Last November, we started the HUGE project of scraping and painting our old home. We got 3 walls done, and I don’t know why exactly but that made us feel like we didn’t have as much to do???? Can we all say, DUMMIES. We started this project back up again in May and didn’t finish it until NOW. It was seriously the song that never ends but Andrew (who was stuck doing more than me) got through it. We just chipped away bit by bit and I of course kept adding more bits (like painting our porch roof) but we’re DONE, we’re REALLY DONE!!!!
I don’t think we’ll ever do this ourselves again, but we will work hard to maintain it so that the need to redo it doesn’t happen for as many years as we can stretch it.
What Andrew accomplished :
- Scraped the old paint
- Sanded everything
- Cleaned the walls
- Patched the bad spots
- Rented a paint sprayer and sprayed two coats. The color we choose is very bright, but the other white shades we looked at seemed already dingy before they were even applied, so we decided to go bright…a move I am not quite sure was our best idea, but we’ll see.
- Revisited spots that he missed
- Removed, scraped and painted all the shutters (sooooo many shutters!!!)
- Put shutters back up (again, soooo many shutters!)
- Painted foundation
- Painted porch roof (Andrew did this on both porches)
So while Andrew was taking on painting the entire exterior of our home. I decided to take on the refreshing of our porches, yes we have two. One is a huge wrap-around-porch and the other is a so-so attractive porch that leads into our mudroom. Both needed A LOT of TLC and paint. It took me awhile to find the paint color I wanted to use, the problem is with having dark green shutters a lot of my ideas didn’t fit. So I finally went with a lighter milky green (which can sometimes look more blue on camera) but we really love how it turned out.
I also decided to paint all the old outdoor furniture I have the same color as the porch. Which might seem kind of odd, but I liked the idea of the porch feeling simplified and aligned, if that makes any sense.
I had also purchased a small paint sprayer and was amazed at how well it worked for using on the furniture.
What Tiffany accomplished:
- Scraped and painted exterior porch walls
- Scraped and painted exterior porch shutters
- Painted porch ceiling white (it use to be blue)
- Painted porch roof (Andrew did this on both)
- Painted porch floor and stairs
- Painted porch furniture
- Painted Cellar Doors
- Replaced porch lighting (on both porches)
I can not begin to explain how happy I am that this project is finished. It was HUGE. Not only did we do all of that but we also included our garage (another post to come). We worked so damn hard and with a toddler I thought we might not make it, but we did and we both think it looks so good, fresh and loved. Sure, the porch could use some more decor and welcome vibes and the landscaping at the front is a big work in progress thanks to those trees, BUT at least it’s finished.
Kenneth
A great act of love and sacrifice. I went through this once which led to the building of our maintenance free brick ranch in Little Rock IL.
Tiffany
Haha! I remember that place well! And I am nearly there myself 🙂
Joleane
Bravo!! A Herculean effort by you both! Can’t wait to see Green Gables in person. 👍🏆🏆 Yes, it is no wonder why so many builders go with bricks. ❤️
Tiffany
Thank you and yes, looking forward to your visit! Though we might put you to work 🙂