Fun with Exterior Paint

Add this to the list of "Things I Didn't Know the Government Cared About" -- the exterior of my house. I financed my home using an FHA loan, which is great because they only require a 3.5% down payment (as opposed to the 20% desired by most traditional lenders). The downside is that they have certain requirements about the appearance and upkeep of your home. So if there is work that is needed in order to bring the house up to their standards, you have to do it before you actually own the house. To a novice like me, this is a little scary. What if it all falls through, and you've spent money working on a house that isn't yours??

Of course that scenario didn't happen. And it was relatively minor work that needed to be done. Basically the paint on the South side of the house was peeling pretty badly, and had to be stripped and primed before the loan could be approved. Andrea, my fabulous Realtor (here's her site - if you're in the LA area I highly recommend working with her!), actually lined up the painter and paid for the labor as my housewarming present! How generous is that?

So when I finally moved in, one of the first things I had my contractor, Martin, address was the now-patchy exterior paint. I also cajoled him into removing the bars from the front windows (we left them on the other windows, but I just couldn't live in a house that looked like a fortress!). And we replaced the mostly-glass front door with a solid wood, Craftsman-style door. I think it's gorgeous, even if Martin did have to drive into Skid Row to pick to up from the wholesaler. We also replaced the scary metal security door with a clear, tempered glass weather door. Much better.

Do you remember the before (shown here with my parents relaxing on the front porch)? White with pink trim, wowsers.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to live in a little yellow house. And now that dream has finally come true!

I painted the underside of the porch aqua, just for a little added interest.

And here it is, all dressed up for Halloween! Maybe one day I'll have time to post a tutorial on how to make the bats.

All the paint is Behr Exterior, and the colors are Banana Split, Ruffled Clam, and Aqua Spray (I'll let you guess which is which).