the green monstah

when we looked at this house, we fell in love with its bones. tons of natural light, classic with a splash of midcentury, cozy, affordable, great neighborhood. there were a lot of characteristics we wanted to change, but we loved the nuts and bolts. and to us, that's all that matters.

so we purchased a house that was olive green - at best; poop...vomit... other types of green - at worst. but that did not scare us away. we felt like a little paint and a lot of love labor would transform her into a house we would be happy to come home to.

here she is before.

first we taped off all of the windows.
this ended up being an unnecessary step. we learned it was easier to just cut in and scrape away the residue with a razor blade. the tape got very tacky after weeks of the june sun beating down on it. 

next we power washed the entire house. twice. this wiped away about forty percent of the loose paint. the rest required a scraper and major elbow grease. 

things got real ugly at this point. the green monstah was looking rough.

after we scraped, we primed every inch with a heavy duty, exterior primer. 

there were some casualties along the way...

and we finally got our first coat of gray on. and i wanted to weep with joy. this moment of the sun peeking through on our gray south wall about brought me to tears. needless to say, the process of painting an entire exterior was a labor of love. and a whole family effort. in a word, it was tough.

and more gray went on. here two of my favorite boys get the tricky peaks.

and suddenly we went from this....

to this.

what we think looks like a cute little, 1951 cottage.

 the windows now pop and it just feels...fresh. 

 beyond five gallons of primer and twelve gallons of gray behr exterior paint [gag!], we also got new doors and gutters which truly set the whole thing off. we still have a long list when it comes to the outside - landscaping, windows, furniture, fence - but we think the two month transformation already makes a big difference. 

we love ya, 109. it's been a long couple of months with a lot of blood, sweat, tears [of joy and otherwise], laughter, and memories. you taught us how to scrape, climb ladders, wipe up paint after a pour, enjoy the sweat of june, and appreciate family in a new and enduring way. yes, we sure do love ya.