Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Yea, it's personal
Yesterday was one of those days. I woke up in a haze somewhere between where 4:00am and 5:00am meet to Porkchop choking on a quarter and a penny. I had to stick my finger in his tiny throat to release the coins. I was relieved to have withdrawn the coins, but couldn't help wonder if maybe a dime got through, and where on earth he got this change from. So, yes, that's how my morning started. No wonder I showed up at my clients office with my pajama bottoms still on and didn't even realize it until lunch time. Yes lovely readers - that's the day I had yesterday.
(porkchop seems to be doing fine now. cross fingers)
Today seemed like a dirty little secret day, and I am in the mood to dish anyway. So here we go. We have a few secrets around this house that we keep away from the pretty blog world. Things like our scary basement, the bathroom down there which makes a haunted house look like a jolly time, some messy closets, and peeling and bruising on a few walls. Things we can fix, and with due time, will fix. But right now I am going to share with you a dirty little secret our house would hang her head in shame if she knew I was telling you.
Do you see what I see? Complete and total utter pealing paint and rotting wood -ICK?! Not only is it icky, it's an expensive fix. But looking at it everyday makes our hearts sink - so it's time to fix the problem. This is NOT a DIY project we are going to tackle - heck, I won't even let Joey climb up on the ladder to clean the gutters.
Sadly we can't give you a shiny DIY tutorial on how to paint a house on your own, but we can give you tips and pointers on how to pick paint.
Our house wasn't painted that long ago. So whys it peeling so ferociously? It wasn't primed properly. They probably mixed two different types of paints (or three, or four), one on top of the other as well. This happens when you paint latex over alkyd, and vice versa. If you don't know what kind of paint your house is dressed with now, it's recommended to use alkyd.
Types of Paint:
alkyd (oil based): slow drying, self cleaning/renewing, durable, long lasting, difficult to work with, bad for low rain/too much rain areas
latex (water based): breathable, minimizes moisture problems, lots of options
Types of Finishes:
Flat/Matte Finish: If you have a house with siding, this is a good option for you. Matte hides imperfections well, but is more difficult to clean.
Glossy Finish: Recommended for "finishing details". It's easy to clean, but may be "too much" for walls. Don't want to blind the neighbors!
Satin Finish: This is the porridge that everyone seems to want a bite of. Glossy enough to clean, yet matte enough to not have too much shine.
What's your color story?
Now picking a color is totally up to you. Our house is kinda this blueish gray right now with neutral stone. It's not our thing, so we are going in a totally new direction. Something like this...
We like the direction of more of a "traditional" English Tudor. Fixing up the wood is going to be a whole other story, because that needs to be fixed before it's painted. There are techniques now where they can repair the wood, so it costs less and is just as durable.
Even though we will be leaving this project to the pro's, like most things we want to know what's going on and have done a good bit of research. We suggest a good amount of research with any investment like this. It's a good chunk of change - make sure who you hire is doing it right! Have you recently painted your home? Are you planning to? Please share - we aren't know-it-all's after all! Spill the beans and share some comment love!
Reader Comments (2)
We rent, so fortunately we don't really have to deal with these types of things. But man, sorry you had such a rough day! Those are the worst..
it's nice to read a kind comment! today was much, much better! :)