Messenger Bag

So here is the only before shot I have of the house. I should have taken some detail photos, but the details were pretty grisly and I just never made it a priority. The house was stone, and white. White siding, white trim, all white. The shutters are falling apart, but at least they're black. The new shutters will be black as well, hopefully debuting by this spring.
Painting is pretty much done now with the exception of some touch up and scraping, and I think Jeff said they forgot a door somewhere, although I haven't found it yet. The siding is Sherwin Williams' Messenger Bag, trimmed in their Navajo White. Soffits and doors, including the garage door, are the Navajo White. Doors need to be replaced and the plan is that they will eventually be black. The garage door hasn't been decided on yet. Clopay makes a glass and steel door with a monster price, but lord it would be cool. We also need to think about moving some electrical from up over the door (on a quick yet short motion sensor), and we're thinking about a pair of lanterns flanking the garage door.
The back of the house. If it looks like the patio is crumbling and the railing is detached, that's because it is and it is.

The back of the house from the other end of the yard, looking toward the back of the garage. Every single bush is coming out as they're all overgrown, although it'll probably happen in sections. I'm really looking forward to landscaping again.

The west side and the big master bedroom corner window. See the smaller window on the left? At the upper right corner of that window there was a huge spot of wood rot that was basically a hole in the side of our house.

A close up of the front gables. Everything has sharp edges now, which I think really helps clean up the look.

East end, kitchen and east dining room windows. Sharp edges here too...love. Our big picture windows all look dirty. It's not that we can't clean, it's that it's dirt and condensation between the double panes. They're like that until they're replaced. Grrr.

So there's the big After! It's been funny to watch people drive by and look, which we can do easily as we're short on window coverings. Yesterday Brett was out early and someone walking down Valley Road told him it was looking good. We decided to go ahead with the paint because on some level we wanted people to know things would get better. It's turned out to be an even better decision. There was plenty of wood rot in addition to that hole in the west end, and I feel much better about the coming winter knowing the house is better protected.

8 comments:

Mrs. Blandings said...

It does look terrific. You're lucky you settled on a paint color so quickly. With my big patches people felt like they could weigh in when they walked by. First thing checked off the list.

Karena said...

Your home looks great David, I love the colors, and your ideas for spring!

Russ Manley said...

Looking good. You're gonna have a beautiful house when you get done.

David said...

Thanks everyone! We're really happy with the paint and now we don't groan every time we pull into the driveway. It's making us want to do other outside things, but after they put the gutters back on Monday I'm guessing that's it until spring.

Of course every square inch inside needs reworking so there's no shortage of things for us to concentrate on all winter =)

ChrisToronto said...

David, good that you painted now, otherwise you would have had to wait until spring; you can't paint exteriors at temps below 50 degrees. And you know the snow will be flying sooner than we'd wish! Good work.

home before dark said...

Love the color. It's very similar to what I chose. I like the way the color nestles into the landscape and the stone. Wishing you great happiness in the adventures to follow.

hello gorgeous said...

Great job, David! I wish I had a gay husband to consult to make decor-related decision-making easier. :-) You are moving fast!!

I'm curious: How are you finding good contractors so quickly?

Raina Cox said...

You accomplished a lot in just a few weeks!

We've done almost nothing to the outside of our new house, choosing instead to get the horrendously dirty interior cleaned up and updated.

Clearly that decision upset a neighbor who wandered into our backyard and asked why we hadn't trimmed some bushes he couldn't even see from his house. Dumbass.