of studios and in hard impact areas like New York, that it would continue to promote “nationwide teacher-first policies that put teachers in the best position to succeed and grow in the long term.”

But the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the economy, and, according to the teachers who were interviewed for this article, YogaWorks began furloughing some of its management in April. Sick leave banks dried up. YogaWorks’ out-of-work teachers on staff (at least in New York where no live stream classes were offered), were compensated with a $25 fee for each scheduled class they would have otherwise taught.

See also 7 Ways Yogis Can Practice Loving-Kindness in Response to COVID-19

Under normal circumstances, teachers’ regular pay rates at YogaWorks ranged anywhere from $35 to $125 per class—depending on somewhat ambiguous calculations of seniority, celebrity, and of course, how many students came to class. YogaWorks teachers have said that this broad range in pay is anything but logical or systematic. There’s also a bump system that offers a flat rate per additional head after a certain number of students, but it’s unclear whether that system is the same across the board. Despite that YogaWorks’ payscale is in some respects more generous and consistent than the pay-per-head standard at smaller studios, the lack of structure in the pay system and transparency around it becomes problematic, teachers say, creating competition instead of collaboration.

Eary’s email ended by reassuring employees that YogaWorks would come out “stronger than before.” But by mid-April, YogaWorks CEO Brian Cooper delivered the news that all four remaining New York locations would permanently close as of Sunday, April 19, citing years of financial difficulties in a competitive market. Cooper wrote that the New York region had been suffering losses even before the pandemic, despite efforts to improve studio performance. In the past two years, two YogaWorks’ New York locations had closed (Westside and SoHo). Now that the company had lost its lease on the Eastside, the region’s only profitable studio, according to Cooper, there was no viable path to reduce the company’s losses and “get the New York region to break-even.”

As the news rippled throughout the company and devastated New York teachers, Unionize Yoga was faced with a new challenge: How can they reach a contract with a region that has dissolved? As a NLRB certified union, however, their rights to bargain were not affected by the closure, and the union continued to negotiate compensation and other issues that stemmed from the shuttering of the New York studios.

“While our negotiations with this specific company may soon come to an end, teachers’ efforts to reshape their world is only just beginning,” a rep from Unionize Yoga had said.

The negotiations at the end of May provided a glimmer of hope for changing the industry at large. The severance package for YogaWorks NY teachers varies by employee and is based on their years of service, ranging from two to four weeks' pay. A YogaWorks teacher who preferred not to be identified said that the company would cap the severance pay at $2,500. (The company requires any employees who accept the severance package to sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent them from suing the company or speaking out publicly about the company in a negative manner.)

Has the Unionization Effort Been Successful?

Was the deal a win for the union? The short answer: probably. Without it, YogaWorks NY teachers may not have received anything at all, says a former YogaWorks teacher who asked to remain anonymous. Unionize Yoga had spent more than a year spent organizing and tirelessly campaigning for their cause, thwarted by the sudden turn of events that led to the closures of YogaWorks’ remaining New York locations. As negotiations with the company concluded, the severance package marked marked a historic a victory for the union. Unionize Yoga representatives say they may be the first group of yoga teachers to receive a severance package following a layoff. “We are proud of our collaboration and accomplishments together and are thankful for everyone who has supported and encouraged thus far,” the union wrote in an Instagram post.

As Samir has said, the union’s larger efforts to reshape the yoga world are only just beginning. As news of Unionize Yoga’s formation spread across the U.S. and teachers elsewhere considered the power of mobilizing and forming collectives, the industry-wide camaraderie will continue. Beyond the borders of YogaWorks’ New York studios, the union’s collaboration with IAMAW, which has a reputation for non-traditional organizing in the gig economy, will also continue. New ideas for a post-pandemic world have already begun to take shape, from the possibility of a universal yoga teachers’ cooperative similar to an actors’ guild. “The solidarity, mutual support, and trust formed in this initiative cannot be dissolved,” Samir said. “It will simply shape shift into another form.”

[myrtlecornish]

Delivering Blown Minds: What the WWDC 2019 Keynote Means For You

“I’m excited, I’m curious, I’m terrified, I’m angry, all at once…”

—Anonymous

Opening its Worldwide Developer Conference for a 33rd year, Apple’s keynote Monday did its best to rival Avengers: Endgame both in duration and in eliciting gasps from an enraptured audience. By the frequency of applause lines alone, Apple’s announcements for 2019 have knocked us at Big Nerd Ranch off our feet.

For developers or the developer-adjacent in the Apple community, there’s no shortage of news affecting each of the platforms that will affect the work you do this year and in the years ahead.

With 14 new frameworks and hundreds of new APIs, you’d hardly be alone in feeling overwhelmed. We want to share with you what announcements we’ve been thinking about the most, and dive into them deeper over the coming days and weeks here on our blog.

I Want to Break Free

As is now tradition, the satellites — Apple TV, Apple Watch, and HomePod — lead the event as an appetizer. All three devices are being given room to leave their awkward adolescence and grow into their own.

Apple TV will allow associating users of a device with their preferences and tastes in your app, making it function far better as a device for the whole family (both in your own homes and in your customers’ homes!). So too follows HomePod, using the messages, music, and, most importantly, Siri Shortcuts for the correct user in a home. Enhanced single sign-on, including support for more telecoms and a new Sign in with Apple, grease the wheels on what is probably the hardest part of building Apple TV apps today.

Apple Watch will soon set off on its own, gaining more independence from a paired iPhone. Your apps can sever ties with their containing iPhone apps and be installed from a new fun-size App Store directly on the watch. Apps will install — and data will sync — far faster in this new world: no more waiting painfully long for that Bluetooth connection! Streaming audio and extended background time also top the list of making speedier and more useful wrist-based apps.

Finally, a major frustration with watch development is being tackled: say goodbye to the constraints and limitations of building out your app’s UI with WatchKit, and say hello to SwiftUI. It hopes to marry the best parts of WatchKit’s ease of getting started with the real scale of Apple’s other platforms. We’ll talk more about SwiftUI by the end of this post.

Long Dark Mode Tea-Time of the Soul

Mobile platforms exist in a paradox of maturity and progress — where we rely on them to be with us all day, yet excitedly awaiting the shiny new thing every year like clockwork. This is no better representation of this than in Dark Mode for iPhone and iPad, coming to iOS 13 in its 12th iteration what took the Mac 18 years. Finally, checking your texts from bed won’t sear your eyes.

But these design changes aren’t simply a new coat of paint. They give developers a renewed opportunity to embrace iOS adaptivity and meets their users where they are, whether they have vision impairment, motor limitations, or are simply in a dark room. Your customers will notice when your app meets their needs in this way.

So, too, will they notice speed when they’re trying to get things done. A whole host of launch time, download time, and download size improvements enable packing even more into your apps. With improvements like this year-over-year, it’s no wonder that iOS 12 sits at an 85% penetration: users love using the apps you make on their devices that are constantly getting better.

For developers, we’ve seen a theme of addressing common pain points. The SDK has been updated massively for affecting how you build, react to changes, and update the content in your UI, taking inspiration from popular patterns from the open-source community. These areas are sources of bugs in all our apps, and the iOS SDKs are here to help with data transform in the Combine framework, diffing for UITableView and UICollectionView, and layout composition in UICollectionView.

It’s not just iOS, anymore, either. iPad has restored its birthright with iPadOS — the same iOS we already know, souped up for larger screens just like tvOS is for TVs. Banner features include multi-window support and further integration of drag and drop. With a simple shift in API, your one app will be able to host multiple instances of its UI without all the bookkeeping traditional window management entails.

Developers that deal with any kind of user input will benefit from deep changes to text input, particularly with rich text support that would previously take hundreds of developer hours. And with still deeper file management, applications that work with a document paradigm become more useful and allow you to focus on what makes your app great.

There’s also been major developments to address the frustrations from last year’s launch of Siri Shortcuts. Parameterizing shortcuts lets you make your app offer more of its features to voice interaction, without the typical headaches of user discovery.

Mac Coming Off The Mountain

For years, the Mac has been on walkabout, learning what it means to be a desktop platform in an age of friendliness, security, and stability. At times, the refocusing on simplicity and user consent have left the Mac passionate in the cold. Developers have felt this cold shoulder too, and often avoided what they saw as a platform of cruft and complexity.

But it’s time to remember what makes the Mac great: customization, automation, and performance. Of course, the elephant in the room here is Project Catalyst — Apple’s new method of deploying iPad apps as great Mac apps, with augmentations to handle all the features that make the Mac, the Mac. With the simplicity, convenience, and passion mobile apps have brought to users, your team can benefit from your investment in mobile on the desktop as well.

Swift Takes Flight

Now five years old, Swift is ready to take a major leap forward. By shipping it with and integrated into the OS, Apple is ready to share the Swift innovations they’ve been working on internally all this time.

Many of this years’ brand new frameworks are in Swift, and these are no small additions. Combine is a new generation of data flow management. CryptoKit brings a stable API to the world-class cryptography implementation on Apple’s platforms. RealityKit further lowers the barrier to entry of putting 3D content into AR. All of these are made to make your applications simpler, safer, and faster — just like Swift brought to your application code itself.

A great, big, heaving, “Finally!” was heard as Xcode fully integrates with the open-source Swift Package Manager and its package ecosystem. For years, we’ve relied on third-party tools to manage dependencies for our apps. And though the efforts of those volunteer teams have been incredible, there’s nothing quite like being built into the platform IDE.

With an uncompromised UI in Xcode, you can integrate, audit, and build dependency code from your team or open-source into your app. You can even use Swift packages to organize your own app code easier than ever. (And, yes, we can hear you Java folks snickering in the corner!) It’s hard to overstate how much of an effect this will have on our day-to-day work as developers.

Then, much like Swift’s unveiling in 2014, Apple decided to surprise (and terrify) us a bit. SwiftUI is clearly inspired by the functional-reactive wave affecting much of the software industry, but with additional Swift flavor, embracing the safety and performance that are a big part of the language. It eschews the traditional compile-run-debug loop of Apple’s platforms with a supercharged next generation of the Interface Builder that responds live to changes in your code, and can even manipulate your Swift code directly.

The things that make a modern mobile app great — speed, interactivity, localization, and reacting to changes from the internet or the device environment — are all defaults in SwiftUI. And the most common sources of bugs, errors, and crashes? Like in Swift itself — gone, by design. There’s a huge opportunity for us as developers to learn how to leverage this in the future to make better apps in less time and with less code, and we’re going to have a lot to say about it over the coming weeks and months.

What’s important to keep in mind is that your investment in Apple’s platforms — in learning UIKit, in learning Swift, and more — has not been in vain. Opportunities abound for being able to simplify the complex parts of your apps, but that’s the further-off future. Today, Swift improvements also reflect back into the native UI toolkits and will remain first-class for many years.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

In building a platform, you make a kind of a promise. You promise flexibility and customers, sure, to get folks in the door — but to you keep them around, you make a promise to keep making things better.

Sometimes these promises go ignored. Sometimes they get broken. And sometimes, dramatically, they are fulfilled. If you read our WWDC Expectations: Hopes and Dreams, we’ve seen nearly all of our expectations and 5 of our out-of-this-world dreams.

Nothing speaks to Apple’s investment in these platforms quite like this years’ announcements. Problems that have plagued us as developers for years have been solved in novel and exciting ways. And for the years to come, we can watch as the future of app development unfolds, making our jobs easier, allowing us to focus on what matters in our applications, and maybe — every so often — blow a few minds.

Delivering Blown Minds: What the WWDC 2019 Keynote Means For You published first on https://johnellrod.weebly.com/

[statusreview]

A Front Porch Makeover At The Duplex!

It feels like a while since you’ve seen the front of the duplex (I blame winter) but that’s going to change today. And let me tell you… THINGS HAVE TURNED A CORNER!

There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still there…

… but boy oh boy is she lookin’ fynnnnnnnneee when we compare her to where we started:

All of the not original details came down – like the weird plastic wagon wheels and strange abacus trim that was added in the 70s, the plastic too-small shutters, the broken vinyl porch railing, all those satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. And we maintained or added back as much original charm as we could – like the metal porch roof, larger operable shutters, square porch columns, corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond windows that give me cartoon heart eyes.

We’ve already shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters, so today we’re gonna cover all of our front porch updates.

UGH BUT FIRST LET’S ADRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM… or should I say the mouse on the porch?! Those tiny postage stamp doormats are so ridiculous I can’t even explain how I thought they were regular sized and then they turned out to be doormats for ants.

So yes, we’re getting bigger ones (they would DEFINITELY make Marlo cringe – Atlanta Housewives… Anyone? Bueller?). So let’s all try to look past those tiny little rectangles and appreciate some of the other stuff that’s giving me life. We have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! And composite decking (no rot! YAY!). We even have potted plants and teak benches! SOMEBODY HELP ME CALM DOWN.

We don’t have great before photos of just the front door area itself, but you can sort of see it (including the mismatched storm doors that we got rid of immediately) in the photo below.

But as artsy as John thought he was being with the “SOLD” sign in the foreground of that picture, it doesn’t really demonstrate how deteriorated the old porch had become.

The entire front porch was also so rotten when it came to the actual support beams and structure of it, that we had to tear it off of the house and rebuild it from scratch, being careful to maintain the original transom windows above the door.

Let’s just say that it feels like we have taken a very significant leap forward in the last year and a half.

After we ditched the mismatched storm doors we decided to embrace the original front doors (figuratively speaking, I didn’t actually hug them, but we LOVE them and wanted to save them). You actually have to get approval from the town’s historic review board to change the style of your doors, so we’re really glad we liked them from the get-go. At one point we considered painting them the same mint color as the shutters, but realized that color got a lot of “stage time” thanks to having so many front windows (and therefore, double the amount of shutters)… so we both thought it would be nice to introduce another tone or color on the doors.

Our next (and longest-standing) idea was to make them some sort of wood tone – just clear sealed or covered with a light stain. You know we LOVE AN ORIGINAL WOOD DOOR (we stripped & waxed all the interior doors at the pink house, and I can’t even tell you how happy we are with them). So we had our contractor strip and sand our duplex front doors to get them as raw looking as possible. Lead paint = we hired them to do it safely in their shop, and they stripped and sanded them as far back as they could without compromising their integrity (they’re thinner than standard doors that are made today, and they had a few cracks and repaired portions they didn’t want to make worse).

But even after we spent $400 to get the doors professionally stripped back as far as they could take them, we just couldn’t get them where they needed to be. From the street (and in the from-a-distance-photos we shared) they looked pretty cool, but up close you could see a lot of stubborn paint in the cracks and recesses that we just couldn’t remove – even after another pass at sanding.

And as you walked closer you could see other general jankiness – like a large crack and some glue bubbles that would be hard to disguise with sealer or stain alone.

We knew that we could still get a wood look using a dark gel stain,like we did over on the pink house. It’s got thicker coverage than a typical stain – almost like a paint – and that certainly would’ve helped hide some of the issues.

But once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers and door handles, we both kept thinking…. what about a rich charcoal-y paint color? One that ties into that gorgeous metal roof above the porch? It just felt like a nice balance to the cheerful green shutters – sort of grounding and adding some nice contrast. It was also slightly comforting to notice that all of our other neighbors who have original doors have painted them too (they’re all 100+ years old so I think that’s the plight of being so worn down and in need of various repairs over the years – raw wood isn’t nearly as forgiving).

We’ve loved Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze ever since we used it our garage doors at home. It’s a really rich and layered color and we’ve always loved how it walks the line between a true black and a warm dark bronze-y brown tone – just like the tin roof we chose for the duplex!

Long story long, even though it was our lifelong (ok, yearlong) dream to leave these doors a light wood tone, we’ve mourned the loss of that idea and are IN LOVE with the final result. We both stepped back and thought: THE PAINT DID THESE DOORS A TON OF FAVORS!

Not only does it hide the cracks and glue bubbles along with all of those tricky paint remnants, it also looks great with the dark porch accents we added, like the operable shutters, the oversized porch lights, our wall mounted mailboxes, and our new house numbers. And the nice thing is that we were able to bring that wood tone in with other things, but more on that in a second.

As for installing the address numbers, they’re just simple off-the-shelf house numbers from Home Depot that can be mounted flush (like we did) or floating. They come with a template on the back of the package, so we trimmed the templates a bit so we could space them the way we wanted, and taped them to the siding exactly as we hoped they’d look in the end – being sure to triple check that they all had equal spacing, were all level, and were centered.

At one point we had planned to just get some subtle number decals to stick on the mailbox, but then we learned it was actually code that they were at least 4″ tall and “visible from the street” for emergency personnel. And by “learned,” I mean that we almost failed our final inspection because we hadn’t installed any yet, so we rushed to get them up and passed by the skin of our teeth (I would like to have a word with the inventor of that gross expression, btw).

Since we lost some of the warm wood tones in the doors, I brought them in with a few other things, like the basket-looking planters (they’re really ceramic) from Home Depot (can’t find the link online), and the big teak benches on the far ends of the porch. And once we get bigger doormats (maybe a single long one that runs under both doors and up to each planter would be cool?) that’ll add more of that warmer tone to the mix.

Of course I have to shout out our go-to faux outdoor trees. They inject some much needed zero-maintenance greenery to the front porch. We’ve got the same type on the beach house front porch and the taller versions at home in Richmond. They’re awesome, so yes, we are now the proud owners of six of these babies. Please note that I didn’t floof these before the photos (yes, that’s a technical term), so their shape in the picture below bugs me to no end. They’ll be looking 100 when I get my new mats, landscape the front, and share the updated pics though – mark my words.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you got a peek inside with the doors open last week. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right). I also really love that we didn’t do mint on the front doors because it’s a fun reveal to swing open the dark bronze doors and be greeted with a different happy & beachy color inside each one.

This is the before photo, which I now realize is funny because it’s almost like we switched sides – the greenish risers are now on the right, and the red/pink ones are on the left (we chose the colors for each side based on lighting and where they read the best – the pink tone read a little more gray and less pink on the right, so that’s how it ended up on the left).

So that wraps up the whole duplex porch update… but if you could kindly cross every last appendage that the groundhog was right in his call for an early spring, we’d really appreciate it. Because you know I can’t wait to get the front of the duplex landscaped and mulched and add a path to the back and plant grass and ALL THE THINGS! WITH ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

We need to get this thing whipped into shape so we can get it all photographed and listed for rent thing spring (rentals will start this summer and it should hit Airbnb this April or so! AHHHHHH!). Oh yeah and we have to finish the inside. And the backyard. Details, details.

P.S. To see how we have fixed up this house over the past 1.5 years, there’s a whole category dedicated to duplex progress.

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