Recent Home Improvement Projects in Illinois

Over the past few years, my neighborhood has been undergoing major improvements. My family andI finally decided to hop on board when our next door neighbor did a major overall on the outside oftheir home. We couldn't be happier with the process, although it is still a work in progress.

When we first noticed contractors at our neighbors, my husband was curious and poked his nosearound. They ended up redoing their windows, trim, roof and even the front stoop! Their houseinstantly looked twenty years younger after the update was complete. You would never know it wasbuilt in the 1950s at all anymore.

By comparison, our home started to look drab and dirty.The siding was graying, and despite monthly cleaning, thewindows were never clear. These are the majorimprovements we've started on, but we have many moreprojects to do in the future.

First, we started with our windows. Our utilities weregetting high, and when we purchased our home in 2009,the previous owner couldn't tell us when the windows wereput in. Due to possibility to lower our utilities every month, we agreed we ought to do the windows.

From start to finish, it took about two months between finding the best contractor and waiting forthe windows to be made and delivered. Our contractor was amazing and very reasonable incomparison to other companies. He even offered us a discount for being referred by a former client.

After the windows were put in, my husband and I noticed an immediate effect. It was late springwhen they were completed, and the drafts in our home were gone. Not to mention, the new screensrefuse to allow any bugs in! I believe they ended up costing us about seven thousand dollarsincluding all of the labor and the windows themselves.

The next on our list is the siding of ourhome. The same contractor offered to giveus a discount due to repeat business inaddition to our first discount, and we wereso happy with his work, we agreed to gothrough with it. It only ended up taking aweek and a half due to the size of ourhome, but the effect showed again. I hadno idea that siding has insulation, and thatwas a double win for us! Our bills havegone down over two hundred dollars.

And just like our neighbors' home, our 1950 two story home looks years younger. Now we're goingto focus on the garden and fence. The brickwork path from our home to our detached garage isterrible, so we want to put down pebble infused concrete steps, and eventually put out a patio tableand chairs to enjoy the summer weather!

A lot of people have told us that home improvements can be stressful, but the updates on our homeshave brought us nothing but happiness. With a few fresh coats of paint, I believe we'll be able toupdate the interior as well. I can't wait to do more!