Before and After: House Exterior

This is one of my most exciting posts to date! Well, besides our kids being born. Haha. We finally had our house painted, something that was #1 on my to-do list since we moved in. The main body of the house was a faded green, and then on the front bump-out was this awful fake siding. I was hoping we could take it off and there would be shingles underneath that would match. Not so. Can’t remember if I told the blog this yet or not, but soon after we bought the house, I was talking to our neighbor across the street who has lived here 50 years. A long time ago, there was a family here whose mother or grandmother got sick. They built the front foyer with the large picture window as an addition so that she could rest in her hospital bed and look outside. This explained the cable and multiple electrical outlets in this space, and also the siding. I did NOT ask if she died here.

Anyway, the two different sidings, off-colored shingles and faded green were begging to be made over. Once we decided to go for it, I had the hardest time picking a color. It’s not like a bathroom, people. Our roof is orangey-brown and very limiting, so I had always thought a midnight blue would look sharp. I had several pints mixed and had little squares of all these blues all over the side of the house. I thought I had decided on Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore but once our painter started I was like, “STOP!! That’s not it!” and went back to the drawing board. For a couple weeks we had a half painted house and a back wall that looked like this:

After the dark blue fiasco (even though it was navy, it seemed far too royal blue once on the house), I thought, maybe tan? Maybe just refresh the green? And threw those colors up there too but nothing spoke to me like the dark blues did, even though all the ones I tried were too black, too gray, too purple. Our neighbors totally thought we were crazy. The days passed and I was beginning to think they were right. I had in my mind a midnight blue and just couldn’t find it.
So then one day, I’m sitting there at the island flipping through the paint deck yet again and there it is: MIDNIGHT BLUE. What? Come on now. How did I never see it? It was on the bottom of a strip and then two strips over, a very close cousin called Westcott Navy. I’ll save the rest of the boring story, but after a few more pints (of both paint AND beer) and a few more blue squares on the side of the house, Westcott Navy won. 
Without further ado…
BEFORE – FRONT
AFTER – FRONT 
(we never put the shutters back on)
BEFORE – LEFT SIDE
AFTER – LEFT SIDE

BEFORE- RIGHT SIDE

AFTER- RIGHT SIDE
Overall glamour shot:

While I’m here, how about a little bonus before and after: our front door! I’m obsessed! Don’t think I didn’t overhear the painters laughing about the color I chose (Amarillo by Benjamin Moore). I told them that yellow front doors are the new red front doors. They responded with blank stares. It’s okay, I didn’t need them to get it.

So the existing color was a dull, scuffed brown and in desperate need of some cheering up.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

One thing that made a huge difference was spray-painting the existing door hardware an oil-rubbed bronze. So here’s Jason doing that once the door was primed.

So now our front entryway looks like this and it makes me so happy every time I come home 🙂

We still need to re-paint the stairs, put the exterior light up and I think I’m going to DIY something with our mailbox as well. Back of the house pictures will come when Jason is finished with the deck, but for now, we are living in a whole different world as I said. A world made possible by Westcott Navy. Thanks Benjamin Moore!

5 thoughts on “Before and After: House Exterior”

  2. My husband and I have the same color roof (which is incredibly difficult to find a paint color to go with). We put up a swatch of hale navy today & I had the same reaction as you. So just now i went to pinterest to look for a different blue and found your blog. I can't get over the similarities. I'll be getting a sample of westcott navy this weekend. It's so great seeing a house with our roof color painted in this shade. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but your house looks great! Are you still pleased with the color?

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  4. WoW – We also have a Dutch Colonial, painted white/white trim/gray shingles. I have been debating what color to paint it for two yrs. I like the dark colors that are popular now, but see too many dk gray, dk taupe, browns. When I saw the dark navy/white trim pics online, I knew instantly that was it. I have chosen Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. I am now choosing a house painter and hopefully within two months I will also have that ‘navy blue house on the corner’ that makes everyone say ‘WOW!’

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