Sunday, October 18, 2009

A new coat of paint and a new look

After several months of work our house painting project has finally been completed. The house was first power washed to remove the dirt and loose paint. This was done about a month before the painting actually started since construction was still in progress. When the painters returned, they power washed it again to remove paint that was still loose. The house looked pretty awful before the first brush of paint was put on it. Then they started priming the house and as they primed it, they scrapped off anything that hadn't been removed by the power washing. We picked out four colors, two shades of brown, an off white, and a red for accents. We wanted a real change from the white, blue, gray and pink we had for the past 14 years.

First, they primed the whole house with the lighter shade of brown. At first I was having some second thoughts about our color choices. The house was solid beige and not very interesting. But we had some faith in the colors and didn't change anything. Once the house was primed they started caulking every crack and crevice that they could find. I was somewhat amazed that they spent almost two weeks caulking the house. I was impressed. Then the real painting got started and we had ladders everywhere.



There were times when we had ladders outside most of our windows. It became a habit to check the bathroom windows just to make sure that a painter wasn't positioned just outside when the bathroom facilities were needed for a shower or other uses.
An, although the construction crew occupied my whole garage during their work, the painters only took up half of it. We were able to occasionally actually park a car in our garage. It had been since early January since were had been able to do that.

But now it is done, and it does look great. Our painters were not cheap, nor were they fast, but I do believe that they did about as good a job painting this house as anyone could have. Their work was meticulous, they didn't leave any mess and they were careful to make sure we knew what they were doing and anytime they thought that a change in plans needed to be made, they discussed it with us. Here is the finished product.
Our front door.

The front porch

The front bay window


The back porch


The view from the driveway

The new Sun Room

The view from the back yard



And since the American Hornbeam in the back yard was putting on such a beautiful display of fall color, I decided it needed a little notice too.

8 comments:

Amber said...

It's beautiful! I can't wait to come home and see it in person! Great colors, both the house and the trees!

The Life and Times of Poose and Hawk said...

Oh my! It is absolutely stunning! I LOVE the red accents, from the paint and the tree! Wow! Amazing! Can't wait to gawk at it in person!

Genie Bargain Shopper said...

This whole project was definitely worth several episodes of "This Old House", and the result belongs in "House Beautiful"!

Liz said...

It looks so pretty!! I really love how the trim just pops against the house color!

Anonymous said...

It is wonderful, sure you just didn't have a new house brought in. Love the new flooring too.

Lucas said...

It looks GREAT you guys! Can't wait to see it with my own eyes.

Brandy said...

Looking great! The floors and the paint (inside and out) are marvelous. I can't wait to see it.

Sharon said...

wow it looks really beautifully done. i can't wait to see it at thanksgiving!