From Bland to Bold Exterior Paint

Painting the exterior of a house is a big decision, y'all!

Unfortunately, the siding of our house is Masonite (basically, compressed particle board) so if we don't keep up with painting it every seven or so years, the nail heads pucker in and cause water damage and rot.  It's a super cheap material, which is why builders used it in the 80's and 90's.  Nowadays, it is replaced with Hardiplank or cement siding.  We will have to replace siding as it fails but we can't afford to do it all at once, so for now a fresh paint job will have to do the trick (it was overdue when we bought it).

Nothing is necessarily wrong with our current color scheme (putty color with light blue shutters and cream trim) except that our new windows (white vinyl) don't match the dated cream trim.  Also, the muted color of the house just kind of blends into the scenery with all our trees.  We're still young(ish) so if we're going to brighten it up, now is the time.

We considered just about every color of the rainbow since we've seen houses that we like in basically every shade.  Red looks great on cottages, and yellow on Victorians, grays and tans are nice on traditional homes, but our house is a weird hybrid with gables, a bay window, and chippendale railings.

We decided that blue would be a good choice since it goes well with the brick, gray roof, and eventually white trim.  I don't quite feel like I've lived in the place long enough for me to want to change it, but since we're paying to have it painted, we wanted to do something different.  I could have used more time to make a decision but unfortunately the house couldn't wait any longer, so neither could our decision.

The blues in the photo above don't look all that different, but they are.  We went with the more true blue (Georgian Blue by Sherwin Williams) which is the last color on the right.  It will be in satin finish which is slightly more durable than flat and the trim will be updated to a crisp pure white.  It's going up on the house as I write and it's going to be drastic.

Big change is scary for an indecisive Libra, but I do think when it's all finished the house will look a lot newer and will actually look bigger.  The white trim will be beautiful and go much better with the blue, so I can't wait for that.  Stayed tuned for some crazy before and after pics probably sometime next week.  In the meantime, I'll try not to get scared by all these bold changes.  Farwell old house.

Blank Slate Backyard

We have a good-sized, mostly flat backyard, but with renters living in this property for the past several years, it's been neglected.  There's a gully in the back filled with leaves and rotting trees, shrubs and vines gone-wild, and the only thriving grass--monkey grass--took over a primo spot in the center of the yard.

Monkey grass is used as a hardy ground cover in the south, but it spreads like wildfire, breeds mosquitoes, and I don't want to worry about Copperhead snakes hiding in it.  So, when we moved in, I created a listing on Craigslist for free monkey grass if people wanted to dig and haul it away themselves.  It's a great way to recycle unwanted plants and it saves us the back-breaking manual labor of digging it up ourselves.

I thought we'd have enough for a few people, but I ended up having about 15 different people come by and leave with car/truck loads full of monkey grass.  It was never ending!  There are still some root systems that will continue to produce the pesky grass in our yard but hopefully clearing out the bulk of it will make it more manageable.

From past experience, it seems to take about a year to get a yard cleared out and uncover the blank slate we have to work with.

 (Monkey grass and "Jabba the Hutt" bush on the back fence gone. More open space for Maya to run!)

For some reason, we have the most trees on our lot out of any of the homes around us (front and back).  We plan to hire someone to chop down a few of the tall dead ones, but in the meantime, we're clearing out shrubs, vines, branches, and smaller trees with nothing but a pair of branch cutters and a hand saw.

Apparently Tommie is all about multitasking--here he is up in a tree, saw in one hand, cell phone in the other discussing grants with his boss.  Don't try this at home, kids.

As for taming the weeds, ivy, and vines, I didn't want to use any harsh chemicals with our dog (or with us, for that matter) so I found a recipe online for a natural plant killer (white vinegar, salt, and a little dish soap).  I found that if I sprayed it on a warm sunny day, the leaves soaked up the vinegar and withered away.  It's not fool-proof but it does make the plants retreat, and therefore, easier to clear out.

(Above are the weeds and vines before, then browning below about a week after spraying salt and vinegar on them.)

(A few weeks later, we cleared out the withering vines, so the fence is clean and invasive plants aren't spilling over into our yard.)

We learned that it's important to keep the vines at bay or else they overtake the trees.  Some of the pricker bushes invading our yard from neighbors' had to have reached 50 feet up some of our trees--it was like Jack and the Beanstalk.  Below is Tommie fighting against the vortex.

Long-term, I envision a beautiful, multi-section yard/garden with a grassy area for Maya, a play area for the swing set we inherited, a game strip for Tommie's corn hole, a garden for me, a patio with a fire pit, and a screened-in porch.  For now, we're just clearing out, trying to get a blank slate to work with.

Two Showers are Better than One

We finally have two functioning showers.

Actually, we started with two functioning showers but I messed that up by assuming I could quickly and easily replace a rusty shower arm in our master bath.  I watched a couple YouTube videos and set to work--only the old shower arm would not come off.  I tried WD-40; I had Tommie try; a handyman tried it and finally came to the conclusion that it was rusted in place.  He would have to cut out and repair a chunk of the wall to replace the entire unit.  He also found out it was leaking behind the wall--so in a way, it was a good thing I set out on this impossible task.

With the wall patched (now smoothed and new shower arm in place), I could install our new filtrated shower head.  There are so many options when it comes to shower heads I really didn't know where to start.  I recently read an article about health issues caused by breathing in too much chlorine and other toxins from our water which prompted me to look up filtrated shower heads.  I found this highly-rated one by Culligan on Amazon for only $25.  Seemed worth a shot for that price.  (Filters should be replaced every six months and they run about $11).

I also needed to replace the shower knob which was growing all kinds of black mold inside it (so gross!).  I hate these plastic pieces of crap, but until we do a big overhaul of the bathroom, it's best/cheapest to just replace the knob for $10.

(Nasty old knob.)

 (Easy new knob replacement costs about $10 at Lowes. Make sure the diamond or other shape matches up with your existing one.)

Feels good to get this project crossed off the list.  The next step in this room is paint (we're thinking mint and gray like this.)

Party On

Last night we hosted a birthday milestone masquerade party at our house.  It was our first gathering in the new place.  Part of the whole reason we bought our house is because we love the layout, which has a great flow to it even with a group of people inside.

Because I'm having some kind of crisis about turning 30, I basically threw myself a kid's party.

I set up a craft station in the dining room where guests could make their own masks.  I pre-made masks from colorful foam sheets using free templates online and got some glitter glue, rhinestones, and feathers at the craft store so people could personalize them.

I also set up a table in the eat-in kitchen for make your own cupcakes.  I baked a combo of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, had a few different types of frosting, and some candy toppings.  Not only was it easier than frosting them myself, but it also gave people something else to do during the party.  I like to encourage creativity.

We put a small assortment of food on the kitchen island next to the eat-in area.  This is where most people gravitated during the night (always near the food).  But people also broke off into groups to make masks or sit in the living room and talk.  It's a good house for hosting and will hopefully be even better in the future when we get the kitchen and yard/porch in shape.

Mantel Makeover

We decided to paint the mantel over our fireplace white so that it better matches our newly painted white trim in the living room, and to help it stand out more as part of the focal point.  Before, the wood just blended in.

 (Wood trim, mantel & fireplace on day one.)

(After painting the trim and the wall, but it still blends in.)

(Making the mantel pop with white.)

The brackets under the mantel are an old-fashioned style that look like something a kid made in wood shop class, so instead of pronouncing them with white we painted them dark gray to blend in with the rock and shadows.  It gives the mantel more of a "floating shelf" effect.

(Ugly brackets blend in as dark gray.)

Now, we just have to figure out a way to modernize the face of the fireplace itself.

Banister Beautification

80's oak.  It's the gift that keeps on giving in here.  Our splotchy and dated entryway banister was just another part of the house in need of a makeover.

(Stairway before and after.)

Since it's the first thing you see when you come in the front door, we really wanted to freshen it up.  I didn't like the style of the spindles, but painting them white (with the same Valspar paint we used on our trim) made them look a hundred times better.  

(Spindles and outer stair border now in white.)

The rails recieved a couple coats of dark gray high gloss paint from Sherwin William's called Gray's Harbor.  Eventually, the trim on the other side will be white too, and we'll paint the walls the same light gray color that carries into the living room.  It will be nice to tie some of the rooms together in time.

It's Always Sunny in the Guest Room

At first glance, it might seem like we're trying to blind our guests when they walk into the room and are greeted by a bright and sunny yellow accent wall.  What can I say?  All this power of picking out whatever colors we want/like has created a of couple color crazed fools.

The yellow wall (Olympic Icon in Del Sol) even scared us at first but we're digging it now that the rest of the room is softened by a light lavender (Valspar Signature in Lavender Heather. Beware, Valspar's Signature paints offer great color choices but they are "low" VOC and "low" apparently means the room will stink for a month.  I wouldn't use this line of paint in a room you can't close off and leave a window open).

Hopefully our guests warm up to the space and don't go blind first.  It's still better than what my sister said we should do:  Pink glitter zebra print.

We have a small dresser tucked into the closet (where I took down the bi-fold doors) so it doesn't take up floor space.

(Bye bi-folds)

(New closet nook)

 (Notice that last time my mom visited she left us with a bin of "her things."  She's like a crazy girlfriend who is slowly trying to move in.)

We'll get some new curtains, art on the walls, and have it all cozy for company.  Don't forget your sunglasses!

(Guest room before and after.)