The Adored Abode

I am beyond excited to finally be sharing the reveal of our new exterior paint!

Our home is a Tudor style that was built in 1980. The front of our house has a base of stucco with traditional wood cross trim pieces. The sides and back of our house are wood board and batten.

I broke it down in this post, but we decided to embrace the Tudor style, rather than try to hide it. Meaning, we wanted the trim to be a darker color than the body of the house rather than the same color. For the sides and back we wanted it all painted one color. This was the same concept to how our house was before. We knew we wanted to stick with this, but to lighten up the colors a bit.

We chose to go with a lighter paint scheme than we previously had, in warmer tones that better compliment the stone fireplace.

When we were planning this project we knew we wanted to hire it out. With our 3 very tall gables and hard to reach eves we knew this was a job that was out of our league and should be kept to the pros. Not to mention the wood rot! We had extensive wood rot on the front of our house where the wood needed to be completely replaced. Replacing wood trim that is set into stucco did not sound like a fun job. We also planned to have the small ‘gingerbread’ trim pieces removed from the front of our house for a cleaner look on the trim, which meant the small corner areas would need to be patched with stucco.

We found a company we liked and decided to go with them. We did contact several companies and had a hard time even getting people to come out to our house to give us a bid – one company spent an hour+ at our house for a bid and never even send us the bid! Needless to say, we did not hire them. Sourcing good contractors can be so difficult. We didn’t know this at the time, but the company we hired contracts out the paint jobs! They were basically a general contractor and it worked out alright, but I wish we had known that ahead of time. We lucked out and got a great crew that did our house. Our close friends used the same company and had the same crew paint their house the week before and we both loved them. The lead of the crew owns his own painting business and just does a lot of jobs for the company we hired. In the future should we need painting services we would just reach out and contract directly with the crew.

The Before

This was where we started. We honestly wouldn’t have repainted so soon had our wood rot (which is nearly impossible to see in pictures) wasn’t so bad. Since we knew we needed to address the wood rot we took the opportunity to lighten up the paint.

THE PROCESS

The crew worked so fast. There were 5 guys total and they each seemed to have a ‘job’. They started on Friday and had everything wrapped up by Sunday evening. The first day was power washing, tarping windows off, and addressing wood rot. The second day they finished wood rot repair, patched stucco, and began painting the back of the house. The third day they painted the rest of the house, touched up any areas that needed it, and cleaned everything up. I can’t even begin to imagine how long this would have taken us if we tried to do it ourselves. Months I’m sure.

We are so happy with the quality and are also very pleased that we no longer have wood rot all throughout the front of our house. 

Helpful tip: It was HOT when our house was being painted – nearly 100 degrees. We would put out a cooler with ice, lots of water bottles, and a few other drinks for the crew. They appreciated it so much.

One thing to note, the prep work and wood rot repair of the painting process was SO loud. The crew had started a day early while we were at work, with our consent, when we came home that afternoon our house was already looking completely different! But, oh my goodness, our poor dogs were traumatized. I’m sure they had been barking up a storm all afternoon. I wish I could have snuck out of work earlier, but now we know better. Our dogs both are known to be anxious, and we should have realized this would be a problem for them when we weren’t home, luckily everyone has recovered. It was a Friday when the crew started and they wanted to work all weekend, which was easier for us since we’d be home with the dogs!

Moral of the story: If you have pets that would be bothered by this noise either plan to be home or take them somewhere else when the work is being completed. This would also apply to kids! If you have little ones that nap it might be difficult to have them at home for naps if you have a lot of wood rot that needs to be repaired.

The After

We are sooo happy with how it turned out! It feels light and fresh – I couldn’t believe the difference in removing the gingerbread trim above the porch to match the trim style above the garage! So much cleaner. I love pulling up to our house everyday. Same house, just feels so much more in line with our personal style now!

THE COST

Now I know you are wanting to know, how much did it really cost? Truthfully, I expected it to be more.

The company we contracted with gave us a detailed estimated bid up front that included; wood rot repair, prep work, labor, and paint. This estimate was to be our total amount, unless there was additional wood rot identified during the time of painting. Here’s how much we spent:

Wood rot repair: $2,050

Prep, paint, and labor: $4,620

Total: $6,670

Keep in mind we live in Kansas City and the pricing of exterior painting can vary largely by city and state.

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THE COLORS

These are the colors we landed on:

Body – Moderne White, Sherwin Williams

Trim – Mindful Gray, Sherwin Williams

Door – Tricorn Black, Sherwin Williams

I tried many, many whites before I landed on Moderne White. Both The Makerista (who is also in KC!) and Young House Love used this on their exteriors so I knew it had a high probability of being a winner, but I made sure to SAMPLE it on my house first before deciding. It’s definitely “white”, but not a bright white. I don’t feel like it’s blinding. Depending on the light it sometimes leans to a very, very light muddy gray, which I personally prefer over a bright white on an exterior.

Mindful Gray ended up being the perfect color for our trim. It is a warmer, mid-tone gray. I wanted there to be some contrast from the white body of the house, but I didn’t want it to be a stark contrast. I also wanted it to compliment our fireplace, which I think it does. I honestly think I could have gone a tiny bit lighter, and a tad more cream vs. gray, but I truly do love how it turned out as is.

The colors ended up being even better than I imagined on our house! They are more muted and feel much warmer than our previous paint colors. I love how they compliment our fireplace perfectly.

As for our front door – I love the new color (it was more of a navy-black before), but I don’t like the door itself. I think it dates our house a bit and screams 90s. It’s not my favorite, but it will have to do for now! We are hoping to add a new wood front door next year!

I am so very happy our exterior has a fresh new look! New paint completely transformed our house. Plus, our neighbors have given us the nicest compliments which also makes me happy! It may not be their house, but they have to look at it every day.