My Painted House Part I
BOO! It’s me! Scary, right? I bet you didn’t expect to be scared the day after Halloween… I’m just full of surprises. (Like this post, coming out of, like, nowhere a mere quarter of a year since my last one…) So, Halloween was yesterday and that got me to thinking about scary stuff. Like how scary my front yard has looked for the last 8 years.
Not quite as bad as this…
But still pretty scary.
If you’ve been following along (at this truly glacial pace of mine) you know that the other three sides of my crappy house actually don’t look so crappy anymore. That’s here if you missed it. The front, though… That’s another story.
My crappy house has cedar shingles on the front. I actually like them. Sure, they’re ugly, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. (Didn’t your mom ever teach you that?) So, what’s on the inside is real wood that’s in relatively good condition. What they need is a makeover…
Shingles, you must start anew. Don’t you know what you must do?
You better shape up. Cuz I need a house. (I need a house!) One that doesn’t look so crappy. (One that doesn’t look so…)
Ahh, makeovers…
So, you may have noticed all of that loose paint on that picture up there. The best way to remove that was by power washing. That made the house even uglier.
Some areas were stubborn. The paint had a good grip, so we left those areas and painted over them with this stuff:
It has the consistency of a thin white glue that is supposed to paste down any loose edges that may want to flake at a later date. This way, we could just paint over what was left without killing ourselves trying to get it to bare wood. We like not killing ourselves.
We also made some repairs, replacing damaged shingles…
and fixing this area that didn’t quite meet the corner trim.
It was right around this time that we discovered we had a very active wasp nest that had been lurking in a bush next to the house.
It was also right around this time that I discovered that I am braver than my boyfriend, who emphatically declined to work on this part of the house.
Wasp nest schmasp schnest. (Say that three times fast…) We needed to get color on this house!
And so we did.
Pretty right?
Hey, did you know primer comes in light gray? Wait, you didn’t think this was the actual color, did you? You sillies…
I did say part I…
Trick or treat!
17 Comments
Melissa Cossidente
Looks good! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
My Crappy House
Thanks! You’ll see it sooner than most. You’re a VIP
SanDC
Oh happy day – I get so excited every time you post and am never disappointed. Love the way it looks now! I’m guessing you’re going darker to match the other sides. Way to go, brave girl – wasps really do leave you alone if you’re not scared of them or attack . I was stung last 32 years ago when I stepped on two wasps within an hour…
My Crappy House
Oh, my! I guess the wasps probably viewed getting stepped on as an attack… I know I would! I’m surprised you’re not afraid of them now. I’ve never been stung, but I bet I wouldn’t be so calm around them if I had been. Anyway, darker is a good guess…
Katherine Davies
Love it so far! Always nice to see a post from you.
My Crappy House
Thank you! I’m excited to show you the final color. We didn’t quite finish before the weather got too cold
judy
I wish you would post more often,followers like to hear more than just I did this and this is how I did it. It’s fun to hear about pets and your weather(I’m in Virginia and we are just now having low temperatures) your neighborhood where you go for fun-parks-water,theater etc. Anyhoo love your wit and all your pretty improvements.
My Crappy House
Thanks for being interested in my crappy life! (Haha, no, it’s not crappy at all – just staying on brand…) I’m working on an Egor post now you might like. Hopefully, I can manage to post that before the holidays hit.
Debbie O
That looks really nice. Light gray would have been a good color choice but can’t wait to see what the actual color is. Will that reveal be about springtime? ?
lol
My Crappy House
Haha, you kid, but… We weren’t able to finish painting before it got too cold. The paint doesn’t like to dry when the temps drop, so we’re stuck finishing in the spring. HOWEVER, I am working on some stuff inside, so hopefully I will have more things to post about in the meantime… I always intend to post more often, but then life goes by so fast!
Julia
I thought I was hallucinating! Be careful not to make it look too good or you’ll have to rename your blog.
My Crappy House
I know, right? It’s really me! As for the house, it’ll always be crappy in my heart.
Trollopian
In the spirit of “more cowbell”…this post needs more Egor!
But, lookin’ good. I can’t wait to see what color you pick. Soon, please.
My Crappy House
Aww, I should have put Egor in there! He’s been watching us work the whole time. I’m actually working on a blog post right now that’s all about him. You’re giving me incentive to finish it
Belinda
I believe that is a hornet’s nest, which the interwebs informs me is a type of wasp. Thanks for the tip of the peeling paint glue. I’m going to try it!
Terry
Nice site! I was wondering about the removal of the old paint. Many sites say to power sand off the old paint cedar shakes first. How did the new paint stick to the old paint? Any regrets?
My Crappy House
Hi there. I used a pressure washer to get loose paint off, but I did not sand and the new paint is holding up perfectly. I did prime over the old paint, so that’s probably an important step. So far, so good…