Exterior Painting – Almost the Grand Finale

We are so excited because Blake Hill House now looks like a million bucks.  After three summers, our big old house is about 90% Hale Navy and Monterey White. That means this post is almost the grand finale. I suppose you could consider it the final act of a three-act play. The climax of the story is over, but there are still some little character conflicts to resolve before the final dance number and fireworks show.  (Act I, Act II)

I will jump right in and show off the lower windows. In this section alone, there are 112 window panes, and before the work, sixteen of them were broken. Let that sink in for a few seconds. I will wait.

That is a lot of glass. What a ton of work!

One guy devoted every minute of every work day to replacing the broken glass, repairing glaze, and painting the muntins that separate all 112 panes of these unique windows.

(Side note: At one time, this porch was probably an open porch vs. an enclosed room. I will explain why I believe that in a future post.)

Since this side of the house gets hammered by inclement weather and afternoon sunlight, the painters prepped the shingles with an oil-based primer first.

It is hard to believe that before BHH looked like this:

It looked like this:

And before this:

There was this:

I asked the painters to skip the screen door and the steps. Unfortunately, both are in terrible condition. Ever optimistic, I believe the door is salvageable, but repairing it will take some time. Right now, I am not sure about the steps. We do not use this door regularly, so I have some time to think about how I want to handle that problem.

The fresh white paint makes the details pop. Just look at those lower windows.

For the past two weeks, I have been taking a photo of the bi-fold door progress and posting it on Instagram. Watching the doors shape up has been my favorite part of this whole process.

Once the sleeping porch and the roof are back in tip top condition, I will paint the upper section. Until then, this part of the house will look partly polished but somewhat derelict all at the same time.

Last year, we joked with the neighbors on the other side of the house that they had the premium view of BHH vs. regular view. Now, the neighbors on this side will have a better view too. Fortunately, we have wonderful and understanding neighbors all around us. Most of them enjoy watching the changes even as they happen slowly.

With a dramatic flourish, I have marked this job off of the summer to-do list. That’s a wrap, folks. Now, it’s time to sit back and wait for the Grand Finale. It will be worth the wait. I promise.