While our roofers were making great progress on our roof (began here and progress here), we rolled up our sleeves to work on our flaky trims and soffit:

IMG_8944

The color choice

Our trim, fascia and soffit were covered by brown paint in the same color of our gutter and garage door. Combined with the yellow brick, the exterior of our house is reeeeeally brown. It is uninteresting and looked tired.

IMG_7408

We have since painted the front door a dark bronze color, and installed a new single-panel glass storm door:

IMG_7812

We liked this bronze a lot – it is not too cold, not too warm, and plays well with the yellow brick. So when we learned that we could use any color for our gutter, we immediately settled on the same bronze.

IMG_8911

This is my third time using Lowe’s Valspar Duramax. I like it. It is a bit thick to spread, but does not leave brush strokes and gives a nice coverage. I used it on the exterior of our shed, which is dark pressure-treated plywood. It only took two coats to form a smooth protective layer on our shed, which is pretty impressive because pressure-treated plywood drinks a lot of paint! The green paint we used on the back of the shed still bled through the plywood color even after three coats. And it somehow looks flat compared to the Valspar Duramax.

Preparing the surface

Before painting, it is always worth spending time to clean the surface well. Slav took a blade and scraped all the loose paint off the trims, fascia, and soffit. He also chipped off tons of staples off the trims – apparently the previous owner stapled holiday lights and left them behind.

IMG_8940

A little surprise during the clean-up:

IMG_8945

He then patched all the holes and and caulked all around the seams:

IMG_8964

IMG_8962

IMG_8963

All the white portion on our fascia were covered by the old gutter. So this day and half between gutters was a great opportunity for us to paint. We wanted to squeeze in two rounds of caulking and two coats of paint. Had to work fast and non-stop – it was intense!

Slav Started around noon and finished the first round of scraping and caulking by night:

IMG_8947

I followed him to give the surface a light sand, and set up plastic drop cloth around the house so we do not need to worry about paint staining our new patio:

IMG_8952

IMG_8950

I also protected our outdoor lighting with foil:

IMG_8948

Paint, caulk, and paint again!

As soon as the caulk was dry, I started painting everything between the brick wall and the new roof flashing in bronze. I did not use primer, but it looked almost perfect after just one coat! This paint really gives great coverage:

IMG_8974

The soffit above the garage door:

IMG_9021

IMG_9019

IMG_9020

Man, we really need to change this garage light – the bulb has gone off and it is the last one of its kind after we replaced the front and back porch light.

This is the front of the house after one coat of paint:

IMG_9025

The next morning, Slav caulked again all the seams, especially around the doors and windows:

IMG_9031

IMG_9026

And I followed with the second coat of paint:

IMG_9087

IMG_9093

IMG_9089

Including the space above our doors and windows:

IMG_9083

The paint blends in with the new roof so well! We are really happy with the color. Now our ranch is ready for her new gutter!

IMG_9014