NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

House-painting progress

by

Well, the house painting project went really well over the weekend, all things considered. On Saturday morning, we had the help of our friends Pam and Dave and a rented airless sprayer (from Home Depot).

There was a chance of rain, but luckily it held out on us. At least for Saturday. (Consider that foreshadowing.)

We used Sherwin Williams Superior exterior latex paint color-matched to the vinyl siding on the garage. We went with a flat sheen, after reading some suggestions online. When I went to buy it the week before, I found out it was going to be on sale the following weekend. So I waited to purchase and ended up saving nearly $300 in the process. (You can do the math.) The color match was perfect.

The guys sprayed most of the day. Pam and I oversaw, prepped and re-painted the white trim and foundation that was affected by overspray.

At the end of the day, we had two sides completely done with two coats of paint. It went so well that Ryan and I worked all evening (and into the dark) to finish cleaning and taping off the other two sides. We thought we’d finish the rest of the house on Sunday.

You may remember that the original plan was to do the other half of the house the next weekend. There is a reason you should stick to a plan. But, we didn’t.

Two bad things happened in this process:
1. I fell off a ladder. Onto a fence. Then onto the sidewalk. Ouch. Luckily, I didn’t break anything. Just a sore body, twisted ankle and a bruised ego. We were just trying to rush to get done and I got careless on the ladder. Safety first, friends. Don’t be like me.
2. Then, we woke up early on Sunday morning to a gloomy day and rain in the forecast. It was only 30 percent chance on Saturday, but Sunday morning looked ominous.

So, we finished taping off most of the house before it started raining. So we cut our luck and took the sprayer back. Then we finished some other projects indoors. And watched the Bears horrific showing.

While it’s disappointing that we weren’t able to wrap up the project, it ended up being for the best. We were both pooped. Now, we can finish the other two sides of the house next week like our original plan.

Once the entire house is finished, I’m going to try to remember to come back and give some tips and suggestions for painting aluminum siding. So far, we are really glad we went this route. The finish is really nice and the change is amazing.

And here’s one of the sides that’s left. Unfortunately, the rain knocked some of the plastic sheeting off the windows so we’ll have to re-do that.

Taping off the windows was such a pain, but it was necessary.

And let’s compare, more for my own benefit than yours.

 
(August 2010)
(September 2011)

What do you think?

Comments

  3. What a change! The color is beautiful and really makes the red and white accents pop. I’m so sorry to hear about your fall and hope that you’re feeling better. I completely understand – I have the talent of tripping over flat surfaces! I hope you’ll have good weather this weekend – looking forward to seeing your whole, beautifully painted house!
    Jenn

  4. OMG! The color is perfect-o and looks so seamless!!

    Can I tell you, I have been looking SOOOO forward to hearing the do’s and don’ts from this project! My house is almost exactly the same as yours, with aluminum siding and all, and my husband and I need to paint it bad, but weren’t sure which avenue to go, do it ourselves or pay someone else. Seeing what you have done gives me hope that we can do it too!!! Can’t wait to hear more on it!

  7. Seriously, I am dying. LOVE the misty grey with the pop of red. Makes me want to paint my (brick) house.

    ..ok.. maybe not 😉 Still looks fantastic Kim!

    LB

  8. Oh My Gosh! Kim – I’m so glad that you are ok! Sore I’m sure though.

    Seriously though, that paint job is phen-om-en-al!! Such a gorgeous change!

  12. Amazing! I literally gasped at the first “after” photo. I am loving the color and it makes it look so different. You are my hero for DIYing it….I don’t think we have that much guts. I am so happy you survived the ladder incident! Scary stuff. I will be thinking “no rain” thoughts for you this weekend!

  14. Amazing change! I love it! Great color choice…it is beautiful.
    Glad you are okay from your fall. Tony and I would have been the same way and wanting to see the project finished!

  18. If I were your neighbor, I would love you for making that house more appealing for the whole street!!

    How have your neighbors reacted to the change? Do they follow the blog?

  19. Oh my goodness. What a huge difference paint can make. And what a great way to paint your house.
    Sooo sorry that you fell off of the ladder. Ouch. You take care of yourself!
    Hoping that you have good weather next weekend so you can finish off the project!

  20. Looks great! Don’t you just love to see progress from your efforts? Looking forward to seeing more. ~Susan~

  21. Kim, that looks AMAZING!!! Being a huge fan of gray houses with red doors (having owned two) I think the colors are awesome 🙂 Love it!!!

  23. Beautiful job and what a huge difference (before and after pictures always make me a little giddy). I’m glad you are okay and hope the bruises heal fast! One of the first things I thought when I saw the picture of your house was, “Wow, they’ve even got to do a second story–that sounds tricky!” Well done! It looks amazing! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  24. Ooooh so pretty!!! I can see your house smiling with all the beautiful updates you’ve done! Be careful though- no broken bones!!!

  25. What an unbelievable difference!!! I love it!! A wall mounted mailbox would look great on your house! We’re lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that still has them. It is so convenient!

  29. Looks perfect!!!! Love that you DIYed it — we painted our house ourselves too, dont you love all that $$ you saved!!

    I also love the grey color you choose!!!

  32. I’m glad you’re (mostly) OK from the fall… ouch. The new paint looks GREAT! We’re thinking of painting our cream on white house gray on white like you. I really like how the colors came out. It gives me hope 🙂

  34. LOVING the grey. Amazing. Boo to the ladder-falling, though. Way to tape off the windows. We, uh, skipped that step. But we have mongo huge trim around the windows and we were painting that by hand, so the overspray didn’t matter. Plus there’s still overspray on some of the windows. I care a lot, clearly. Ha.

  38. wowza! loving the new house color. isn’t paint amazing!? sorry to hear you got rained out (and fell off a ladder – ouch!).

    oh, and i really think you need to do a post some day about how you spend your day, hour by hour. i’m not trying to be nosey, but i feel you are so productive and get so much accomplished! I constantly feel like there is never enough time. it’d be an inspiration! that’s for sure.

  40. And the comment from Olivia is actually from me. She was apparently signed in – LOL! Although I’m sure she’d love the colors too!!

  42. It’s looking soooo good Kim! I totally just showed off your whole website to DH…for both of us….like, check out my awesome friend! (And her cute pugs!) AND look at all this awesome work they get done on their own on weekends and evenings, while holding down great jobs, etc….(hint hint!)
    LOL!