“When Don and I bought our house in Hingham, we knew it needed a little love. That’s why we could afford it,” Laura laughed. “And over the years, we’ve been steadily working on improving things. One year, we put a new roof on. Then, a few years later, we had new vinyl siding installed. A few years after that, we had replacement windows put in. Each step made the house just that much nicer.”
Both Don and Laura have fairly modest incomes, and they don’t want to take on a lot of debt. “That means we save up to pay for our home renovations,” Don said. “It takes a little while, but really, the roof was our biggest challenge financially. Everything else – the new siding, the replacement windows – have actually been pretty affordable.” Don knew his wife had started putting money aside for her next planned upgrade – having vinyl shutters put on. “When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, Laura told me just to put the money I would have spent on whatever into the shutter fund,” Don said. “I decided to go one better than that!”
On the morning of Laura’s birthday, “We were having our coffee in the kitchen, just like always,” Laura said. “And that’s when the truck from the Hingham vinyl siding contractors pulled into the driveway. I asked Don, “What are they doing here?” And he got this big smile and said “Guess what they’re doing here.”
Laura’s new vinyl shutters are white, the perfect complement to her replacement windows and light green vinyl siding. “They just tie everything together,” she said. “The house looks so cute and inviting now. I absolutely love it – and I have to say that I’m blown away that my husband secretly arranged to have new vinyl shutters installed on my birthday!” She gave her husband a hug. “You’re going to have a hard time topping this one, sweetheart!”