When we pursued the purchase of our current home I knew that I wanted to paint the exterior and give it a fresh update. I’ve been dreaming of this update for over a year and a half. While I seriously contemplated DIYing the exterior paint job, we ultimately decided that it would be money well spent to hire professionals.
As we walked the perimeter of our home, looking more closely at the trim work, we discovered there is quite extensive wood rot. We knew we’d need a skilled carpenter to repair and replace these sections of detail from the 1940s. Not to mention, that upon removing the old gutters it became known that they were not functioning at all, but rather just holding water.
While the project is far from complete, I want to give an update. The accent pieces are still in the works (shutters, gutters, doors). So I’ve really contemplated sharing due to these important accents having a huge impact on the overall look & feel of the exterior. We plan to strip the front door and stain it, then paint the shutters & other exterior doors in Sherwin William’s Amazing Grey. The new gutters will be a deep bronze color (almost black, but with a softer look).
I’m happy to say that our painters did a fantastic job on the project overall, including the detailed woodwork! We couldn’t be happier with how everything is turning out.
It’s also noteworthy that I’m SO glad that I went about choosing the paint colors the way I did. I really think it helped me to get the color choices right and the feel I was going for on the exterior. You can read all about that process here.
Projects on old homes are rarely without surprises and this was no exception. When our painters went to remove the exterior shutters it was found that they needed to be replaced. Due to the age (75 years old) and wear on the wood, it was clear that they would not hold together well, nor hold paint for any real length of time. The best option was to purchase new ones, wait for them to arrive, and then have our painters paint and install them. Waiting is always hard and not my favorite.
We began to research new shutters and their costs. Yikes. New shutters are super expensive. We received pricing anywhere from $6,500 for PVC to $40,000 for Cedar shutters (and other quotes in between). Gasp. We began to consider building our own Cedar shutters for a fraction of the cost. We learned that Rockler makes DIY kits (still around $330 a pair) and they also make a Jig specific for creating louver shutters. We knew that building them ourselves would likely take a minimum of 24 man hours. Between stripping doors (including the front door), refreshing a bathroom (update coming soon), still needing to restore the exterior copper accents, and several other home projects going on we decided to NOT do the shutter project ourselves.
After some research, I purchased a sample shutter, and we decided to proceed with this option. We’re hoping to have them early next month! We’re also waiting on our new exterior doors to come in so maybe by mid-late June it’ll all be complete. 🙂 I can hardly wait to see it all come together!
See before below.
