The Finished Product

It only took us four and a half years but we finally did it. We painted the house. All 1000 square feet of it. It really needed it. The guy that owned it before us must have just spray painted the thing one color. It was peeling, showing through to the wood in places - just ugly. So with the Carroll / Costello / Rodrigues clan in tow we got out our brushes and paint clothes (and the sweet paint sprayer.)

Here's the house the night before we painted. It hasn't looked like this for four years. Steve just got done pressure washing and sanding down some of the rough wood. I would say that it looked the worst it has ever looked in this picture.

As you can see, the house was in need of some TLC. So this past Saturday morning we jumped right on it and started painting.

My brother Matt bought a paint sprayer a few months ago and I'm thrilled he did. Without it, an eight hour job could have easily doubled. Here's my Dad giving Matt a few paint pointers (he could be telling him he missed a spot just to mess around - you never know with my dad.)

Here's a pic of our paint "crew," Matt, Dad and Bryan.

They were a jolly group - okay - mostly wise asses and jokesters - as you can clearly see from the picture they "drew" for Allyson.

Can't you tell this was super-hard work? Dad and Bryan felt it very important to invoke a little "Cal-Trans" every once in awhile. (I kid - these guys worked their tails off for us.) I think this was more of telling Matt he missed another spot.

Steve finally got his hands on the sprayer at the front of the house. Matt here is the official ladder holder. My father-in-law, Bruce, is now on paint roller duty.

I was even able to get in on some of the painting action. My mother-in-law took Allyson on Saturday so I was able to do the gutters and trim.

And in the next few pics you can see how happy everyone was that we were finally painting this house. Here's one of Steve and I...

...and one of my Mom holding the ladder so I don't fall and break my ass...

...and Matt in his "Man-well" labor hat (HA!)...

...and did I mention that we had an audience? These people even brought lawn chairs!

Just kidding - that's my sister-in-law, Kirby, and my grandparents (my grandparents really did pull out their own lawn chairs though - they crack me up!)

And of course - the obligatory picture of the kiddo "painting." I do love this little kid.

So - three days, loads of help (I have to thank Mike, my brother-in-law, as well, he was gone over the weekend but came over Monday and pressure washed all the concrete - what a guy!), about nine hundred trips to the Home Depot and finally a feeling of accomplishment.

Here are a few shots of the final product.

We have to continue living in this little tiny house for the foreseeable future. We might as well be proud of what it looks like when we drive home after work every day.

Hope you enjoy - we do!

~Becky