Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE our home. It is beautiful and I feel so blessed every time I pull into our driveway. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t like to make a few changes… Over the past year I have worked non-stop to renovate the interior of the house to make it match my style and make it OUR home. Now it is finally time to tackle the exterior of our home and make it reflect our style as well. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love our home, but it was seriously the color of a tanned tone band-aid. ( I don’t feel like this picture truly captures the band-aid tone… see next image.)
Home Exterior Makeover
… there we go, see that color ? Band-Aid. What’s remarkable to me is that this home was a short sale, and the bank had JUST painted it THAT color. I know, I know, it’s not the worst color out there, but seriously the bank thought “yup, that’s a good color!” I digress. I wanted to change the color but that task seemed so overwhelming!
I dreaded picking a color, because then it would mean it was time to paint. I put this off for a year; just dreading the prospect of tackling such a HUGE project. If only I could go back in time and smack some sense into myself. You guys, this thing was done in 2.5 days ! Seriously, between my husband, myself , and the help of my HomeRight Power-Flo Pro 2800 we finished the entire house in just one long weekend!
It is through great companies like HomeRight and affiliate links that I can continue to provide all these tutorials at zero additional cost to my readers! So a big thank you to them! (More info. available here.)
Want to know what is funny ? The MOST stressful part of this entire project was picking my paint color! I kid you not, I think I ended up purchasing 15 different color samples that I tried out on the outside of the house. The neighbors must have thought we were crazy because our house was slowly starting to look like a patch work quilt. After months (Yes, months) I finally narrowed it down to these final four colors.
After MUCH deliberation I decided on Sherwin Williams “Cityscape” (bottom left color). Can I tell you how much anxiety I had going to the paint store and committing to a TON of paint?! I knew I liked the color, but I still had an underlying fear my house would look a little like a concrete bunker. I took the leap and pulled the trigger. If you are wondering, we went through approximately 20 gallons of Sherwin Williams “Cityscape”, and about 7 gallons of their “Ultra White” to cover all of the fascia, soffit, trim, and gutters.
Seeing as our house was recently painted before we purchased, we didn’t need to worry about removing old paint, or a lot of built up residue. The most prep work it required was pressure washing the exterior, with a focus on the soffit. We rented a lift for the weekend, which was hands down a great investment if you have a two story home and a fairly steep pitched roof. We just rigged our pressure washer to the lift and got the whole thing washed down in an evening.
The next morning we woke up and got to work! The first day we tackled the all of the trim and the soffit. In most cases this isn’t really necessary, but our trim was all a light tan color, and that simply would not do!
I honestly thought this would be the hardest part of the whole process, but it was a piece of cake! My husband (Andrew) would hold a Spray Shield (A piece of thin metal approx. 10″ x 3′ with a handle) above my head and rest it on the edge of the shingles, this protected the roof from any over-spray. Once it was sprayed we would shift down and do it all over again.
In case you are wondering, we put the 5 gallon bucket on the lift with us, and then zip-tied the HomeRight Power-Flo Pro 2800 to the lift as well; this way the 5 gallon bucket of paint, and the sprayer were always with us.
It actually didn’t take as long as I expected, however we did go through a lot more white paint than we had planned on. In order to trim out the house we went through approximately 7 gallons of white paint, but it was WELL worth it! Honestly, I was SHOCKED at how much of a difference it made! It made the entire house look brighter!
The next day was our long day, but Andrew and I had a system down, and we just buckled down and got it done! Again, one person would hold the painters blade protecting the windows, soffit, trim, etc… from any gray over-spray. (Very minimal over-spray but if you want a crisp line, you will need to utilize some sort of straight edge.) Progress!
Seriously, look at the speed and coverage from the Power-Flo 2800!?
Just look at it! Isn’t it 1000x better!? I am in love !
And here is the back. I LOVE, the color, and now I want to put energy into making the rest of the outside fabulous! I definitely see a patio makeover and some shutter accents in my homes’ near future!
I have always loved HomeRight Products, but the Power-Flo is now my absolute FAVORITE! It made a task that could have taken weeks, only take days! The coverage was flawless, AND effortless. So, do you have a large project you are afraid to tackle? Make sure you enter to win the HomeRight Power-Flo Pro 2800 below! It is honestly worth it’s weight in gold, so even if you don’t win, they are a fairly inexpensive investment in your sanity!
Wow! What an improvement! Don’t you just wonder what was going through the head of the person who chose that band aid color? The transformation is truly stunning! Now that’s a weekend well spent.
Wait… They had just painted that other color??? What were they thinking?
Way to go, your house looks ahhmazing!!!
RIGHT!!?? AND the soffit use to be white… they painted it tan !? Why!??
Maybe you should hire yourself out to the Bank so you could pick the color of the houses they want to sell. Their choice was terrible but your choice brings out the beauty of the house.
That is a really great idea!They obviously need a little help in that department. 🙂
Great job! Love the color!
Thanks so much Julie!
I’m loving that gray! Looks fantastic!
Makes such a HUGE difference! Thanks so much.
Oh, it looks so beautiful! Want to come do mine now? 😉
Hahah, too soon. hahaha. I think I just laid on the couch for a full day after that!
WOW! What a huge difference!! Is that stucco you painted over?
Yes, straight over the stucco!!
I love my little HomeRigh Finish Max sprayer so I would LOVE using its big brother. Love your new home color.
This is HANDS DOWN my favorite of their sprayers. (and I love them all, but this one is the Mac Daddy! )
Just STUNNING!!! WOW!!! You took on a monumental task and did a beautiful job….congrats! Huge improvement.
What a beautiful improvement! We want to paint our house too, but it just seems so daunting!
It was totally daunting to us too! But honestly it wasn’t half as bad as I imagined it would be!
Wow! That is an amazing transformation! Glad you showed us the 2nd picture-that truly brought out the bad-aid colour. It is such a beautiful looking home now! Enjoy!
Wow, that really updated your house! I would love to try a sprayer some time. They seem SO perfect for so many jobs! …some day. : )
Wow, great job! I’m impressed you and your hus band painted your house! It looks amazing. …love the color!
Amazing! Stunning work. I didnt realize how different t it really looked. I love the grey tone you chose too.
Looks amazing! Great job
I feel your pain – I had to make up my mind about our master bedroom color before Sherwin Williams 40% off sale ended the next day. Color is a huge commitment – love the one you picked!
I totally understand your anxiety! I hope you found a color you love!
Looks amazing!
Great colors!
You’ve done it again!
It looks great! You have to work in some periwinkle somewhere!
Huge difference! Whole house looks refreshed!
It is absurd that I won’t remodel my home as I love it. Through makeover, we can add more value to it and we can also satisfy our growing needs. During the process, we have to transform our kitchen, bathroom, and/or the most commonly the exterior. For better planning, we should hire a reputable home builder that must have years of experience in remodeling homes. We have to put our complete wish list before the professionals and make them understand tidbits well before they commence the work.