i asked for one thing for my birthday- to paint our house. when we originally looked at this house, i told luke that i loved the land, but we had to paint the brick.
the brick was dated & it looked as though the builder used all of the leftovers from previous projects on our house. even our friends & family weren’t fans. it was awful. thankfully, my hubby agreed to my request. on my birthday, all of my family came out to our house & helped us paint. it was a terrifying project. paint colors were the single most important topic in my world for weeks. i painted swatches on the back of our house & stared at them for hours. i talked with friends & even did a facebook poll. choosing the wrong color or messing up could really hurt the value of our home.
thankfully, nothing went wrong & we love the color!
it was a laborious project, but the difference is huge!
(we are still trying to get that pesky rust-colored residue from the chimney off the roof. home DIYers… anyone have any ideas? we’ve scrubbed & power-washed.)
we still have several more projects up our sleeve including a new porch, new columns, window shutters, a new orange door, a new screen door & new raised beds. it’s just the beginning of our home renovations, but having the biggest project behind us feels so good.
the house was also in need of some landscaping so we removed the dead plants & purchased perennials from our local nursery.
a couple of hanging ferns & a pretty pot of flowers & we’re calling it good… until we save up enough for that porch!
here are the basics for how we painted our brick:
– two days before painting, we power-washed our house. the exterior needs to be thoroughly cleaned before painting.
– the day before painting, we taped off all of the windows, doors & anything else that didn’t need to be painted.
– we used behr exterior latex paint from home depot.
– we borrowed a paint sprayer to do the job. trust me, get a paint sprayer. it’s impossible with brushes.
– it took 9 gallons to paint our house. i overbought by six gallons, which was a little frustrating, but my parents plan to paint their house the same color so they’re purchasing the leftovers from us. thanks, mom & dad!
– we applied two coats.
– it took us about 8.5 hours total to paint.
– the paint needs at least 24 hours to completely dry.
thanks so much & i can’t wait to show you more progress!
love,
natalie
hooray! tend is back! i just love this space. have you heard of tend? it’s an online collective of women gardeners & farmers who share a passion for all things farm, garden & good food. i am so honored to be a weekly contributor! we share our favorite resources, tips, recipes, garden tours & so much more.
love,
natalie
on friday we celebrated my 25th birthday. i remember sharing my 20th birthday in this space. that’s a lot of living here with all of you. thank you for following along!
birthdays are a big deal in our family. it’s the simple details that we celebrate – birthday messages on our big chalkboard, a fresh bouquet of flowers & a homemade card. luke always does such a beautiful job. do you see his card he made me? he’s my handy man & artist.
this year i asked for one big gift. using the money we had saved along with birthday money from our generous family, i wanted to paint the exterior brick on our house. since moving in i have wanted to do this. i didn’t want a party or a big celebration. i just wanted a whole day to paint our house.
of course, the project was more like several days & around 16 total hours of labor. i’ll share more about this home improvement adventure soon, but let’s just say, luke is one amazing man. he and my wonderful mom spent hours with me on saturday painting the house. let’s not mention power-washing the entire house two days before & taping every single window & door the day before. they love me.
& then on sunday my dear friend & running buddy, kara, invited us over for dinner. except it wasn’t just dinner; it was a huge surprise party full of all of my favorite people! it took every bit of me to not tear up like a crazy lady when i saw all of my friends & family shouting, “surprise!” it’s top ten in my favorite life moments.
luke & kara coordinated everything. my sister-in-law made cupcakes & friends brought dishes. everyone showered me with the sweetest gifts. my heart is filled to the brim, friends.
love,
natalie