More Lights!

With the body paint on the house we were able to install the rest of our outdoor lights. Steve installed 3 more lights on the west/northwest sides of the house. These are the single shade version of the double-shade light we installed on the front of the house.

Outside lighting installed:
1) Dining room slider
1) Family room slider
1) Kitchen slider




When we renovate the master bedroom and bathroom we will install a light outside the bedroom slider and one outside the bathroom door... I know, it's kinda strange to have a door in the bathroom, but it comes in really handy with the pool/kid combo!

Why can't it just be simple?

We cleared the back flower beds and removed the downspouts to have better access for painting. We took one downspout out and noticed standing water. Thought it was plugged up so Steve snaked it. Water did not drain... but we heard the snake hitting the downspout about 10 feet away. Took out that downspout and saw no standing water, but the one with standing water definitely drains into it. Huh?

Time to dig up the flowerbed and expose the pipe to find out what's going on. The two downspouts are connected! BUT the first one is lower than the second... a funny fact about water—it will not drain uphill. It's a silly gravity thing. Steve repositioned the first drain and propped it up about 6 inches then cut back the deck pieces to make it fit. We packed in the dirt and filled in the ditch. The water drains beautifully!

Unexpected project... nothing goes as planned.

Painting: Day 1

The shed and pool house:

We invited our friends, Marci and Austin, over to swim and they showed up with paint clothes, brushes, rollers and a "git'r done" attitude. Austin fired up the kids to get the painting done so we could swim. It was HOT and we had to work fast to get the paint laid down before the sun dried it. We finished in about 90 minutes... WOW!






Then everyone jumped in the pool.

Prepping for Paint

Steve spent one whole day removing nails and hooks from the exterior siding, then filling all the holes with wood putty. Uhgggg! There were hundreds (possibly a thousand!) nails all over the siding, trim and beams. Can't even imagine what was hanging from them...

We're finally ready to paint!

Exterior Paint Colors

Choosing the body color and trim was easy... taupe and brown. The accent color took a little more thought. Our other Rummer neighbors have chosen china red (reddish-orange) and I love it, but didn't want to have the same color... that's a bit boring.

Last year we installed the new front door and painted it a beautiful turquoise... perfect mid-century color! It works well with the browns and adds some fun to the exterior of the house. I might also note that I've somehow incorporated shades of turquoise throughout the interior as well, so I must really love it!


Paint Specs:
Body Paint: Evolution velvet #0233m — Miller Paint
Trim Paint: Ultimate semi-gloss #CP103 (Oxford Brown) — Rodda Paint
Accent Paint: Unique II low-gloss #LA1210* (Forest 4) — Rodda Paint

*This is a Laura Ashley paint color, but it's not available in an exterior paint. Rodda did a custom match.

New Question:
Do we paint the garage doors taupe or turquoise? I'm leaning toward turquoise... that will definitely make a statement. We can paint over it with the body color if we hate it or causes the neighbors grief.

Still sunny. Still painting.

Who was the genius that convinced us that painting the house ourselves was a piece of cake? It's not... unless you like cake that's splattered with paint, caulk, and surprises. We have been making progress, though. The shed & pool house are done and on the house, three sides have the body color on, the front has about 1/2 of the trim first coated, and it's a nice sunny day today. I'm thinking we'll get the rest of the body color on and hopefully a good chunk of the trim finished before Monday. We've been taking pics and will be posting probably Sunday night. (wellllll.. how 'bout Tuesday?)

SIDE NOTE: Haley actually believes that all home improvement projects can and should be completed in 1/2 hour... just like those shows on HGTV and DIY. She also believes in pixie dust, unicorns and that Samantha Stevens was a real person. *sigh*
-Steve

That's not entirely true! Some projects take 60 minutes. -H

Looks like we're painting this week!

Looks like a nice weekend for the beach... or yeah... housepainting. whee. -Steve