Painting--Ay Carumba!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in over a week. That's because Matt and I have been painting the exterior of the house. Don't even get me started--yes, I know it's November. Yes, I know we should have done it months ago. Suffice it to say that we planned to do it in May, then June, then October--and it didn't get done. So now we are scrambling and suffering with cold temperatures and rain every other day halting us in our tracks. Anyway.

We began last Sunday, then worked on Wednesday and Thursday too. We were benched Monday, Tuesday and now today and tomorrow for weather concerns, but we have gotten the front of the house completely done and the west side of the house (the other side very visible from the street) nearly done. It is a really tedious job, but there's satisfaction in it--I don't think any paint has been applied in twenty years, so it's nice to see clean shiny paint where things were dull and chipping. We chose Benjamin Moore's cottage red for the walls and white for the trim--sort of a reverse of what we had. It really makes a difference with the walls not being white--the house looks different, maybe more solid or substantial. Not sure what the right word for it is.

That being said, even though we are looking forward to being done--we won't really be done. Because it's so late in the season, we will only have time to do one coat. The Benjamin Moore guy said that we should do one coat, which will protect the wood over the winter just fine, then do the second coat, which will be for looks and to keep the paint lasting over 10 years, in the spring. So the thought of doing this all over again in the spring is horrifying. On the one hand, it isn't all over again--it will be easier because there's no scraping or prepping, and the one coat will smooth the way to make it easier. But, there are things we are leaving off for the winter that will have to be done in the spring--inside the garage we have window trim, a screen door and an interior door, and both sides of the door leading into the shed. Window trim on the inside of the shed. All the interiors of the window frames. Wicker furniture and an outside table that need a fresh coat. And last (and least in Matt's opinion, but not in mine!) the chicken coop, because the red that it's currently painted is going to look terrible sitting next to the red of the house!

And I just have to say that although one of the things that drew me to this house was the way the front entry has the latticed arbor, the benches next to the door, and the nice roof over it all---I spent more than an entire day just painting that! The results are worth it, though.

--Jen