New Look for the White House

Author:  Spring (Jordan)

Greetings!  This week Mom and I are reposting some of our favorite blog entries from 2011.  Today I am happy to take you on a return visit to our home’s exterior to see the change paint and shutters did to the in-your-face white look it had when we purchased it.  Enjoy.

 

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It finally happened! The outside of our house got a makeover.  Come along with me and enjoy the process.

 

First of all, can you actually see the house here in the Syracuse winter?  During our first winter in the house we had record snow falls in Syracuse, and it was hard to actually see it sometimes.  It blended right in to its surroundings.

 Before we painted our house, our neighbors who have lived on our block for 50 years told us all white houses once were the trend.  Every house on the block was  white.  Then one neighbor got up the nerve and painted his house a color.  When that person decided to add color, most of the house owners on the block followed.  Our house remained white, though.  So, after being white for at least fifty years, we decided she deserved a change.

 

This is what our house looked like in the spring when we realized we had an overgrown shrub problem.

 

We knew we wanted to add window boxes, and that is the first thing we did.  So, we were able to check it off our list.  But after seeing the window boxes, I have now learned I need to plant more in the boxes to make them fuller.  This winter we are going to build bigger/better boxes to hang next year.

Next up was a new paint color for the house.

 

When it was time to select a color for the exterior, we first thought we wanted a gray, but after walking Gracie around the neighborhood, we saw other colors we liked.  We headed to Home Depot to get some paint samples, and these are the first six we selected.

We knew this job was too much of a DIY job for us. While I have jumped out of a plane and love zip-lining, I wasn’t too crazy about the thought of being on a ladder, and neither was Mr. Spring.  We eneded up hiring a painter, after checking his references, and followed his suggestion for a paint brand.  He said to purchase Behr with primer already in the paint, and that is what we did.  We have used Behr with primer on some of the interior walls, and we really like it.

 

We liked being able to test the colors on the house, and we could see how they looked in the sun.  After having the samples on the side of our house for a few days, we decided we were not thrilled with any of them.  Back to Home Depot we went for more samples.

 

We decided to try four more samples of gray.  Let me tell you, it is so overwhelming with all the colors of gray.  If they just had four colors to choose from, it would have been easy.  But after thinking and looking for a few days, we came up with the perfect color for our house.

 

Here is the house painted with  Sparrow by Behr.  Thanks, Adam, we love the color on the house! Now we can put a big check beside that item on our to-do list.  The house is painted!!!

Then we decided to add some shutters to get another color and give the house a little more definition.  Really, it is like adding mascara after you have done your make-up.

 

You can see Mr. Spring installing the shutters.  I think this was the easiest quick fix we have done to our house yet.  But,  I was not the one up there on the roof.

 

Shutters on the house- Check.  It is looking even better.

 

Next up, we needed to add some lipstick paint the door.  This is the original door, and I love it. Unfortunately, it is not energy efficient at all.  We do have a storm door, but we have talked about replacing it with a more energy efficient door.  Don’t worry.  We would definitely get something that would fit the craftsman style.

 

Front door painted- Check.

 

Just to show you again what it used to look like.

 

We now think our house is cute.  Just think!  When we were house-hunting, we almost didn’t even get out of the car to go in.  Its curb appeal was that dull.  But the inside was already redone, and we knew that with some hard work, we could spruce up the exterior.

 

Now that we have the back yard and patio completed and the house painted, we are going to enjoy the little bit of summer we have left and head back out to the Adirondacks for some kayaking and camping.  We are also busy training for our first marathon in October.

 The project list for next summer has already started.  We are going to redo the landscaping in the front along with lots of other things.  I’ll be sure you to keep you posted.

 

Cheers!

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I was not paid by any product mentioned in this post.