LIGHTS!

Two weekends ago, our painting was finally finished. I'd like to thank MARK P and his crew (Herman and Chris) for doing such a fantastic job. I am very happy with our home; the elasticized paint is awesome (and totally worth the extra cost).

For those of you that have seen the photos, the feedback I've gotten has been "That looks GREAT!" or "Good choices on the color. It's subtle, but looks fantastic." or other things equivalent. I could have gone for blue or maroon or something, but it's just not "us". This greys & white combo suits us to a tee.

Of course, after the painting outside was done, we had to install the new outside lights. We went with medium-sized lanterns, from LOWE'S (I bought the last three; the company is no longer making the ones I have), that have hidden motion detectors, and can be either hard-wired into the house, or put on a switch. They also have timing options both for when they come on and go off, as well as how long they stay on after being set off.

First, we installed the front door light. That one is on a switch; dusk-til-dawn -- which means it still has to be semi-dark for it to come on. The low light comes on, and the motion detector (brighter light) is set off when you enter my yard. The house numbers plaque I bought on EBay went up next. We went with black reflective material, and white reflective numbers; VERY easy to see from the drive.

Second, we (& by "we", I mean Ace) cut holes on either side of the garage door to accommodate the new electrical boxes (we originally had ONE motion light, to the RIGHT of the garage, so we had to fill that back in, and cut these lower to match height of the other one). Boxes in, we wired the one on the left side of the garage from an outlet, and built a junction box on the right side of the garage (old wiring wasn't quite long enough to accommodate the new spot).

That done, the lighting units themselves were installed. Once it was dark, we tested them. Everything works perfectly, and I am glad (a) they're in, (b) this project is completely done, and (c) they aren't blinding, but are effective. I'd take a photo head-on of the whole house, but there's a tree next to my driveway that blocks the view...

Next project: ceiling paint and new lighting in the main areas of my house; probably next weekend. I've already bought them, but am just waiting until we have less people here (darn kids, wanting to have lights on when it's dark... geez!). :)