I bet you've never seen a 'naked' house before—I know I hadn't! Judging by the reaction on social media when we started this renovation, a lot of people were also surprised to see a house stripped of its brick facade. But that's exactly what the brick was—a facade, not a structural element. Besides not loving the size or style of the brick, removing it gave us access to the framing, which was essential for installing the bearing points for our new front porch.

Just as things were starting to look 'put back together,' we took the roof off half of our house. The plaster ceiling on the main floor had needed repairs since we moved in, but we initially held off due to the scale of work involved. However, with our plans to alter the roof for the new porch addition, we decided to go all in—adding new trusses and reframing the ceiling in the main living area to create a vaulted look.

After four months of renovating, we could finally see our vision taking form. One of our favorite additions was the composite decking, which truly brought the porch to life!