Re-painting the House’s Exterior
Hi there!
Today I have confession to make…I make decorating mistakes like ALL the time! Some are small & some are bigger but when you’re on a budget they all matter. Plus some things you just can’t take back to the store. It can be frustrating when I get it wrong, but I remind myself that home design, while there are some general “rules” to follow, isn’t a science. It’s an art within itself & takes practice & evolves over time, sometimes through trial & error. I’m learning & an education isn’t free lol!
Our home has kind of been a place where I’m both teaching & learning as my design technique & personal taste develops. Even when I miss the mark somewhere I still enjoy the whole process. The reason I’ve decided to write this might be obvious from the title, hehe, but I made a pretty big design mistake. I chose the wrong paint color for the exterior of the house. It’s something that’s been nagging at me for the last 2 years & I’ve finally decided it was time for a redo.
The brown wasn’t a terrible color, but for me it was just way TOO much brown! I felt that the color cheapened the house & didn’t lend to its age & authentic cottage architecture. Luckily this was a mistake that wasn’t too terribly expensive & only took a weekend to correct. A side note: I’m sure our neighbors think we’re nuts lol!
A Very Red, WHITE, & Blue Weekend
Since I had so long to think about it I was pretty confident in my decision of paint color this time…white. White is classic, timeless & oh so fitting for a small cottage like ours 🙂 Why it didn’t occur to me before, who knows? Because it seems so obvious now haha! Hindsight I guess. Anyway off to Lowe’s we went!
We picked up two 5 gallon buckets of Valspar Satin Exterior Storm Coat Paint which if you click the link you’ll see run about $112 each plus tax. That’s the beauty of painting, it doesn’t cost a fortune. We used the same paint sprayer that we did before & when we stained the fence – find the fence post HERE – which made quick work of our little home 🙂
The Process
First we masked off all the windows. Painting the exterior was actually easier this time because didn’t have to be careful around the trim & were able to give all of it a good coat of white too, which it was in desperate need of. Please excuse our mess of a backyard! We tore the old deck off & obviously haven’t built the new one yet, but I wanted to get the house painted before we did that. I’m hoping we get that project started in the next couple weeks though! So stay tuned!
Here’s a close up of the color difference. Basically just worked our way around the house up the ladder & down 🙂
Below is a Before & After
What do ya think?
The End Result
Personally, I adore how it turned out! Maybe getting it wrong makes the times you get it right even sweeter! Lol! I love that it’s so nice & bright, crisp, & cheerful now! I feel like it’s the sweetest little white cottage & somehow it looks like itself more, if that makes any sense ha! White has become my new favorite color & I think my new motto will be ‘when in doubt, paint it white’ 😉
Finn “helped” us paint too! Note the drips on his back!
Hope y’all had a great holiday weekend! I can’t believe the 4th is already over! How did that happen?! Hoping to squeeze in a few more projects & a whole lot of fun this summer! Wishing the same for you!
XOXO,
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