Our Old House Project- Going from Green To Blue

Ahhhh  --- we are home for a week and getting a few things done on the house.  For my newest blog readers, we fondly refer to our 104 year old home as "Our Old House".  We decided this summer to spruce up the outside.

Long ago our house looked like this: 

When we bought it in 2012 it looked like this:

(vinyl siding was added in the 70's) 

We removed the heavy overgrown cedars to show 

the delicate custom fretwork lattice under the porch.

Some of the cedars broke in the first winter's snowstorm anyhow.

Then I painted up some of the trim GREEN in 2013 like this:

When the previous owners had the house resided with vinyl, they also did  the soffits and eaves.  The soffit material has a pattern of two smooth sections and then two textured sections.  For some reason, they put a piece of the vinyl soffit material along the front of the house as trim???  In 2013, I had painted the textured sections of this material with green just to cover up the dirty looking parts that trapped dirt. 

Next project in mind: Steve is going to tear it off and see what is going on underneath it.  We are thinking of adding some curly cue stuff or trim strips of color or whatever.  Still messing with photoshop on ideas.


Yesterday, I got out my gallon of Cabots Solid Colored Acrylic Stain.... it works so much better than paint on things like concrete or treated wood (or even aluminum like this trim)  It doesn't flake off like paint does. You really can't use it over paint, but you can use it over stain, which is what I used the first time when I did the green back in 2013.  (I did a gazebo with it back in 1987 and it still looks great, as well as the shutters on our log house in 1997)  It lasts a lot longer than paint.

Mind you, Steve HATES painting... whereas I love it.  So this is "my thing" and I only ask him to assist with the difficult or up high stuff.

I went to work on the front steps, which are concrete and then some of the trim along the edge of the porch flooring and three columns from when the house was originally an open porch. 

I didn't get up high on the ladder yet for the top three blocks, but I will do that when Steve gets home and can help me.  He will need to put up the ladder to remove that soffit material with the green squares anyhow. Going from Green To Blue!


Whoooo hoooooo am I blue??? I did wear a bit of the color here and there on my hands and arms.  Hahahah I had fun... I even did the little house numbers as well.  It was a nice cool day in the low 70's and I got double coats on everything.  I think it looks great, and we will be adding to the trim around the windows, perhaps with shutters or some bric a brac or maybe even some corbels around the diningroom bumpout.

I even painted the birdbath (WITH water in it!) 

and I joked to neighbors passing by:

"Since I bought this cute little Dutch Boy and Girl, 

now I have to paint the house to match!"

Next up on my list of ideas was to stain up a bunch of new strips of wood, some quarter round and some half round pieces.  I convinced Steve to get out the air compressor and nail gun to put some up on the front of the house along the bottom edge of the fretwork lattice.  Ahhhh  I think that looks good!   (It's a "test piece" for some of the trim I might want nailed up around the windows and in the gables....)

That was it for Tuesday... 

not too bad for one day's work, don't ya think?   

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Now it was Wednesday!  The weatherman said that it would be nice in the 70's today, but the rest of the week will be muggy and higher 80's.  So if I want to get ANY more done, I better do it today!!!!


I had the paint department mix up a quart of matching paint to the same color of the solid colored stain.  Because this adorable little round picnic table and benches had been painted before, I was more confident using paint on this for a new color.  The table was red, and I bought it for a donation to the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue Group a few years ago. I like it better than a rectangular picnic table with attached benches.  This one fits better in the corner by the back porch and the benches are positionable for comfortable seating while eating.

I had Steve spread out a tarp in the shade, but the sun was moving fast so I had better hop to it!   I set out an MP3 player with my soft celtic music and spent the whole morning changing my table from red to blue!  I did all of the legs first one coat, and then a second coat in that order.  Once the legs were all done, then I could do the edges and tops of each piece.

Ahhhhh I got them done before 11 a.m. and just in time because I was losing my shade! It looks a little lighter blue in the pic because of the sunshine, but it's the same colonial type blue color as on the front.

Once that was done, I still have paint on my brush.... I asked Steve to remove the triangles from the cross buck design from the two storm doors on the back of the house.  They are not my "favorite" feature, more of a ranch house design.  I would love to find two old fashioned wooden screen doors with some character and bric a brac to replace them with.  But then we would still need winter storm doors....   Steve said we could in the future keep that in mind.

I finished up the triangles and set them to dry... 

After that I painted the stairs to the back kitchen door as well. 

This is using the stain again, because that is what I used before 

on the bare treated wood that was here when we bought the house. 

Steve put the triangles on the doors while I took a shower 

(and a nap!) 

He also moved the picnic table back into place and set the benches around it. On top in the center goes my funky big coffee cup planter that I garbage picked last summer.  My jade plant wintered well indoors, and we have been bringing it out daily to acclimate it to outdoor temps again.  I even painted the filigree holder for the garden hose next to the back door to the basement.  Hey.. when I get a paint brush in my hand, there is no stopping me!  LOL

Ahhhh 

now that part of the house is done!  

except maybe some strips of color trim

or shutters around the windows? 

I am anxious to see what we are going to do next ????