We painted our home a couple of weeks ago and it looks so fresh and so clean. Now the exterior matches the interior and slowly but surely we are making progress.

Phase 1, Small changes, big impact.

We started working on our house exterior last year. The first “phase” was to improve the look of the front of the house. We have beautiful brick in most of the facade of our home that I love! but I wanted to paint part of it to tone it down slightly, I knew that regular paint was not in my plan, I truly love the look of red brick and I wanted to still see its beauty, it is timeless. So I decided to use lime wash paint instead and create a lime washed effect on the brick, like a faux patina.

I used Romabio Avorio white color for the lime wash and it turned out better than I imagined. It was a fairly easy project that I was able to finish in one afternoon.

The process was simple; first step was to paint the brick using a masonry brush and after waiting about 20 until the paint was dry (or more depending on your climate) I used our hose with the jet setting to pressure rinse parts of the paint to get that “washed out” effect. That part was my favorite of the process because it was more artistic. You can see more about this process with videos here.

As part of Phase 1 we also removed the plants in the planter we had by one of the windows in hopes to eventually add more brick there and make that a seating porch, removed the iron Varanda, painted the front door Tricorn Black by SW, swapped the sconce for this copper one and added a couple of planters.

Phase 2: Let’s paint the house!

We decided to paint our house exterior with the help of our best friend who unexpectedly offered to help us, He is a former painter so he knows how to do this project, also we live in a two story house so we could use some -or a lot of- help. Without hesitation we started planning the project in one week.

Fist step, Picking up paint.

After so much research about white paint colors for exterior I rounded up my list to these paint color to sample.

1. White duck - Sherwin Williams (from left)

2. Natural Choice - Sherwin Williams

3. White Dove - Benjamin Moore.

4. China White - Benjamin Moore (second row)

The most important thing I had to consider is that I wanted the white to complement the lime washed brick, I had to find the right creamy white, not too yellow, not too bright or it would make the brick look dingy, etc. It had to be just right.

After sampling the paint in different areas of our house, shadow areas and direct sunlight areas and seeing the color at different times of the day. We decided China white by Bm was the winner.

Prep work is so important! First step was to pressure wash the house, we used this pressure washing that wins as best purchase of the year! affordable and powerful.

After that part was done we needed to repair cracks in the stucco, patch up holes, etc. Since we were spray painting the house we needed to make sure every window and door was covered. Usually prep work takes longer than spray painting the house. For us painting the whole house 1 color took 1 day work.

After the house was painting it was time for finishing painting with a brush and roller the parts where the sprayer couldn’t reach. Also I painted the back dining room door black but until this day I am considering re painting it sage green like the shutters. What do you think? -pictures bellow-

Here is the reveal of phase 2, we love it! And for sure more details will come and well, who says a house has to be done all at once? at least that is not our reality, we are more into the “little by little approach”. Good things take time.

What we are hoping to change in the future;

Garage door, update our front door, add a couple of lanterns on each side of the garage door, work on the landscaping in the front and back and for sure more ideas will come to mind as we live longer in this house of ours.

Paint colors:

China white by BM

Tricorn black by SW (garage door, front door and back patio door)

Woodland sage by Behr for the shutters.