exterior house renovation progress: painted brick


i asked for one thing for my birthday- to paint our house. when we originally looked at this house, i told luke that i loved the land, but we had to paint the brick.


the brick was dated & it looked as though the builder used all of the leftovers from previous projects on our house. even our friends & family weren't fans. it was awful. thankfully, my hubby agreed to my request. on my birthday, all of my family came out to our house & helped us paint. it was a terrifying project. paint colors were the single most important topic in my world for weeks. i painted swatches on the back of our house & stared at them for hours. i talked with friends & even did a facebook poll. choosing the wrong color or messing up could really hurt the value of our home.


thankfully, nothing went wrong & we love the color! 


it was a laborious project, but the difference is huge! 

(we are still trying to get that pesky rust-colored residue from the chimney off the roof. home DIYers... anyone have any ideas? we've scrubbed & power-washed.)



we still have several more projects up our sleeve including a new porch, new columns, window shutters, a new orange door, a new screen door & new raised beds. it's just the beginning of our home renovations, but having the biggest project behind us feels so good.



the house was also in need of some landscaping so we removed the dead plants & purchased perennials from our local nursery. 


a couple of hanging ferns & a pretty pot of flowers & we're calling it good... until we save up enough for that porch! 


here are the basics for how we painted our brick:
- two days before painting, we power-washed our house. the exterior needs to be thoroughly cleaned before painting.

- the day before painting, we taped off all of the windows, doors & anything else that didn't need to be painted.

- we used behr exterior latex paint from home depot.

- we borrowed a paint sprayer to do the job. trust me, get a paint sprayer. it's impossible with brushes.

- it took 9 gallons to paint our house. i overbought by six gallons, which was a little frustrating, but my parents plan to paint their house the same color so they're purchasing the leftovers from us. thanks, mom & dad!

- we applied two coats.

- it took us about 8.5 hours total to paint. 

- the paint needs at least 24 hours to completely dry.


thanks so much & i can't wait to show you more progress!
love,
natalie

14 comments:

Nancy at EmbroideryIt.com said...

I think it looks great. You chose a perfect color. We moved into a new home this past September and sometimes the projects feel so overwhelming.

Heather said...

great job! It looks wonderful! I like too how you can still see the slight change of color tone of the brick under the paint, gives it interest! Pretty flowers too!!

I really want to paint our house, but Im nervous! Its an old house and some parts are fine, and some parts are a peely nightmare! lol! But I gotta remember, one thing at a time!

Unknown said...

looks wonderful! I love your front door color too -- so bright and cheery and welcoming! :)

Melissa said...

Aww, the original brick was so lovely! But I'm a sucker for brick and the random patterns.

Kassie said...

You sound like me. We bought the cutest Tudor cottage that we've been renovating, but I wasn't crazy about the brick color. But I didn't want to hurt anything from a historical perspective if we painted the brick and it looked awful. We drove around and asked people if we could compare paint samples next to the color of their homes! When we picked a color, we painted an area in the back that we are planning to tear out anyway to add a master bath. After we got the entire house painted, we LOVED it. We've gotten so many compliments from neighbors! Anyway, yours looks lovely. Can't wait to see everything else you do. I love your blog, btw.... :)

sarahjeanne said...

You might try WD-40 on the rust. Your house looks adorable!

industrial painting edmonton ab said...

Love that brick painting of yours, unique and aesthetic.

Caitlin said...

The painted brick looks lovely! I adore reading along with your home updates :)

Unknown said...

Wonderful work has done by you and I am surprised to see how you can manage all things. Such you are genus. I am very thankful to you for sharing your wonderful experience with exterior house painting work. We done!

Queen of Good Intentions said...

Walmart & Lowes in my area sells a product in the bathroom cleaning section called Whink. It has always done the trick immediately on rust for me. It might be worth a try if you can find it. Love your blog!

billy said...

I think it looks amazing. I'm not sure I would have had the patience that you had though!

Becci said...

There's a product called Iron Out. It comes in a liquid or a powder. I have had more success with the powder and just mixing it with enough liquid to make a paste. We have hard water so rust is my nemesis. Good luck!

Glenda Reid said...

Wow! What you've done just gives justice to the quotation "simplicity is beauty". The gray paint that you've applied on the bricks wall is plain and simple but beautiful. It establish the strongness of the walls, and it helps to emphasize the other things that can be seen outside such us the plants. Great job Natalie! More powers! :)

Glenda Reid @ Painter Ready Knox

airless spray said...

Your blog has given me that thing which I never expect to get from all over the websites. Nice post guys!




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