House Beautiful

Three years ago we moved into our ‘new’ home and talked about getting the outside painted.  Finally, this summer it happened. And we couldn’t be happier with the results!

Our house is an old home that has a history dating back to 1882.  I grew up across the road and spent a lot of time here as a young teenager with the family that called it home during that time period.  It’s been white for as long as I can remember.

We knew when we bought it that it needed some freshening up on the outside.  There was some of the siding, eaves and fascia that needed some TLC, too.  It was all more than we wanted to tackle ourselves. So we hired a neighbour to do the carpentry work for us and a painter friend to tackle the painting.  Over the course of the summer, our house was transformed.

The guys we hired to do the work for us were fabulous and I enjoyed having them around.  Their workmanship was great and they were friendly, informative and did the job in the best amount of time they could, weather depending, of course.  So if you’re local and looking for good guys to get some work done, drop me a line, I’ll happily recommend them. 😉

Here is a picture of it when before we even knew for sure it was going to be ours – at this stage it was a dream and a hope!

This will give you a better sense of the Before:

Here is a progress picture. The back is southern exposure and needed the have the old cedar shakes replaced so new clapboard was installed.  There still is a few walls with the shakes that will probably over time get switched out to clapboard, too, but they are still in good shape.

We debated back and forth what to do about the colours of the exterior.  We both loved the idea of adding more colour, the simple blue and white palette we had did nothing for either of us.  But neither of us were sold on the idea of a colour on the wood siding of the house and still having a white vinyl garage.  Finally we settled on grey trim, white body and blue shutters and doors, except the main door, which I wanted bright yellow.  The exact colours we used were Stormy Monday for the trim and Newburyport Blue for the shutters, both from Benjamin Moore.  The main body was painted in their ‘ben’ line in the basic white right out of the can, nothing added.  The door was called Shop Door and it was a FAT Paint Company.  Now, I have to add that as much as I love the colour, the fact that it took 5 coats to cover the previous green was rather frustrating.

Ta da!!!  Here is the finished product!  I love how much more character the exterior has and how much more personality!  This colour palette is classic and will stand the test of time.

The day I took the after pictures, we were being invaded by Asian Beetles, there were so many, you can actually see them in the following picture – but I want to show you how awesome the porch looks!! The barn quilt, the new Clear Farm Sign, the hop vine wreath…

This house holds so much history for me.  I’m so thankful to call it home.  We are making memories here, putting down roots. And now the exterior seems to suit us a whole lot better, too!

To be continued,

Lori