Freshly Painted, chapter 5: Fairy Tale House

I couldn't be more happy with the completed paint job on Sassafras House.  Though I am admittedly biased, I think my home looks like a fairy tale house.

The siding color stayed the same, but the new coat of paint really freshened things up.  The color is Baltic Grey, complemented with Arctic White window trim.  The shutters and window sills were trimmed in blue.  It's a grayish shade of Benjamin Moore paint called Alfresco.  Here is the view from the west, looking at the study windows.

The previous trim was a cranberry red, which made the siding look on the brown side of grey.  The now sparkling white trim and the switch to the blue shutters makes the grey look crisper and clean, more on the blue side of grey.

And going from this powerwashed, unprimed siding: 

To this:

It makes a world of difference.  I especially love the clean and crisp front porch with its tidy posts and railings. 

The blue front door (sporting some Halloween decorations at the moment) welcomes us home each day.  That's happy!

Freshly Painted, chapter 4: Scraping and Priming

In the aftermath of the powerwash, the house looked pretty shabby.  But that was nothing compared to the scraping, which exposed a whole lot of bare siding.  Happily, scraping was so quickly followed by primer paint that I didn't have to worry much about the naked house.  Here are some views of the house, all primed up and ready for paint.

For the section off the back deck, I didn't even get to see the scraping and priming.  The work started early and by the time I came home after school, the first coat of paint and some of the trim had already been applied.

At some point last Saturday, the front and sides were changing over to the Baltic Grey color and the window trim work was in progress.  This picture of the front of the house shows a bit of a split personality as the work progressed.

It's been fun to track the progress of the changes unfolding at Sassafras House and we've enjoyed the process.  Well, everyone but Tiger and Lucy.  But that's a story for a another day.  

Freshly Painted, chapter 3: Adios, Señora

There was a snafu in the new color of house paint, one best illustrated by this picture.

Ummmm, yeah.  That color down below, the new color?  It doesn't match the established siding upstairs.  And I am definitely stuck with that siding. My choice of  Senora Gray (which I kept reading in my mind as Señora Gray) is a no-go.  The Señora was sent packing and it was back to the color drawing board for me.  Dozens of paint chips and a handful of trials later, we concluded that the proper color is Baltic Gray, another Benjamin Moore color.  He's no easy-going Señora, our man Baltic Gray.  No, he's tough.  Durable.  Ready for snow and rain storms.  And a perfect match for the upstairs siding.

Disaster averted.  That's happy.

Freshly Painted, chapter 2: Shabby but Not Chic

The powerwash job sent a lot of loose paint flying and generally succeeded in proving beyond a shadow of doubt that the house could use a paint job.  The worst of the sections are in the back, off the deck.  The previous owners had a hot tub here and it left its mark on paint.

Which is not to say that the rest of the house isn't in need of some fresh paint.

The ivy that once grew up the west side of the house wasn't doing the siding any favors.

In short, Sassafras House is more than ready for the improvements that are coming.  The next step is chipping the rest of the loose paint, siding repair, and then the application of primer.  That work started Friday and will continue into next week.  I'm getting excited about the coming changes.  Updates as warranted!

Freshly Painted, chapter 1

In a long overdue house project, Sassafras House is being painted this fall.  Of course, I'll be blogging about the project.  The best place to start is with some before pictures.  The house is a two-story bungalow with a large front porch and loads of windows.  Here's a view of the front yard, which faces north.  This picture was made Monday morning, as T and I were getting started trimming the overgrown shrubbery along the foundation.

And here's the front of the house after the shrubbery haircut (the large evergreen bush to the left is still due for a trim but it's clear that I need some power clippers to get that done).

Here's a view of the back of the house, which faces south.

Here's the west side of the house.

The driveway is on the east side of the house and that section should be the easiest section to paint since it doesn't have any shrubbery to get in the way.

The second story has vinyl siding that is in good condition, so that color is fixed.  The first story has the original old-fashioned wood siding and that is what needs painting.  The paint is worn and chipped and generally looking shabby, as Lucy is prepared to testify.

The current siding color is a taupe-gray and, in the interests of continuity with the upstairs, that will be the updated color as well.  The paint to be used is Benjamin Moore, a color called Senora Gray.  The windows and front porch will be trimmed in crisp white.  The big decision I have to make is whether or not to stick with the cranberry shutters and accent trim.   I like that combination just fine but I think that something new would be pleasing so I am leaning toward a change.  That means giving up all the cranberry trim, including the front door, one of my favorite parts of the house.

The project starts today with a power wash.  Chipping, siding repair, primer, and two coats of paint plus all the trim work will follow.    I'm excited about the changes to come and I'll be making and posting pictures every step of the way.