Extreme Porch Makeover

Our house has good bones. I loved the built ins and moldings, but there were a few things I just couldn't stand. One of the things I hated most was the front porch.

When we moved in you could barely see the brick path to the door under all the weeds. That was an easy fix...lots of round up (although killer hand cramps - note buy the battery operated sprayer!!)

The porch also needed a coat of paint....badly....and the house numbers were drawn on with sharpie. (who does that?) Some areas of the porch were scraped down to bare wood and there were at least 4 visible paint colors. 

the siding

I started by spraying it all off with my "jet" nozzle hose, and accidentally stripped all the paint off the door frame. OOPS!!  Had to paint that too and get the scrub brush out for the siding. It was GROSS!

what the hose did..oops!

after I sprayed it with the hose..still gross!

I used a quart of Valspar Latex Porch & Floor Paint in Del Coronado Brickstone and a foam roller (total cost: $11)

It went surprisingly quick. I painted the front door and the spindles with left over Kilz paint (it's covered should be ok?) and then started at the door and painted my way to the steps. A foam roller is definitely the way to go with an uneven surface, it really gets into the cracks. While that was drying I decided to tackle the back porch.

It was even worse than the front. I wish I had taken a close up of the door! Obviously there was a big dog living here and it had caked mud all the way to the little window.

It took 4 hours of sweat and elbow grease to get it clean. I found out quickly that the hose had NO WATER  PRESSURE!!!  So it was all me and the scrub brush.

After 6 1/2 hours of back breaking, sweaty, dirty work, the outside was clean!

What do you think?

I also made a wreath for the front door, I'll share that with you another day. It's bed time!  Night bloggers!