Exterior Renovation Part I {This Old House Our New Home}

I still remember the first time we drove by our house.  Mike and I had finished a race in Nashville that morning and we were headed back home to Franklin when we made a detour through a sweet little neighborhood in Brentwood.  As we drove around the quite streets, I looked out my window at the tall trees and the big yards and I started dreaming of our next home!  

We knew the family that owned the house we now call home and I remember texting that same day to see if they might allow us to rent their home while we tried to find a house to buy in the same neighborhood.  Who would have ever dreamed that a short ten months later they would contact us again to sell us their house off market.  It has been such a blessing to make this sweet house our home and as I said in my very first renovation post...this house was built with love many years ago.  I'm just changing the colors. 
We started our renovation journey by updating the kitchen and refinishing the hardwood floors.  We opened a wall between the kitchen and dining room and then painted ALL the dark wood paneling.   We literally painted every inch of the upstairs including doors, trim, and window panes.  It has been a lot of work and I still have several rooms that need baseboards and ceilings painted, but I have seen this little house brighten up and I'm so proud of her! 

The exterior was something that I knew I wanted to update, but we had to save our money and come up with a design plan.  We got pregnant with our sweet Georgia Mae shortly after moving in so most of our renovation plans came to a halt as I was sick for most of 2016.  At the beginning of the year, we started getting a plan together and shopping for a front door.  The original doors on the house were hollow and you could see daylight between them.  The draft that came through kept the front of the house pretty cold in the winter too so the front door was our first priority.    

We chose a farmhouse style door from Home Depot and I think it's beautiful!  Home Depot also installed it for us and they did a great job!  They had to remove the existing doors to the rough opening and install a whole new door package.  I definitely recommend this if you have an old house.  We have replaced several interior doors and it is SO tricky to get a good fit with old houses that have settled on their foundation.  

In the weeks that followed, I sampled EIGHT different gray paints on the back side of the house, and decided gray was definitely not the right color.  Our roof is a very light gray and reflects light to the point that it almost looks white.  After making a friend at Sherwin Williams and asking everyone I could think of, I decided to go with a farmhouse white paint color.  My roof is similar in color to a tin roof and that helped me see the color pallet better.  Because the roof was such a light shade of gray and I wanted to paint the brick white, I decided to add contrast by painting all the accents gray.  I will list my paint colors below! 

Here are a few things I learned by painting our brick.  Dang, it's hard work.  I talked with several friends that painted their brick themselves and some used a sprayer while others were adamant that you should roll it.  I talked with experts at Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams who both advised to roll as well and so that's where we initially landed.  We had a budget to pay for part of the house to be painted by a professional, but we decided to save money and paint two sides ourselves.  I was also informed consistently that you should take the extra time to seal the brick before you paint.  This added a lot of extra work and was an additional cost to consider. But in the end,  we took the advice of all professionals we consulted and used a sealer with two top coats of pain.  Of course, it's all fun and games that first day til you realize you've been painting for six hours and you still need another coat... so we went and rented the sprayer.  

My friend at Sherwin Williams taught me to use both the sprayer and the roller.  He walked me through having Mike spray while I followed behind with the roller to make sure it had an even finish.  That my friends, was solid advice!  Once we got in the groove with the sprayer and the roller, we covered ground quickly.  You can rent an industrial sprayer from Home Depot for around $150/day. 

We taped and covered so many things to prevent overspray, but I later learned from the painter that helped us that you can also use a paint shield when you are spraying.  I watched him use the shield while he sprayed our gutters, downspouts, and garage doors.  Did I mention how awesome our garage doors turned out?!  No more stark white!

Once we finally finished painting all the brick, Mike and I painted the shutters across the front of the house as well as the columns.  Next, my dad installed our porch lantern lights and a new doorbell.  Y'all, my dad is amazing and somehow knows how to do almost anything.  He also LOVES when I come up with projects and renovation ideas. 

Here's one more shot of the before and then our new front porch. I knew she could be this pretty and I'm so proud of how it turned out.  I think the front door really pops out with the white paint and I'm so happy I decided to go with a white color! 

 Next year, we plan to rip out the rest of the old shrubs and tackle the landscaping.  I can already see the hydrangeas and hostas in front of our sweet little ranch house!  But for now, I am going to take a break from painting and enjoy the view.  We love our sweet home and the beautiful neighborhood God has allowed us to be in.  Renovating an old house takes a lot of time and we are trying to stay within our budget and do as much ourselves as we can.  These are my biggest lessons in year two of our renovation. 

* You are not on Fixer Upper and there is no big reveal so take your time and stay within your budget

* Don't be afraid to learn what you can and do as much as you can yourselves to save money

* Interview multiple contractors before you hire someone and do you homework to see what things cost.  For example, our first few bids for paint were three times what we actually paid

* Hire trusted individuals from smaller towns.  You may pay more for someone who subcontracts the work. 

* Don't wait to invite friends over til you are done.  Allow them to be a part of the journey

* Don't forget that your house is your home. It's a gift that the Lord has given you and your family.  Use it to serve Him. 

{Home Sweet Home}

All the Details: 

Exterior Brick-SW Shoji White

Garage doors, gutters, columns, and trim- SW Dorian Gray

Shutters- SW Dovetail gray 

Lantern Lights- Carmen One Outdoor light from Wayfair
Front Door- Steves & Sons Savannah 6 Lite Stained Mahogany

Georgia Mae {7 Months Old}

Wow!  Life has been busy here at the Harder house of pink.  We have been renovating our house and working on exterior painting the last several weeks.  Little Georgia Mae has also had a busy few weeks developmentally, and so much has changed for her in the last month.   

My little peanut said "mama" for the first time.  She is the first of my girls to say my name first, so obviously it melted my heart!  It's the sweetest sound to finally hear your babies develop their own little voice and say your name.  I could just bottle up the sweetness.  

Georgia also started sitting unsupported, and she is so proud of herself!  She will push herself up from her belly and once she gets balanced, she grins and gives me the sweetest look of accomplishment!  I could eat her up!

This is what Georgia Mae is doing at 7 Months:

* Sitting unsupported
* Rocking in quadruped
* Pulling herself forward on her belly
* Eating lots of new foods.  Her favorites are green beans, squash, banana, and avocado.  
* She is learning how to hold and use her first sippy cup! 
* Mama is her only word so far...must mean I'm awesome :)
* She loves to motorboat and make kissing sounds 
* She's a snuggle bug.  I love my mornings with her.  She wakes up a few minutes earlier than my big girls so I soak up the snuggles on the couch with my first cup of coffee.  Then I have the multiple cups of coffee as the madness of the morning ensues!  

I have been a little sad thinking of how big she is getting and how quickly things are changing.  Four to eight months is my absolute favorite baby stage because they sit in your lap and let you kiss on them and hold them tight.  In just a few short weeks, she will figure out that crawling thing and leave me to explore.  She already tries to get her little body to move toward her sisters.  She can't wait to join them in all the fun!  

It has been the sweetest seven months for our family and I can't imagine our lives without these three little girls.  When I am wearing Georgia or she is covered in the stroller, strangers will stop and ask if our third is a boy.  I wish I could scream from the highest mountain that I wanted three little girls and am SO happy that Georgia is the little baby God had for our family.  She is the perfect addition and we adore her!

{Seven Months Old ~Georgia Mae}