As if all the blue and mauve trim on the inside of the house isn’t enough, we had some outside trim that needed some attention. When we bought this house we knew we had four major things to deal with: the roof and the furnace, a few bad trees, and this last bear: some rotting areas of siding and trim that needed to be replaced along with a fresh paint job for the whole house. But at least we knew about all of them going into the house purchase (and the first two didn’t end up draining our wallets) – so maybe that softened the blow a little? Speaking of soft, I give you… our siding.
This hole was big enough for a bat or a mouse to crawl in. I’ll pause while you ewwww for a second.
Some of the wood trim and siding just couldn’t be salvaged and would need to be completely replaced. And the rest of it was in desperate need of a cleaning, scraping, priming, and two fresh coats of paint to protect it from rotting like the other stuff that was already too far gone. Given the extent of the rot, the sheer size of the project, and the fact that a lot of it was high off the ground, we knew it was a job for the pros. So we got four estimates and ultimately chose the crew that made us feel the most confident, who was a local chain called Certa Pro Painters. It didn’t hurt that they were recommended by a neighbor up the street along with a wish-she-was-our-neighbor friend of ours. They also were the most flexible (which enabled us to save an extra 1k by doing some things ourselves, but more on that later).
After picking who to go with, it was color picking time. We decided that we wanted the trim to be one color and the siding to be another color, just so the house had a little more dimension. We didn’t hate the existing cream on cream trim and siding, but we did love a few other possibilities more, especially after walking around the neighborhood and staring at other brick colonials to see what they had going on. So after a whole lotta house-gawking, we came home and stared at our paint deck.
We decided we liked the idea of a putty color (not too brown, and not too gray – sort of right in the middle) since that tone is kind of “related” to the brick, so it ties in. We waffled back and forth between the two colors with the red arrow in that top swatch for a while and finally settled on the lighter one because we worried the darker one might be gloomy for the siding. Then for the windowsills and trim we picked a nice not-too-yellow-and-not-too-blue white tone.
Spoiler alert: we picked the wrong color and should have gone with the darker one for the siding. But thankfully we caught it early enough (just as the first coat was starting to go up) that they were happy to apply the darker tone as the second coat, which had great coverage since it was only a shade darker. So this is the final choice. Pretty, right?
It’s such a rich look, and because the brick is such a visually “weighty” color, it’s a really nice balance. The lighter color was so washed out it almost still looked cream – or even like a soft white. So… disaster averted!
See how the triangle over the portico looks like it’s a soft whispy white-ish color? That was just one square lighter on that swatch (yet it looked about three shades lighter when the light hit it!). You can see Danny applying the final color right over it, which really helped the white trim pop more while holding its own with the strong brick and the dark shutters behind it. Whew.
The process was actually pretty fun to watch (we didn’t envy them for a second up on those crazy ladders for five days in 90+ degree temperatures). The first step was power-washing the entire house, then they scraped the trim and siding before priming anything that was raw wood, and painting everything (two coats for the siding and trim, and one coat around the windows since they were just going from cream to white). If the wood/siding was in bad shape, they cut it out and replaced it. In the end, they had cut out and repaired about 20 pieces of rotten siding and trim, so it broke down to one day of power washing, two days of rot repair and scraping, and two days of priming/painting.
As for the paint, they used Duration by Sherwin Williams, which they said was awesome for the exterior and had really nice thick coverage (so we’re glad our house won’t be all sad and rotten again anytime soon). The colors we ended up going with were Snowbound (for the white trim) and Anonymous (for the putty colored siding).
We’re so happy with it. And we’ll never doubt those house painting tipsters again when that say “go a shade darker than you think for the exterior of a house since the light that hits it will wash things out.” We really thought we could just look at the swatches outside, but it was crazy how light/white that very clearly gray-brown swatch looked once it was up on the house! Three cheers for second chances. Oh man, we’re so thankful.
Here’s what the house looked like when we got it:
And here it is (a little closer) now. More dimensional, right? So much less… brown.
The new roof was definitely a game changer, but the fresh paint is a pretty noticeable upgrade too. Even just the white trim around the windows and the porch railing feels nice and fresh from the curb. It’s one of those things when we drive down the street to come home we’re still doing that double take since our brains are taking a second to catch up with the current look.
Here’s the back before, which we thought made the siding part on the top right look a little too light and unbalanced (gah, choppy photo, sorry!):
Now it just feels more evenly weighted, so it sticks out less and looks more integrated.
And here’s a closer shot that shows how the sunroom looked when it was all cream before.
Now it has a crisper feeling, and the dark storm windows on the house tie into the dark tones in the brick as well as the putty color in the siding – so the sunroom feels more tied in and less like a little add-on-pop-out in the back.
When it comes to the cost of rot repair/house painting, that definitely varies depending on where you live, how much rot you have, what type of house it is (mostly brick or all siding), how large your house is, etc. The receipt’s in one of our moving chaos piles (aka: lost in the Bermuda Triangle) but I think it was around 1K for all of the wood rot repair and over 2K for the scraping and painting. Update: Just remembered we got 10% off because John’s a member of ACAC, so any locals getting an estimate should show their membership card if they have one!
Writing the check was another one of those bleeding money moments, but we were able to knock 1K off their original estimate by offering to DIY some easier-to-reach spots ourselves that we had faith we could do well. So here’s a tip for anyone who loves tackling what they can while leaving the stuff that’s out of their league to the experts: just break it all down in your head and see what you think you can bite off. We said “hey, we’ll gladly paint three areas ourselves!” which are: the garage doors (we think we’ll go a tone darker than the siding with those)…
… the interior walls, trim, and ceiling of the sunroom (everyone quoted that since it’s technically an outdoor room), and the front door and sidelights.
Not only did that save us a cool grand, it means we have more time to think about what colors we want in those areas. Predictably, I’m the most excited about a new front door color. Nothing’s off limits. Seriously, every swatch in the rainbow is in the running.
One roof-related casualty did occur when we accidentally ran over a screw that had landed in our driveway, but thankfully it was only a $29 fix (we could get it patched instead of replacing it) so all’s well that ends well.
Oh home improvement. You take our money and sometimes you even flatten our tires, but we keep crawling back.
betty says
i’ve always had a strong opinion of brick (behing i hate it 98% of the time), but if I were to have a brick house.. it would be this. Dark dimensional roof, black shutters, white trim.. etc. If only I could emmoji the ‘googly love eyes’ in this comment I would. I know you already painted your first door red, but I think it would look amazing! And I see you mentioned Emerald.. the color of 2013 and my obsession lately :) haha anyways.. it looks great!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks Betty! Googly love eyes back atcha.
xo
s
Jan says
I really enjoyed this post. Made me wonder if it is about time to get our siding painted? We just paid someone to pressure wash. I love the colors, and your house is starting to look like a happy place. It looked unloved and unkempt when you first got it. I am amazed at your progress and how good you guys are. And with a toddler too. I know all too well how hard that is.
I can’t wait to see the front door color!
Celia Rodriguez says
Hey!
What a fun post to read! Painting your house is so fun and rewarding, when you don’t do it yourself, lol. Love the colors you picked!
Check out my blog. I just wrote a post about our house colors which are very similar to the colors you picked.
http://lifeonmaplestreet.wordpress.com/
Also, I didn’t mention it in my post but when we painted our house we had some trim replaced but had to replace it again a few years later because it rotted again. The second time around though we used PVC molding, instead of wood molding, which is supposed to never rot. Have you heard about that stuff? Wish I would have know the first time around :)
Celia
YoungHouseLove says
So smart! I definitely think we’ll look into that if anything rots a second time (we’re not sure what stuff rotted because it just wasn’t maintained at all and which stuff might be placed in a way/spot that might make it more likely to rot again – in which case PVC would be awesome!).
xo
s
Celia Rodriguez says
Oh and I didn’t realize we were voting on front door colors but since we are I vote purple! As you saw I painted mine an eggplant color and I love it. Believe it or not our brick (around the edges) has a few hints of the same shade of purple as our doors and shutters so it all ties in very nicely.
Jessie K says
I’m curious — is the newly painted gray siding wood or vinyl? It looks like vinyl which I heard cannot be painted. Just want to clarify! Thank you and love your blog!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s hardboard, which is sort of a wood composite that can be repaired and painted like wood.
xo
s
Mary says
Love the new color! Every time we move we bleed $$$. But I think it’s because I always pick a house that needs some love!
The current house was painted with SW Duration less than 60 days after moving in. I picked a deep color that my husband said was too dark. But guess what? It’s perfect. I painted the doors myself a color to match the shutters but now am itching to repaint in an updated color. Will watch for your choice!
Connie says
We have Sherwin Williams Duration on our house—also gray, but since it was builder’s choice, I’ve no idea what shade. The paint has stood up to seven years of Colorado sun beating on it, so you can be sure your paint job will last even longer.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!
xo
s
Christy says
All this talk about what your front door color should be got me thinking – and since I work in Williamsburg (all Colonial-all the time), I thought I’d poke around and see what colors look great on a Colonial style house like yours (I’m especially fond of moss green). Some fun examples are here: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=colonial+williamsburg+door+pictures&qpvt=colonial+williamsburg+door+pictures&FORM=IGRE
YoungHouseLove says
So many fun choices!
xo
s
Katie says
I really like the new paint colors, but have a not-so-related question: are there no gutters on the front of your house? It looks like there’s one on the back of the sunroom, and maybe one across the back of the house, but I don’t see any downspouts anywhere! (I don’t think I’ve never seen a house with no gutters, so I’m just curious!)
-Katie at AdventuringAtHome
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, oddly enough about 50% of the houses in our neighborhood have been here for 30 years without gutters (the only one our house has is on the sunroom). They all have brick foundations and rocks that run around the house (near the foundation to help with drainage) and the inspection came up fine, so our only guess is that adding gutters ruins the pretty dentil molding at the top, so folks leave it off and it seems to be ok in our climate.
xo
s
Cassie @ LittleRedWindow says
I know you’re going to refinish your deck in the back, have you thought about painting it a crisp which to go with that nice trim? Or is that too hard to keep clean? :)
YoungHouseLove says
Yeah, I think the trim color would be hard to keep clean on the deck. Anyone ever tried that?
xo
s
danielle says
when we bought our house, there was a gigantic 4×4″ hole eaten right into the front of it, where the squirrels were happily entering/exiting the house for the 5+ years it was abandoned prior to our buying it. we have found acorns in this house in places you’d never expect to find acorns. it feels so good to seal everything up, doesn’t it?!?!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, that’s hard core!
xo
s
Meghan says
Love it! I didn’t think it would make much of a difference but it totally does – looks awesome!
margaux says
Love the new color!! I keep wondering if the people you bought this house from are watching the transformation!
Shell says
Hi John and Sherry! Quick uestion – how did you know about the 4 big, important things before you bought the house? Was it from the inspection?
We are first time homebuyers (YAY!), and I would love to be able to negotiate a better price based on repairs that need to be made (like yall did)
Any advice would be much appreciated!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, all the big things from inspection were those four things, and other than that it was all mostly cosmetic (dated kitchen and baths, old wallpaper) on our to-do list!
xo
s
Cheerful Homemaker says
Ugh… holes on the exterior of homes scare the daylights out of us now. Last summer we discovered we’d been sharing our home with a colony of little brown BATS. It cost us $500 and a month of sleepless nights to get rid of them.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! That sucks.
xo
s
Suzanne says
Love those changes they make such a huge difference! The paint color is fab!
Lisa W says
I remember reading in a house magazine once (perhaps BH&G?) about a couple who had a tradition of repainting their front door a different color every year. Could be a way to try out all the different colors you have in mind and be a fun thing for Clara–I’m picturing first day of school pictures each year in front of a different, bright colored door!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s sweet! I think my issue is I fall in love with a color and hate the idea of not seeing it everyday (closing our yellow door and our red door at our last two houses was bittersweet for me).
xo
s
Crystal says
It looks fantastic! You guys are extremely talented at making a home beautiful! Thanks for sharing and inspiring :)
Kate says
Yes! Black shutters are so classic, SO glad to see you are keeping them!
Amelia@MonogramsnMud says
Love the contrast the new colors bring. I have anonymous pinned as a front runner for our siding, which is due for a new paint job in the next few years…great choice. And it looks like we are also replacing our cedar roof with the Camelot II shingles in slate so our houses might end up twinsies. If you paint the front door SW urban bronze then it is a sure thing:)
Happy 4th guys.
YoungHouseLove says
Happy 4th to you too Amelia! Heck, to everyone!
xo
s
Kate says
Love the color! My hubby and I are thinking of going with a gray color when we get around to painting our house. I was thinking of going with more of a blue-gray, but surprisingly I’m liking that brown-gray you guys picked out. I’ll have to show it to the hubs and see what he thinks. =)
Great tip on going a shade darker when picking out exterior colors. I never heard that one before and never would have thought of it.
Laura says
It looks great. I was trying to scroll through the comments to see if you mention the color and make, but don’t see anything. Is there a reason for that? So not like you guys to not over share the deets. :) Have you ever considered painting the brick too? Lately I’m seeing a lot of painted brick houses. Just curious.
YoungHouseLove says
The color and make are in the post for ya :)
As for painting the brick, it’s nice and low maintenance when it’s unpainted and a lot higher maintenance (has to be cleaned of mold, repainted, etc) when it’s painted, so it’s more of a selling feature (and a buying feature for us!) to not have to maintain it.
xo
s
Jennifer @ Creative Scatter says
It looks so much different! It’s crazy how such a small change can really revamp a house. I love it!
wendi Vostad says
You should TOTALLY paint your brick – it would look AMAZING! Check out this pichttp://paintaa.com/painting-brick-house-yes/
We did it to our house and it looked like a brand new house!! I think you would get every WOW on your blog imaginable!! :)
READ your blog everyday! Love it!
wendi Vostad says
check out this post of amazing painted brickhttp://www.thenester.com/nest-files/thinking-about-painting-the-exterior-of-your-brick-house
YoungHouseLove says
Love that! Painted brick is high maintenance in our area (unpainted is such a selling feature and so easy to care for!).
xo
s
Kezia says
Love it! Looks so much fresher and the colours look beautiful! Have you thought about painting the deck railings the same colour as the trim to tie it all in? I think it would look fab!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we thought about painting the deck railings white but we’re scared they’ll show a ton of dirt, so we’ll have to see where we end up!
xo
s
Heather W says
Love the changes you have made! I just painted my front door Geranium by Benjamin Moore. It is a red/coral color. I love it. They told me the same thing at my local BM store. I love Habernero Pepper but they said go a shade darker and I am so glad I did. I think it would look great on your house and I also love a soft Aqua or a bright green. I really think a soft Aqua would look nice. I am sure you’ll pick a great color.
Pre says
Wow that was a bit of a hole near the roof! Not to freak you out, but a whole lot of mice could fit through there. They can compress their bodies so they’re only limited to an opening that’s the size of their head. Any opening that’s even 1/4″ I am always sure to patch up. Stuff it with steel wool as mice won’t chew through that then spackle over it. (Or in this case replace the rotting trim.) Apartment living in the city and you get used to it I guess.
So great that you got the big necessary fixes done! Yes, pricey, but at least you get to check them off the list and move on now. Plus you know your house is much safer.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I remember living in Soho and stuffing a hole under the sink with steel wool for fear of the mice!
xo
s
Laura says
Oops. Don’t know how I missed that in the post. Totally didn’t see it. I thought you were trying to give the color some anonymity by not mentioning it. Ha! My bad joke aside, I think it looks really good.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Thanks Laura!
xo
s
Crystal says
What made you decide to paint the siding instead of replacing it? We have boring white siding as well and was afraid we will painting it again every so many years.
YoungHouseLove says
From talking to neighbors who have the same siding, they say when it’s repaired and painted with good paint it should last around 10 years in our neighborhood before needing a new paint job again, so if everything was rotten we’d have to replace it all (which would have been more money) but since we could salvage around 95% of it and then paint it so it’ll hold up until around 2023, we went for it :)
xo
s
Chrissie says
What a difference five days make! I love the dark grey and white together with the pretty brick. It’s making me want to paint our outside trim, but that will probably have to wait until spring now. The cost of all the big stuff must hurt, but the house is looking so different already! It must feel good to really make your mark on something that’s been largely left alone for so many years.
alisha says
I’m so giddy you went with the slightly darker color on the siding!!! When you showed the two swatches in the running, I guessed the darker color and was a little disappointed to have guessed wrong.
BUT YOU WENT DARKER! YAY! It makes the crisp white trim really pop and it reminds me of your last house’s master bedroom. Totally gives the house a sophisticated Petersik vibe.
Also, it’s kinda perfect for you guys that the color is ‘Anonymous’ to help in keeping you safe from over-zealous fans =]
alisha says
also, can’t wait for the front door color reveal! Squee!!!!
Heidi @ Decor & More says
What a difference!! Quick question — what type of siding did you use to replace the rotted pieces? We’re facing a doosey of a job on our chimney and around some windows, so I’m curious about the product. We want to make sure we don’t have to do it again anytime soon! Thanks!
Heidi :)
YoungHouseLove says
We replaced them with the same stuff (hardboard siding, which is sort of a composite wood that you can cut and paint). Apparently when it’s painted it lasts around 10 years before it needs to be repainted, so here’s hoping!
xp
s
Sassafras says
The house is looking sooooo GREAT!!!! Just needed some love (and cash and elbow grease) thrown at it!! So glad your house-bleed is coming to a slow drip.
I painted our front door a bright lime green! It’s looking awesome. We have almond colored siding w/hunter green shutters so although it sounds rather strange it looks very friendly and sooo much more fun than that boring white that it was to begin with! I wanted to paint the door a really pretty buttery sunny yellow but it really would have necessitated changing the shutters to another shade and the green tones seem to go better w/our piney woods.
I officially adore you now…Thanks so much for the updates on rejuvenating the wood floors. Ours will need it after next winter, as getting all the gritty firewood to the woodstove leaves them somewhat scratchy looking. I certainly appreciate the side by side comparisons! You saved me bucks and trial and error and sweat. Less sweat??Who wouldn’t love you for that????
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Sassafras!
xo
s
Beth L says
As a stager/decorator, I tell my clients to ALWAYS paint a large swatch on the house before buying the paint. The lighting makes it so difficult to know for sure, & you want it to look good morning and evening.
Terresa says
I just have to say how I love that you guys are not always right and you share that info like in this post. Paint colors are soooo hard. When I looked at those two colors I thought the darker one was better for sure, but then when I read that you chose the lighter, I thought “well, they’re probably right, they are way more experienced with paint color choices” But it turns out it did look washed out in the light. I guess what I’m gathering so far is go lighter than you think inside, and darker than you think outside. But even when I follow those rules I sometimes have to repaint four times:)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! I’ve heard experts say to slide one tone lighter than you think inside and one tone darker outside. Seems to really be true – especially for outside painting!
xo
s
Kate says
Hi guys! I would love a post about how you are saving money with all the new house expenses. I remember one a while back about eating pasta and sauce once a week for $1.00. I am about to undergo a kitchen renovation and need some inspiration for how to save a few bucks on regular household expenses. You always inspire with your frugality! Keep up the good work!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, it’s safe to say that every single money saving thing we’ve ever mentioned (pancake dinners, $1 spaghetti dinners – you can see them all on our Projects page in the money section) are going on heavily as we bleed money! I’d love to do an update post if we come up with new tips, but for now those oldies (making our own lunches, driving one car, giving John haircuts) are still in effect :)
xo
s
Sarah says
That looks fab! I’m in the “dreaming for the future” stages of refreshing my exterior colors, and that deep putty color is definitely in the running. Now… as for the front door, I’m casting my vote for somewhere in the green family. Ooh, or a non-girly purple, if that exists.
Mappermom says
Our house is so similar to yours, including the wood siding areas. Thank you for finding the perfect grey. You saved us a lot of steps when we get ready to paint ours soon. We knew that we didn’t want white again but weren’t sure what direction to go it. Your choices look great and we will be thrilled to copy them. :)
Ali says
Love the gray!! So good.
And good to know about Certa Pro… we were going to do a pro painting job at one point and then chickened out and did it ourselves… but I was wondering about a good local recommendation. :)
Ellen says
I think you should consider a green color for your front door. That would look amazing with the trees and other greens in the photos…
Maybe a really bright grass green, dark moss green or a forest green.
Penny Smith says
Your not a Sam’s CLub member? Their tire repairs are free.
YoungHouseLove says
Nope, we tried it once for a sample membership but didn’t feel like we used it enough to get our money’s worth, but I hear from a lot of friends who love it. I think it depends how/what you eat and how much room you have to store things in bulk (ex: 20 rolls of TP, haha!). I think years of not paying the $50 membership fee make us feel ok about spending $29 on the tire patch though :)
xo
s
Penny Smith says
LOL! Well I am business and pay $35 a year… but just the weekly organic lettuce purchase (huge tub for the price of a teenie weenie bag at the grocery store) pays for my membership. Hee! AND If you have a tire (or battery) issue, warrantee is pro-rated. I’ve had more free replacements…
Though admittedly I JUST started buying the “pom-pom” TP! Guilty there!
Bayyinah says
The front door could be a bright orange or yellow???
kelsey says
It really looks great! We got an estimate from Certa Pro in Des Moines (where we live) for interior painting. Their price is good but I was a little disappointed that they only use Sherwin Williams paint. I’d love a color recommendation for a SW white that’s not yellow at all (more on the gray side if anything). We want to paint all our walls white in our house!
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone know of a good interior white color from SW? We don’t have a deck for them to peruse.
xo
s
Trace Jones says
The paint update looks fantastic. Good color choice!
Leigh says
Looks beautiful! I love the colour! Our house is a similar colour scheme, and we just had new vinyl windows put in with vinyl cladding underneath. It is a standard ugly off white colour and looks terrible up against the pretty new white windows. I want to paint it but don’t know how… Any suggestions for painting vinyl? Everyone says it will look terrible painted, but I can’t stand to look at off white for the rest of my life. Was any of your siding vinyl or was it all wood? Thanks a bunch!
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone know if painting vinyl cladding works? I’m not sure if it’ll peel off. If you can paint it I’d bring a bunch of swatches home and hold them up and just see what looks best :)
xo
s
Jennifer says
Did you paint the gutters or replace them? I want to change our trim from cream to white and I’m worried I will have to replace the gutters!
YoungHouseLove says
We only have gutters on the back sunroom and luckily they were already white, so we didn’t have to paint them or replace them. But I know both can be done!
-John
Jerri says
In love with your color choices! My husband and I are in the process of painting our shutters and trim. I’ve notices on your windows the actual window is painted dark and the trim is light. How did you do this? Our windows are white, but the trim needs to be more cream to match the brick.. As it is now, we have white windows and very cream/tan trim it looks awful. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
The storm windows were that dark color to start so we just left them that way. We walked around the neighborhood and saw other houses like that with white trim + dark storm windows and we liked the look so we went for it :)
xo
s
Matt says
What is the color of the trim that you ended up going with. We have the same color brick and I think that turned out great!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s Snowbound by Sherwin Williams.
xo
s
NITA says
Painting trim definitely helps to upgrade your home – definitely love the color you chose.