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October 2, 2017 · 17 Comments

Our House is Painted!

Home· Moving

I recently got around to painting my house exterior – having our house painted made such a huge difference in our curb appeal, and I wanted to share our exterior house painting tips with you! Behr graciously provided paint for this project, but all opinions are mine (and my painter’s). 

Before and after photos of having house exterior painted professionally, ideas for what to expect when your siding is getting painted, and tips for how to plan.

You guys, I don’t even know if I can come up with a quippy intro for this post for you today. I’m too excited. I’m doing jazz hands all over the place. I can’t stop staring at my house, and I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

If you’ve been following along, you know that Corey and I are currently trying to sell our house and that we had a nice long list of things that needed to be done before we could list it. Probably the biggest thing on said list was painting the exterior of our house. It’s something we’ve been putting off since the day we moved in, and our house was in desperate need of a new look.

Our House Exterior: Before

Before and after - painting a house exterior

Painting the exterior of a house - before and after Tips for painting a house exterior, along with gorgeous before and after photos, and ideas for what paint to use

Yeah. That color was bad. We’ve hated it for as long as we’ve lived here, but we thought it’d be too expensive to have it painted so we never did. Of course, when it came time to sell the house we knew that we’d have to do something – there was a lot of trim that needed to be replaced, the color was looking even worse than it did when we bought the house 6 years ago, and our curb appeal was nonexistent.

So, we called a local painter, got a quote, and were shocked when it was about half of the (completely arbitrary) price we had in our heads. And now? Well, now our house is looking much better.

Our House Exterior: After

A look at what the process is to have the exterior of your house painted.

Painting house exterior, before and after of house painting, tips and tricks for painting exterior of house

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while then you’ll probably know that I have a love for Behr’s Marquee line of paint that runs deep in my soul (We chose Behr’s Quiet Time for the siding and Whisper White for the trim). It’s the only paint I’ll buy, and it consistently blows me away with how good it covers and how high quality it is. So, it should come as no surprise to you that our painter was more than a little impressed with this paint. When we were ordering paint, he asked us to get 10 gallons of the main house color, knowing that our siding was very old and would likely absorb quite a bit of paint. On the last day of painting, he said that he ended up only using about 6 gallons for our entire (two-story)  house – he couldn’t believe how well the paint covered and said that it really only took one coat in most places.

Y’all, this is why you spring for the more expensive paint. Sure you have to a pay a little more per gallon, but you’re using less paint overall (four gallons less than expected, in some cases!) and saving yourself lots of time and extra coats. It is worth it.

Bottom line? If you’re painting the exterior of your house (or the interior, or anything, ever), use Behr’s Marquee line. It’s the best. Just trust me and do it.

A look at what painting your house exterior looks like, plus before and after shots

Painting Our House Exterior: Our Experience

The project took about four days from start to finish. I thought it was interesting to see how it all broke down (I had never had someone do a project like this before!), so here’s a quick rundown of what the schedule looked like:

  • Day 1: He removed all of the trim that needed to be replaced, power washed the entire house, and began to replace some of the trim.

Before and after photos of having a house exterior painted

  • Day 2: He finished replacing all of the trim and caulked all of the seams and any places in the old trim and siding that needed fresh caulk.
  • Day 3: Painting began! Most of the siding got painted today, and the trim got started.

Painting house exterior - before and after photos and tips

Painting a house exterior - should you DIY it?

  • Day 4: Finished up all of the trim, and did touch ups, then cleaned up.

It was crazy to see how much work went into this project (I mean, I knew it was a lot, but holy cow!) and I am so glad we decided to hire it out rather than trying to do it ourselves. Some projects are just too big to DIY. This would have taken us weeks to accomplish on our own – and it wouldn’t have looked nearly as good, either!

Painting house exterior before and afters

If you’re in the north Austin area and are looking for a painter, let me know and I’d be happy to recommend our guy – he was absolutely fabulous, gave a great price, and I can’t say enough good things about the job he did. Our neighbors actually ended up getting a quote from him the day that he finished painting our house, and I have another friend who is going to be hiring him to paint her house as well!

It’s kind of amazing to me what a difference a fresh coat of paint makes on a house – our entire backyard looks cleaner and nicer, and I smile when I pull into my driveway now instead of cringing.

Be sure to check back in on Wednesday – I’ll have a moving update for you, along with a recap of the organizing and purging challenge that we just finished up!

Have you ever tried Behr’s Marquee paint? What’s your dream house color?!

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Westport painters says

    September 16, 2021 at 9:19 am

    Exterior painting really gives life to your home. Your house is truly looking beautiful. Thanks for sharing such informative and detailed article!!!!

    Reply
  2. Painting says

    June 27, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    You have some great ideas! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  3. Justin Right says

    August 2, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    What an awesome article! Your house looks night and day different after that paint job. I’m in the painting industry and I agree some jobs are a little much for a DIY project. I’m pleased you found someone that did such an amazing job and at a good price in the Austin area. If anyone is looking for a good House Painter in Denver check these guys do a great job. Thanks again for such an awesome article, loved it.

    Reply
  4. Jackson Painters says

    September 12, 2019 at 10:29 am

    WOW! What an amazing difference it makes with just a little bit of paint! Nice work!

    Reply
  5. Clay Bolton says

    August 22, 2019 at 2:18 am

    This transformation looks amazing, it really makes me want to get our house painted now! Thanks a ton for sharing your story.

    Reply
    • Amanda Hendrix says

      August 23, 2019 at 8:46 am

      Thanks so much!

      Reply
  6. Jackson Painters says

    May 25, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    I just love a good before and after! What an amazing thing paint is! Great transformation! : )

    Reply
  7. Penelope Smith says

    July 11, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    This is some really good information about painting an exterior of a home. I want to sell my home soon and I have been thinking about increasing my home curb appeal before I put it on the market. It is good to know that it would be smart to have around 6 gallons of pain. Personally, I would rather have a professional paint my home for me.

    Reply
  8. Lilia Robberts says

    July 9, 2018 at 10:16 am

    Thank you so much for talking about the steps your husband took to create a beautiful exterior of the home. I loved that he took off the bad trim before he started painting. I will need to look into finding someone who can paint my home, and do an amazing job. My home is so rundown looking right now, it will be nice when it looks fresh and clean again!

    Reply
  9. Becca Holton says

    March 28, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m in a similar situation as you were. The color of my house isn’t great and now that I’m planning on selling my home, it’s got to change. I’m going to follow your example and start by calling a local painter.

    Reply
  10. mary says

    October 11, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    Your house looks so much better! We actually just painted our exterior and used the Behr Marquee. I was so surprised that we only needed one coat too! We chose a custom color that was similar to yours. It was a lot of work, but luckily our house is just one story.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      October 11, 2017 at 3:38 pm

      Thanks! The paint really is amazing!! And it’s so worth it to have a freshly painted house!

      Reply
  11. Grondwerken says

    October 3, 2017 at 6:41 am

    Wow! Your house is truly looking beautiful with Behr’s Marquee line of paint. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  12. Sabush says

    October 2, 2017 at 2:37 pm

    It is so beautiful now! What a change!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      October 6, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  13. Crystal says

    October 2, 2017 at 9:43 am

    This looks great! I so agree that some projects are to big that DIY is not the route to go. Hopefully you sell soon. Beautiful home.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      October 2, 2017 at 12:40 pm

      Thanks, Crystal! I’m really pleased with it!

      Reply

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Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

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