Painting Our House!

Ok...not us painting it...but getting it done!  As I mentioned in the previous post, the guys showed up on Tuesday morning bright and early to get started.  We were AMAZED at how fast and efficiently they worked!  They were a joy to work with after a previous experience we had with a painting company.  Uncle Jerry referred Derwin, the owner of the company, to us.  They painted Uncle Jerry & Aunt Kathy's home a few years ago and were BY FAR the lowest estimate we received.  The really low quote worried us at first but since Uncle Jerry so highly recommended them, we went with it!  Plus they used a high quality Sherwin Williams paint...Super Paint.
 
Warning: Sorry if step by step processes bore you (they usually do me!)...I thought my dad and my father 'n law might care so there are pictures throughout the process!   If that's not for you...scroll down to the end for before and afters!  :)

When they got there a little after 8 on Tuesday morning they immediately began power washing the whole house and then caulking.  By the time we got back from the pool around 11:30, this is what we found...


They got a decent amount of spot priming done as well!

As you can see the house was tan to begin with and they are going to paint it grey...the grey color farthest to the left under the big window to the left of our front door.  The trim is going from a yellow color to a white that has just a hint of grey in it...mostly white though.  And the front door will go from dark green to a darker grey than the main color.  They are all Kwal Paint colors that Sherwin Williams matched.
Main: Excalibur
Trim: Deer Feather
Doors: Fate (same accent color that is on our fireplace and the accent in our bedroom!)

I really love these annuals!


The back of the house primed.




Starting to spray the house already! They were so quick in taping all the windows off.


I'm nervous...did I choose the right color?


Rodrigo (this painter) was so nice to me.  When they first sprayed this side it looked blue to me in comparison to where I painted samples even though I painted in 3 different places in different lights.  I wondered if the yellow trim made it look blue.  He was kind enough to offer to paint some of the trim in the white to be sure it was what I wanted.  Thankfully, the change in trim color completely changed the look of the paint from bluish grey to grey.  He said he's rather do that then have to repaint the whole house!  I still appreciated him not making me feel high maintenance.  I felt better but knew I would feel the best when it was all done and looked good!

Nathan making sure they are doing a good job before we run to Home Depot.


More progress pictures.




That afternoon daddy and Nathan working on our downstairs half bath.

Matt replaced the light fixture and faucet to brushed nickel to match the other pieces we already switched over.  In the process the sink chipped pretty badly and he decided to replace that as well!  He also put knobs on the cabinet doors. It looks great!  Nathan stuck close by him :)  He still needs to fix the caulking around the sink so I haven't taken pictures yet.

The painters left around 6:30...this is how they left it for the next day!


They just painted the trim around the garage doors...not anywhere else yet.  I can't wait for all of the trim to be white!


Oh yeah, except for this little bit of trim by the garage access door.  This is where Rodrigo painted to make sure I was okay with the color :) 




Nathan in the backyard that night as we check out their work :)


Day #2-  This was probably around two in the afternoon.  Nathan and I pulled the garbage bin in and checked their work while they took lunch! 


They painted the doors.



Nathan coloring at the table while Rodrigo was painting the back door.  Nathan trying to say "Rodrigo" was really cute!




They finished up by 5:30 that night!  It only took them two days!!  This second day they painted all the trim, the doors and did touch up.








That same night.  Since we have new paint colors, the boys might as well get to work on the putting up the new light fixtures!  This picture makes me laugh...both bending over.




I like it!








And here's some before and afters for you.  I took the before ones back when we were still considering this home as were taking a walk through the neighborhood.

BEFORE


AFTER

You can see here that I took out a screen in the nursery!  The nursery is the room on the right above the garage.  I was cleaning the window and blinds the other day and decided the one screen in particular needed to be hosed off.  Everything is pretty much moved out of there now and ready for paint, the furniture to be put together and the decorating to begin!

BEFORE


On this one you can see the oxidation on the side of the house from the sun...the main reason it needed painted! And also, the fact that it had been 11 years.

AFTER



More of our front entrance:
BEFORE

We took the screen door off and sold it on Craigslist.  The painters did a great job of filling in the holes in the wood, sanding it down and painting it!

AFTER

So long yellowish trim, I don't miss you a bit!


We are so thrilled with the time it took them, the final result and how inexpensive it was! Our house just feels clean and fresh. We love it!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend as a family.  We originally were going to try to take a trip to see friends so Matt already had taken off and we had a four day weekend!   Nathan loved having his daddy home that much.  We spent a lot of time doing errands and projects around the house.  We also had friends over for a Memorial Day "cookout".

We didn't actually cookout though...we had pork barbeque in a crockpot.  I love having this island for entertaining.  It makes it so easy to set up and for everyone to grab their food "buffet style"!  Everyone brought great food.  We only did the bbq and some chicken macaroni salad.  My counters were very full once everyone arrived!

I was pretty lax in the picture taking, but we had friends over from our previous small group as well as Ashley & Amber!  Gary & Allison brought sweet Landon.  He has a heart defect and has done awesome with his first two surgeries.  He is SO adorable!

Thankfully, I got this picture because Amber is on her toes!  Josh had to work so we missed seeing him...hoping to catch up with both of them soon.

Nathan is playing here with Annabelle, Kyle & Jessica's little girl.  They actually live in the same neighborhood as we do!


Andy & Lauren came as well.  It was really fun to catch up with everyone and have a relaxing evening.  It had cooled off and gotten windier so we kept the party indoors :)

Nathan had a rough night for some reason.  He actually had a short nap that day and then was up late since we had company...so that usually ends up affecting his night sleep.  Daddy gave in and brought him to bed with us.  He is not usually this cuddly, so he was hard to turn down I think!

No worries, no habits have formed.  He has been sleeping in his own bed this week!

We went to our neighborhood pool for the first time on Tuesday!  Nathan LOVED it.


Splashing daddy...


Uh-oh.  Losing balance.


And down he goes!


He went under several times on accident but it didn't seem to stop him for wanting to get back at it, without being held onto.  This is the 1 1/2 foot pool...for kiddos like him!


He's a splashing maniac.


There is also a splash pool for the kids that wasn't hooked up this day as well as the large one that is behind this one.

They even had a lifeguard assigned to this small pool.  She was really nice, throwing a ball back and forth with Nathan in the water.  There were 3 lifeguards on duty and then 2 other ones walking around.  Our tennis and basketball court is across the way too but I don't think you can see it in this picture.  They also have a snack stand with burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs etc!  Now we see why the pool is such a selling point of this neighborhood!  It's great for families.

Nathan and daddy pulling this little  girl on her float.


Drying off & having a snack.

He wasn't thrilled to be getting out of the pool but we had to feed him and get him down for a nap!

Putting his shoes on.



Ha ha...I love the expression on his face.  His bottom lip sticking out :)


We came back home to see the progress on our house...they guys showed up that morning to start the prep process for painting it! More on that in the next post..