MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE IS ALMOST 135 YEARS OLD.

And not once in all of those years, through all the life that has taken place here…was the exterior ever painted.

The Outside walls are stucco, layered over 3 rows of brick and scored to look like “ASHLAR”…which are masonry blocks which were worked until they were smooth and rectangular and stacked like gigantic bricks…THIS “faux” treatment of the stucco was a common design practice back in the day. How cool is that!

I always felt the exterior was fine “as is”…the gray stucco did not bother me …In fact I felt that it could be  a disservice to the history of the house to paint it.

But when we had the exterior structural issues addressed and repaired the normal wear and tear of an 135 year old lady…it made MORE sense, practically and financially…to go ahead and paint it, rather than to try to match the color of NEW stucco patches to the 135 OLD  stucco….

AND WHAT A DIFFERENCE MAKER!!!

I agonized over the WHITE color – AS YOU KNOW THERE ARE JUST SO MANY – and finally after trying many many whites (my decision making post here)

…we chose BENJAMIN MOORE SIMPLY WHITE

THE PREP took longer than the painting itself did…not a surprise to those of you who have undertaken painting an old house…there were days and days of scraping and caulking…and caulking and scraping but thankfully the weather this autumn was beautiful with little days off for rain and as the leaves changed and fell…our old country house was transformed.

BENJAMIN MOORE SIMPLY WHITE.

 THE PORCH CEILING IS PAINTED BENJAMIN MOORE BIRDS EGG…I DID A POST ONCE ON THE HISTORY OF “HAINT” BLUE PORCH CEILINGS. 

THE Door has been painted Majestic blue for a while now and I have thought about a change…LEHIGH GREEN. THOUGHTS?

I love, Love, Love, LOVE the RED roof!!! The whole roof did not need RE- painting and in the interest of saving wherever possible (for as you know….any structural work undertaken in an old house is like opening a giant can of musty smelling worms…) we JUST did the porch roof…and chimney in the RED,

WHICH IS A SHERWINN WILLIAMS color CALLED  “FIRED BRICK”

THE DIFFERENCE IS SPECTACULAR …SUCH A CHANGE THAT WE FIND OURSELVES SAYING…”WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS 10 YEARS AGO!!!”

AND AFTER…

YOU CAN SEE HOW THE YEARS HAVE SMOOTHED OUT THE “SCORING” SOFTENED THE LINES AND FADED THE INDENTATIONS…KIND OF LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF WRINKLES IN PEOPLE…DON’T YOU OUR SKIN SMOOTHED OUT OVER THE YEARS!!!!

…NOW IF I CAN ONLY FIND 12 SETS OF SHUTTERS…BUT EVEN IF WE ARE UNABLE TO REPLACE THE SHUTTERS….THE IMPROVEMENT IS SO UPLIFTING!!!