Fox Hollow Cottage

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Before And After White House Paint Reveal

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Before And After White House Paint Reveal

I’m so excited to finally be sharing our many, many weeks long before and after paint reveal! I can’t believe how this white exterior house painting project took our home from dreary to cheery! I’m sure you were all starting to wonder if we were actually painting the house, or if I was just teasing when I was sharing paint samples and asking for opinions. I wasn’t.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

Rewind to late October, and the main house was in desperate need of a paint job. It was definitely high on the list of things we were saving for but we didn’t think we’d be able to get it done until the next Summer at least. When the opportunity to have it painted came up, we uncharacteristically went for it. I didn’t even get proper before photos before the painter was digging in!

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

We have Winter grass that goes dormant over Summer, but it greens right up as soon as we get cooler weather and a little rain. By the time the house was done, the grass had already greened right up. It amazes me how it does this every year.

We started pretty late in the season, with hope and a prayer, and went for it! Our painter was a one man wonder and did such a great job with all the painting preparation.

– It’s so important to do a thorough job on any project, but painting your homes exterior is a big one and you don’t want to skip the prep!

Which included;

  • Power Washing: wash the entire surface to be painted
  • Scrapping: anything loose, chippy or flaky
  • Sanding: to smooth any harsh chippy edges
  • Peel Stop: seals paint cracks, binds chalky residue and glues down any peeling paint. We have shake siding and all the cracks in the paint could not be sanded out due to the nature of the shakes.
  • Primer: If your current paint is sound, you generally need to prime only scraped or repaired areas. In our case, the house hadn’t been painted in many years and primer was needed to give the new color a good base to adhere to.

I love our Sherwin Williams store. They always treat me so well whenever I go in, and however I look. Messy bun, old paint clothes, in for a color sample or a few gallons. I’m treated with a cheerful welcome and offers of assistance, or they’ll leave me alone looking at the cards… I like both options. I’ve used them for all The Little Cottage projects, and the last few Better Homes & Gardens projects too.

I feel so fortunate that I was able to partner with Sherwin Williams on our exterior house painting project! They supplied the body & trim paint for the main house as well as The Little Cottage.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

Here on the main house we used Emerald satin in Pure White on the body, and Emerald semi-gloss in Pure White on the trim. I would have used these products regardless of them being supplied but it definitely helped take the sting out the expense for all the other products, supplies and labor that we paid for.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

Especially when we got to the back side of the house and discovered all the dry rot that had been hiding behind a few of the pieces of siding Jim took off to replace. That, rain, and a few other hiccups held-us-up getting things wrapped up as well. There was some stress, and a few tears, but it’s wonderful to have the house done, for the most part.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

Going into this Winter with the house protected feels so good, and really takes a huge worry off my mind. More than a new color, paint is our homes protective barrier and now I’ve got both piece of mind along with the pretty. I like the idea of both.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

I’m not sure what happened to the front door paint, but my nerves and I are going to ignore it until I can get to it. If you’d ignore it right along with me, my impending breakdown and I would really thank you. hahaha

We painted the underside of the porch in a haint blue shade as a nod to my trips South, and Jim and I’s trip to Savannah. It’s Resilience paint in a shade called Open Air. And because this was all such a surprise, I didn’t’ have it in the budget to spring for a new porch light and I’m not big on charging, so it’s going on the list too. As far as scale goes, I need to go bigger!!

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

We weren’t able to completely redo the front of the house this year like we planned to, but we did tear out the two front beds, lay down weed blocker, add fresh plants and mulch. Even this little bit took a trip to Eugene just to find a few plants this late in the season, a day pulling everything out and prepping (we removed 8 wheel barrows full of soil), and another day to plant and finish up.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

If only time and money were as limitless as our imaginations right?

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

That’s our giant shop next to the house and I love that the new Pure White just sort of blends them together and it doesn’t seem like such a behemoth now.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

That is Jimmy’s baby, but he let me pick the color and I’m so glad I went with pure white and no two-tone business.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal - Cottage bungalow shingle house in Pure White by Sherwin Williams

When you come around to the backside of our home, our siding finish splits. It’s shingles on top and battens on the bottom.

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

And I was so set on using Coastal Plains for at least one of the sets of french doors. I had already bought it and everything, but then I went and saw Jenna Sue’s laundry room, and I had to go buy myself some Softened Green. And because our project took 47,000 years, I was able to add a hint of holiday to our back doors, right before I took the last of the photos.

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

I’m not sold on the buffalo check curtains? I think the smaller checks are too busy, but since I was recovering from a head & chest cold, I didn’t have the oomph to change them out after hanging them. I am just a mess over here right? Oh my.

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

The rains will be here shortly, and I can’t really leave these Christmas goodies outside, but it was nice to pretend for a few days.

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

Softened Green is kind of like a creamy pastel avocado and I know it’s going to flow from season to season beautifully.

I can’t wait until everything is done and I can take some full photos not trying to avoid the parts of the house that are marked for demo! I’m thinking next Summer at the rate things move around here.

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

So what do you think of my Pure White color pick? I’d love to hear what you think!

We had shutters up previously, but we want to either make new ones come Summer, or window boxes. I’ve got time to decide on that one though. I love the new Pure White with the black roof. I feel like this little house was just meant to be white. Plus… I can paint that front door to my hearts content! xoxo Shannon

PRODUCTS USED:

  • BODY PAINT: Sherwin Williams Emerald Paint, Pure White in Satin
  • TRIM PAINT: Sherwin Williams Emerald Paint, Pure White in Semi-gloss
  • PORCH CEILING: Sherwin Williams Resilience Open Air in Satin
  • FRONT DOOR: Sherwin Williams Resilience Iron Ore in Semi Gloss
  • FRENCH DOORS: Sherwin Williams Resilience Softened Green in Satin
  • There were a few products we used on the masonry and I’ll share that when I can show you the rest of the house, once the back is all done!

If you have any questions I am happy to answer – Fire away in the comments. Shan

Before And After White Exterior House Paint Reveal

Comments

  1. Kathleen says

    Your house looks amazing! I can’t believe what a difference paint makes. I love the little touch of blue on the ceiling and those green French doors, beautiful. I can’t wait to see if you go with shutters again and what color you use.

  3. Gin says

    Wow what a difference! It’s beautiful. Something like architectural moulding aroand your windows like your porch would be stunning. I love shutters and window boxes combined too. White is always classic.

  4. Kirby says

    This looks amazing!! I just love your choices, and can’t wait to see what you choose for your new light. In a few years. No rush.

  5. Kathryn says

    The white is perfection! Your vision was spot on. BTW, I think your small buffalo checks work with the colonial style window panes. Enjoy your beautiful home.

  8. Nadyne says

    Love it all but especially love the blue southern touch on the front porch. We have only a few cold months here in Kingwood (Houston) TX so our grass is the opposite: green until the cold months of Dec-March
    Thanks for sharing your adventures and for being real!

    • Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage says

      Nadine, love the spelling! Our Summer is short’ish but as soon as the Spring rain stop that grass starts a dying, and it dies quick! LOL. But it comes back about as fast too. You’re welcome. I can’t be anything but real. And I really do try to be transparent about our projects. We aren’t a half our reality show with the bottomless budgets. Darn it. ?

  9. Barb says

    Lovely. Shannon! It softly says “Home” in a soft voice.
    Window boxes: I really love them but never wanted to add fasteners to the exterior. Then I saw an idea instead to use short stands to hold boxes off the ground.Your handy Jim could make them functional and you could make them either disappear or scream, “Hey, look at me!” Some folks have used small dressers or cabinets.
    Good job!

    • Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage says

      I responded to this on my phone as well so you might be getting two replies 😉
      You know after reading this I remembered there is a third option!! I’ll try to find the picture of my idea and share it with you all!
      Happy Thanksgiving Week!! 🙂 Shannon

  10. Terri says

    Oh my…OH MY! Stunning transformation Shannon – worthy of a few nervous breakdowns I’d say. The white is gorgeous. SW Pure White is the color of all my interior trim. Your house is so pretty! The Softened Green is such a gorgeous color, it has me daydreaming about where I could use it. I happen to like the black front door for now, even though I know you’ll paint it eventually. I even like the buffalo checks peaking through the back door.
    Your home has such personality – it must make you so happy! Thanks for sharing – ow you can breathe and rest a bit. Happy Thanksgiving!

    • Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage says

      Y’all know I didn’t even try to pretend that the news about the backside of the house didn’t make me cry for about a minute. But I got over it. We know there are harder fights. ? thank you so much for your kind words and support you are such a great cheerleader for me. Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your boys being home, and all those yummy pies ❤️??

  11. Nancy Sargent says

    I can’t tell you how much I love this!! I’m a white lover also…such a great choice for your sweet home! I love how you’ve opened the front by removing shrubs and replanting! Looking forward to next summer to see if you’ll post shutters or planters!

    • Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage says

      Even as I tested other colors to make sure I was making the right decision, I think deep inside I knew the house was going to be white all along. Thank you! Redoing the two beds on each side of the door was a messed since we weren’t able to do the renovation we would like too. ??‍♀️????

  12. Connie says

    I love it! Living in Oregon requires a big dose of brightness every day and this does that beautifully. Good choice.

Before And After White House Paint Reveal

Before And After White House Paint Reveal with Pure White from Sherwin Williams - How we took our 1929 Cottage Bungalow home from dreary to cheery!
 
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