Browsing Tag

exterior makeover

House Progress

Our Black House REVEAL!

After almost four years of living in this house, it finally has a fresh coat of paint! It’s been a long time coming, and we are so excited to finally have it done! I talked about different ideas we had here, and shared what we decided on here.

I wish we were further into the spring season, because these photos will really pop against lots of fresh greenery. We are in the drab brown of winter still, but I just couldn’t wait to show you guys the new look!

We used Sherwin Williams Black Magic for all of the siding, Tricorn Black for the trim, and Aleutian for the porch floors and ceilings. Everything was done in a satin finish, as was recommended by multiple painters for a couple of reasons. One, it will hopefully collect less dirt and dust than a flat finish, and two, it will give some reflection against the hot Texas sun come summer time. We are anticipating some warmer temperatures from the dark color come summer, but it was a risk we were willing to take to get the look we were going for. Now, let’s get to those before and after photos, shall we?

From my best estimates, the yellow was done in the early 90’s, and routinely touched up until about fifteen years ago. The lifespan of exterior paint in this climate is about 10 years, so it was definitely past its prime.

To have this side porch finally look like a connected and finished piece of the house is so meaningful to us. In the oldest photo we have of our house (1983), the porch was boarded up with plywood. When we purchased the house, it was covered with a thick smoke colored plexiglass as a sort of sun porch. It’s barely visible in this photo below, from the weekend we closed on the house. We tore down the plexiglass and the drywall that covered exterior siding right away, but were waiting to fully restore the porch until we painted the house. It’s been an eyesore as long as we’ve lived here and it feels so good to have it back as it was intended!

There is still a bit of work to do. I need to do some work to repair the front door and give it a fresh coat of shellac (it is dryyyyyyy as a bone but I wouldn’t let the painters touch it). Come spring, I need to get some plants in the ground to freshen up the porch and bring it to life.

Overall, I could not be more pleased with how it turned out. It was certainly a bold choice, but we absolutely love it. It’s a fresh take on an old house that leaves all the historic elements intact, and that’s all I could ever hope to accomplish. Thanks for cheering me on and sharing your thoughts during the process, it’s certainly been a long road to get here. That’s all for today friends, have a fabulous day!

February 28, 2022 by
House Progress

Our Exterior Design Plans

If you’ve been following along with our house progress, we’ve talked on and off about painting the exterior of our home for quite a while. It was second on a list of larger projects, and so after some foundation work that we had done last fall, we were ready to turn our attention to the exterior. We’ve known since we first bought the house that it would need some fresh paint. The yellow is not my favorite, but more importantly than that, it hasn’t been even touched in over fifteen years, and I’m not sure when this coat was put on to begin with.

A year ago, I was thinking and dreaming up ideas for the colors, and wrote about it here. Now that we’ve had some time to think it through (I’d say a year to mull it over is a good amount of time!), we’ve decided to go with….. black on black monochrome!

The work is scheduled to begin in just a few weeks! I’ll share the exact colors we’ve landed on when it’s finished, which I’m hoping will be early spring when everything is turning green. It’s all dependent on weather though, so fingers crossed everything works out.

I know it’s a very bold color choice and certainly very trendy at the moment. This is the type of project that I think it’s okay to be trendy with. Hear me out. The act of painting a wood siding house in itself is not contentious, like painting antique brick or painting quality hardwood floors. Exterior siding needs to be painted, and it has a pretty short shelf life because of its exposure to the elements. It’s not something that you can do once and leave for fifty years. During the course of this project we will be repairing a lot of rotted trim, replacing decorative trim pieces that have been removed, and tidying up some remnants of old renovations that don’t quite make sense (For example: why is there drywall on the ceiling of a porch? Drywall doesn’t belong outside!). So while the color itself is trendy now, the work and care that are going to go into the outside of the house will leave it in better condition than it is currently in. And, in ten to fifteen years if we decide we don’t like it anymore, that’s okay, because it’ll be time for fresh paint anyway.

Over the course of the last couple of years, I have had people ask if we’re planning on doing the work ourselves. While that’s maybe a compliment to our abilities, we’re hiring this out completely. We technically could do the work ourselves, but we aren’t really interested. Ethan has a full time job, plus a job at the church, so he works six days a week. I am home with little snippets of free time during naps and after bedtime, so while it might technically be possible for us to do it, it honestly would take the better part of a year to complete it (not to mention constantly renting a lift…our house is very tall!), and I just am not interested in doing it.

I hope to share more about it soon once things are rolling. I can’t wait to show you all the end result! That’s all for today, Have a fabulous day!

February 4, 2022 by
House Progress

Exterior Color Inspiration and Ideas

You guys have seen the outside of our house by now. When I share a photo of our exterior on Instagram, it’s always a favorite. When we bought the house, we knew we would be painting it eventually. We still aren’t ready to paint (we have a couple other things on the list ahead of painting), but I’m having fun thinking of ideas and looking for inspiration! I have four different directions I’m thinking of, and I wanted to walk you through each idea. There are some pros and cons to each one, so I wanted to get them all out in one place, if nothing more than for me to reference later on.

Classic White

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My love for white houses runs deep. It’s the most classic, most timeless in my opinion. Had we painted the house immediately upon purchasing, I would have painted the house white with black trim immediately without question. Now that I’ve had time to think through our options, I have the opinion that white with black trim can look a bit harsh, so I’d probably stick with white on white. The downsides are the frequent powerwashing needed to keep it looking fresh, as well as the fact that several houses in our neighborhood have recently been painted white. I don’t want it to be just another white house. In some sections of the exterior where we can see previous layers of paint, white is the oldest layer. That’s not to say that white was the original color, but it was white sometime a long time ago, so that’s something to consider.

Cream with White Trim

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This kind of goes along with the light and bright vibe, but I feel that it would hide dirt better. This color option is born of sheer practicality. I would do a white trim with it, so there would be some contrast, but overall, it would be a light colored look. I can’t think of a ton of other houses near us that have this scheme going on either, so that’s a plus.

Blue with White Trim

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Okay, so this one can look really classic as well. I think we would go with a fairly dark, greyish blue, so all of our detail trimwork would really pop in white. And, when looking at a cross section of paint layers on some of our siding, there’s proof that the house was blue at one time (after it was white)! I can’t think of any other houses in town that have this scheme, it would hide dirt really well, and blue is my favorite color! The downside is that a lot of our interiors lean blue, so I’m worried that it might be too much blue? Is there such a thing? I’m not really sure, but it something to think about.

Black on Black Monochrome

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Okay, so this is the most bold and dramatic of my ideas. Black is definitely having a moment, and I really like the possibility of being the only house in town painted this way. It’s a bold choice for sure, and it would certainly be a talking point around town (some people would love it, others would hate it, and that’d be okay with me). My concern with this would be heat/energy. We do live in Texas, and summers are long and hot. I don’t know if having a black house would make it hotter inside in the summer? Also, would the color fade quickly? We would probably go with a deep deep grey, but it would be close enough to make it look black. Another concern is that this option is too trendy? The house’s current paint job is about a decade older than I am, so it’s something that will be with the house for a while. I don’t want to be tired of it in five years, you know?

In a way, I’m glad we haven’t painted yet, because it’s given me some time to think on the decision. But the more time that passes, the more options I think of, so I’m further away from making a decision. I want to do something that suits the house, and the neighborhood. Sure, we technically own this house right now (and plan to for a very long time), but this house belongs to everyone who has ever lived here, to everyone who uses our sidewalks to walk their dogs, to everyone who uses our house as a marker for where to turn to make the shortcut to the next signal, to everyone past and future who enter the front door, or just admire from the street. It’s a big decision, and I want it to be the right one. Unfortunately I just don’t know what that is yet. What do you think?

That’s all for today, have a fabulous day!

February 5, 2021 by