Progress on the Exterior Side Entry

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Back in May I shared some embarrassing photos of our fallen-to-ruins side entry. We decided that we would do a few fix-ups to it over the summer to make it more presentable. Also, it's ugliness was pretty much driving me insane.
 
The first thing we did was to scrape and sand all of the painted wood. We tried to get as many flaking paint chips off as we could with a metal scraper, and then used an electric sander on everything else. Sanding the walls wasn't too bad, but the ceiling was brutal. Just so you know, paint and old wood dust doesn't taste very good. How about we add that to my list of things that I never want to do again.
 
Once all the wood was sanded, we gave everything a thorough cleaning with T.S.P. We picked up a gallon of primer from Home Depot, Zinsser Primer-Sealer Stain Killer to be exact, and primed all of the painted and exposed wood. We even gave an extra little coat of primer to the areas that were really flaking off. Just to make sure they were really covered and sealed up.



Of course with a little bit of primer the whole area is looking SO much better. I secretly want to just leave it as is and pretend that I painted but don't tell anyone that I'm super lazy like that, m'kay?

Here are the before pictures:

Before - Yuck!

Before - Yuck!
 
And here are the progress pictures:

Progress - Primer + Weeding

Progress - Primer + Weeding


Now that Coopaloops is super entertained by rocks and pebbles, I was able to let him play in the driveway the last two afternoons while I dug out all the grass and weeds that had grown in our driveway alongside our cement curbs. In the above photo you can see that on the left hand side of the concrete slab there are grass and weeds growing in the gravel and on the right hand side of the slab you can see that I pulled them all out (all the way from the house to the sidewalk)(it was a pretty long stretch)(please give me a virtual high five because it was tres sucky)(that might be French-Canadian for very sucky but I'm not really sure because I don't speak French).
 
So, that's our little bit of progress. Our next steps are to paint over the primer with Cloud White exterior paint by Benjamin Moore as well as install the light fixture that we picked up a few weeks ago.

P.S. We have a few decisions to make about the door situation but I'll leave that dilemma for another day. Dun dun dun.....

P.S.S. Thanks for being cute.

P.S.S.S. When I was getting ready to mow the lawn last night I came across a giant, black, fuzzy caterpillar that I thought Cooper would absolutely love. Since he was already in bed for the night I decided to go in the house for a container to keep him in overnight. Except my A.D.D. brain got distracted by something and I went back outside and mowed the lawn. Poor caterpillar has been M.I.A. ever since. I've been telling myself that he turned into a butterfly and flew away. It's been helping with the guilt. :(

13 comments:

  1. aaah so much better! love the little pop of color on the window trim!

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  2. That looks great! The planter and trim around the window are a nice added touch!

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  3. Wow! the front looks soooo much better now. Much more inviting. It is amazing what a nice fresh paint job can do to a house! ....can't wait to see what you decide on the front door now too! :)

    Jennifer @ Decorated Chaos
    http://decoratedchaos.blogspot.com

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  4. Lovely! and I like the window box that you added. And bravo for weeding your driveway - I used to have to do that to our place in Victoria so I know what a pain it is. :)

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  5. Holy smokes, that looks SO much better. A little bit of elbow grease and primer does wonders! We won't tell anyone if you decide not to officially "paint" that entryway. :)

    Good luck with the caterpillar guilt! :)

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  6. Without even thinking I gave you an air high five when you asked for one. Seriously looks awesome, and it's not even done yet. Way to go.

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  7. It's looking so good! The prep doesn't sound like much fun but it's looking amazing now. Excited to see what you choose for a door.

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  8. Love the white! We have half brick/half wood siding that needs some loving and you've inspired me to maybe freshen ours up! Great job!

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  9. You know...you could actually leave it how it is...

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  10. The idea of re-doing it with WHITE was very smart. I suppose it looks very nice and it is like one hell of a transformation. I was having somewhat similar issues and this post is like a problem solver for me.
    Can't thank you enough <3
    Love
    Jessica x

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  11. Had to comment...just found your blog via my beloved Pinterest and have only made it thru a couple posts as my three year old is dozing next to me in a hotel in Kenai, Alaska...and feeling kinda guilty I really should be putting her to bed (although watching Barbie's the Island Princess and she's fighting every attempt at falling asleep). I digress. Simply cannot wait to go thru every post! I love finding a great blog that I get sucked into! Thanks :)

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  12. It took me 10 days and made it thru the entire blog! Woo hoo! I already "remodeled" my entry closet with baskets and wooden hangers, I bought a shabby white chic coffee table to house my daughter's doll house that has been sitting on the floor since Santa brought it last Christmas (she lays on her belly when playing ... sad), discovered a great little shop in my small town of Eagle River Alaska that has tons of goodies (bought the table there) and since we are remodeling our guest bath in the next few weeks...you gave me a lot of great ideas.

    Thanks again...and will be following :)
    Michelle

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  13. I originally came to tell you I nominated your blog for a Liebster Award! Please, see my post for details: http://angeebees.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-liebster-award-is-what-exactly.html

    However, I have to add I love the white paint. It looks gorgeous!!

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