Gerta Gets A Makeover

Gerta is our house, with whom I have an uneasy alliance.  She's a little bit ranch dirty, and I guess I'm a bit of a clean diva.  The problem, I realized in an earlier post, is she was and is a tomboy and loves it, and she does her best to remind me that when it comes to dust, grime and rough edges, she thinks she is the boss.

Gerta reminds me of Calamity Jane in the HBO series called "Deadwood".  (Rachel sent us the first season on DVD to occupy Dan as he recovered, and we have both been enjoying it.)  Calamity Jane is portrayed as a tough, grimy, drinking, profane woman who has a soft heart, deep underneath her facade.

If Gerta were a person, I could see her cussing someone out while spitting chewing tobacco on the ground and loving it.  But... she'd keep you warm and comfortable when you needed it.

In spite of her foibles, Gerta has a new look.  All the buildings on the ranch were painted this last summer, and Gerta went from her yellow house/green roof to a new beige house with gray roof:

Gerta's spiffy new look

What she looked like a year ago

She also got a new garage door installed; previously, there was a picture window in its place.

We are close to finishing what started out as our first project on the house- the front door.  The original door could have been a finalist in the 'Ugliest Door Contest':

We came up with an abstract mountainous scene, which Dan cut out of wood and carved and I painted:

We also painted the door off white.  All that's left is putting a finishing frame around the piece.

Next on our list is an update of the bathroom.  Since this 'first project' took a year, we'll see how quick that gets done..... :)  Pictures to one day come!