After a pretty long break from posting updates on the blog (sorry!), I finally shared some “after” pictures of our exterior paint last week, along with the list of related “add-on” projects we completed to help spruce up the outside of the house.

As a quick refresher, here’s a “before” and “after” of the front:

Big difference, right?

And, while it feels like we’ve been working on this project to update the exterior of the house for a really long time and it’s come a long way, we still have a few things remaining.

So, as for what’s left, the list is (thankfully!) getting shorter.  Here goes!

1)  Window Boxes.

We REALLY need to find some new window boxes for the front of the house (and, of course, plant some flowers).  The ones that are there now just aren’t cutting it – they don’t match the paint very well, they’re plastic with plenty of cracks and chips, and I’ve always thought they’re too small for the windows.  I’ve been looking at all of the local garden centers without much luck.  Seems like plastic window boxes are about all you can find around here.  So, I’ve got a couple more places to look locally before probably breaking down and paying a small fortune to order some composite ones online.

 

2)  Finish Storm Windows and the Front Door.

The painters are done with the house and garage (yippee!), but they still have our ~40 storm windows at their shop.  They’re being primed, painted, and re-glazed.  And, since this is being used as filler work in between their other jobs, it is going really slowly.  I talked to them a couple days ago and they said they were about half way done.  The goal is for all of the storms to be back on the house by the first week of August.  And, when they come back to put the storms back on the house, they are also planning to put another coat of sealer on the front door.  These are the only paint-related tasks remaining … and I am so looking forward to crossing them off the list!

 

3)  Rubber Roof for the Front Porch.

This is the summer of porch roofs, I guess.  While painting the soffit area on the front porch, the painter found a really soft, wet spot that looked to be the result of a roof leak.  We knew we were probably living on borrowed time with that porch roof since it was jacked up to be more level prior to starting work on our entry way addition.  It’s currently covered in a rolled roofing material and water does sit on it after a good rain, so it’s no wonder that it’s leaking.  We have a roofer scheduled to come out the first week of August to install a new rubber roof.  Then, we’ll have a few water-damaged soffit/trim boards to replace and a little touch up paint before we can consider it done.

 

4)  Re-install hardware on the back storm door.

When the painter was working on the back storm door, I made what seemed like a great decision at the time and told him to go ahead and remove the hardware on the door and patch the holes so we could get something that would look more appropriate on the door.  (The old hardware was a cheap replacement kit that looked totally out of place on our wooden storm door.)  That sure seemed like a great idea to me at the time.  But, now it’s been probably about a month and we still have no hardware on the storm door.  I’m sure it’ll be one of those “that was easy – why did we wait so long?” projects when we finally do it … but, right now, it’s just one more thing on the to-do list.  And, in the meantime, the door is a little impractical to use.

 

5)  Mulch/Rock.

We need to do something with the flower beds around the house.  New mulch … or maybe new rock.  We’re not sure.  They were mulched, but it’s been a few years since we’ve put any fresh material down … and most of what was left was raked up with all of the piles of paint chips.  So, there’s really not much covering the flower beds at the moment and the weeds are loving it.  Clearly it’s time to do something different.  We love the look of fresh mulch, but we feel like rock is less maintenance in the long run, so we’re debating.  Hopefully we can make a decision and get something down by the end of the summer, though!

 

6) Fix the back patio area.

This has been an eye sore for a long time.  We clearly don’t use the space, but between the railing that rusted through and fell off a few years ago and the mildewy tile floor that seems to come apart more every season, it’s time to do something about it.  We would love to start on this project yet this summer, but I guess we’ll see.  If we don’t get there, it’ll still be waiting for us next spring, I’m sure!

 

Anyway, that pretty much brings us up-to-date on the painting project that wound up including a whole lot of updates in addition to just painting.  We’re definitely in the home stretch now – and let’s just say that I’m really looking forward to the day when we can cross the “Update the Exterior” project off our list!  (That day will come, right?)  :)

Filed Under: Home Improvement,Painting

Tags: exterior paint, front porch, roofing