"Brick" be gone

Did you think our house was brick?

I did.

When we first drove past it, on one of our evening tours of cheap-houses-for-sale-in-The-Valley, I was sure there was a typo in the listing. There was not a chance such a stately, brick house, with such a beautiful, huge lot was in our price range. But a call to the realtor confirmed that yes, the price was right.

We made an appointment to see it the next day. And I spent the night telling my grandmother all about the pretty brick house we had found.


But when we approached the house the next day, I saw that it was not brick.

It was something even better.


What is this stuff?

I have never seen this kind of siding on a house before. It's like roofing material, but with a faux brick pattern.

It's hilarious, and tacky, and I adored it. Plus, because I'd never seen it anywhere before, it felt fancy in a limited-edition kind of way.


But I only enjoyed it so much because I knew it was temporary. The hubs is unable to appreciate the tackier things in life. So while replacing it was towards the bottom of my to-do list (somewhere just after installing a fireplace and getting a tire swing), it was right on top of his.


To be fair, the fake brick seems to have been original, and our house was built in the 40's. The siding had not aged very well.


And, after about a month of working in the rain (him, not me), I now present to you, our house:


TA-DA!


This isn't quite the big reveal I was going for, as the paint is still in buckets in our basement. We didn't beat the weather (lesson: don't start a huge weather-dependent project in early November) so we'll be painting it as soon as it warms up in the spring. All those caulk lines surpass even my greater-than-average tolerance for tacky.

Good job sweetie! You're the handiest guy I know, and I'm always impressed with your mad housing skills!

Love, J