A little curb appeal..

So this beauty is what we purchased nearly 9 months ago now, I know don't be too jealous of us!! We absolutely adored those aluminum framed single pane windows this winter when our gas bill consistently stayed over $300/mo.

Its pretty weird when you take out a nearly 8 foot window and have a huge gaping hole in the front of your house. We kept being corny about the whole thing and commenting how clear our new set-up was, that it was almost like not having a window at all. Somehow we made minimal mess on this task which was nice for a change. We replaced the dining room window the next day and were literally trying to outrun a storm to get the thing in, we succeeded but seriously by the hair of our chinny chin chin.
So here is the new and improved front of our house. We still need to get in the new door, which should be arriving any day now, and the final window on the front replaced, which is the one on the far left of the picture. We have also, since this picture, replaced the outdoor lighting next to the front door and on the garage. The lights you see in the picture are literally like 3 feet tall on a ranch house, it looks ridiculous, we replaced it with something a bit more to scale.
This isn't technically curb appeal (see below) but is a change and enhancement on the back of our house. This was the sliding patio door that was in the 3rd bedroom when we bought the house. We didn't like that set-up and wanted the patio door in the kitchen and a window in the 3rd bedroom so we had contractors do that work. During the change the contractors commented that the way we wanted it was the original way it was on the house but a previous owner had changed it! Who puts a patio door in a 3rd bedroom (not the largest so probably not the master) and then just a window off the kitchen???
The contractors weren't able to brick in the opening in the fall b/c it was two cold for mortar and it was really expensive to get brick then b/c the builders aren't ordering anything.

This is right after it was done so the mortar residue is kind of smudged on the bricks, it doesn't really look that grey. The bricks aren't an exact match but we think it is close enough that if we do a little "decorating" of the patio around this area, no one will ever know that difference. You can see where we have installed patio door over to the left.