I think we can all agree that a can of paint can work wonders on a home. It's one of the first things [simple anyways] that you can do to just give things a little freshening up. You can choose from cheap; I can't make up my mind so I'm non-committal paint all the way up to pre mixed by the gallon; I cost what a car payment does paint. I went mid range with my cost on this one because it's outside and needs staying power and the results feel shiny and new to me. Our back patio door needed a new coat of paint last year but I just didn't get around to it. The beige was put on there the year or so after we moved in and has stayed the same since. This door really needs to be changed. The glass is really really scratched from the previous owners dog, the screen door latch is snapped off and it feels like a mild wind tunnel in the one corner in the winter [which bothers me because it means we are losing heat and $$] but we are putting our money in other areas of outside this year. Also we took on the studio to re gain our garage so this guy needs to wait until next year.... or the year after.
Anyways....
I spent a Sunday painting this door and our back patio poles, and wrangling a little gardening minion to take the doors from builder beige to fresh and white.
BEFORE [my minion in the window]
AFTER [minion sleeping]
It may not be for everyone, the whole white door thing. Honestly, a couple years ago I wasn't sure it was for me either but as we go through some of the renos on the outside of our house this year and have long range plans for things we are changing or want to change, the white just makes the most sense. Our dark hardware also really stands out now which is nice.
So here is the view from the pole I also painted white. These were just plain 4x4's that hold our patio up. We built out the ones on our front porch but didn't decide to do these as they would just look and feel to bulky. The faded pressure treat look was kind of looking dirty so, I painted them the same white and with the white planter in front, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!
Now I'm being a smidge sneaky with my photos here as the full patio reveal is coming tomorrow so, you are really only getting snippets today.
I was trying to indulge my inner laziness here. I painted 2 of the poles and left the one on the side of the patio pressure treated. I wanted to see if by not painting that one it would allow the other two to be more of a focal point and allow that one to just fade away. In the end it just looked stupid and like I forgot to finish painting so I moved everything, took the eavestrough off and made it right.
I'm super happy with how they turned out and can't wait to share the rest of the patio with you tomorrow.
Now a reno update.
If you will recall, our front porch looked like this after we hacked off all the concrete ledge.
Our contracter strapped the entire porch and framed everything with the Trex boards. Nothing is screwed in below but gives you an idea of where we are going with it. In this photo you can still see the red from the chalk line he was using.
We used Trex in Island Mist. Again, future plans for our home include black replacement windows so that bit of black is going to help tie everything together. And.... I think you know what might have already happened to those beige poles.
I lifted up one of the boards so you can see kind of the layering effect we have here. Concrete with pressure treat and then decking. Our porch raised up a couple inches from this but the new step we added along the driveway helps with that transition.
So that's my little before and after plus reno update for today.
See you tomorrow with a patio reveal for this season. Which is where I'm sitting to write this post.
Love summer!
