After a year and a half in our house, the outside of our home finally looks the way we want! It's amazing how much of a learning curve there can be when you start with a new yard and home. But everything now looks the way we like!
And probably to the surprise of many, we did not paint our red brick house.
I've decided I really like the red brick look. While I think white painted brick homes are beautiful, we'll be keeping this one as it is!
When we moved in almost 18 months ago, our red brick Cape Cod style home had yellow trim and hunter green shutters, a clear throwback to the '90s when it was built. As much as I love green, I was ready to get rid of it on the shutters. And yellow has never been a favorite color of mine.
Aside from the trim and shutter colors, I really loved the outside of our home. I love the grand steps, the real shutters and the two dormers upstairs. It's a classic, beautiful home in my opinion. The grass was nice and lush, too. The landscaping was a little overgrown, but you'll see in a minute how it looks now.
Then last summer (our first summer in the house), we hired a lawn company to keep the weeds at bay. Instead of simply getting rid of the weeds, they killed a lot of our grass in the front yard. It was a mess. If you remember, the house looked like this for a while...
Every time I pulled into the driveway, it made me sad to see the brown yard. (That's not just dormant grass. It was dead as a doorknob.) So we made plans to fix everything this spring.
I shared my plans in my Home Goals 2021, Part 1 post back in January. My goal was to get a quote for painting the yellow trim and green shutters by the end of April. But lo and behold, the painting was FINISHED by the end of April. Kudos to me!
In that home goals post, I wrote, "I'm thinking about painting the white trim my favorite white: Simply White (Benjamin Moore). And I'm considering Graphite (Benjamin Moore) for the shutters and front door. It's a soft black or charcoal and looks really good on the exterior of a home."
And that's (almost) exactly what I did! Keep reading to see which paint color I ended up choosing for the front door and shutters.
We hired the painters in February, which meant we got put on their schedule and then had to wait for both their schedule and the weather to line up. They started in mid-to-late April, and it took them about 3 1/2 days to get it all done. In the end I was so pleased with how well they did and how quickly they finished.
What Type of Paint to Use
My painter asks the homeowner to buy the paint for his projects. This saves him a step and makes sure I get exactly what I want. I think it also protects him from disputes, because if I pick the paint, I can't complain. You know?
I didn't want to skimp on the paint for this job. If I'm paying someone to paint for me, I want the paint quality to be top notch. The painters told me over and over how good this paint was, and that they had painted homes before that needed four or more coats because the owner bought cheap paint. In the long run that cost them more money and didn't hold up well on the house.
OK, so I did my research. For the white trim, I bought Valspar Duramax Exterior Paint in a Satin Finish from Lowe's. It went on great!
For the front door and shutters, I bought paint from my local decorating store that carries Benjamin Moore. I didn't want to risk a wrong color match, so I used Benjamin Moore Exterior Regal Select Paint in Soft Gloss finish for the front door and shutters. Soft gloss falls somewhere between satin and high gloss.
Learn more about how to select the right paint finish here.
Is There Any Prep Before Painting the Exterior Trim and Shutters?
I'd never had anything on the exterior of a house painted before, so I was nervous that everything would go well. I asked my painter about pressure washing the outside of the house before painting, and he said it wasn't necessary. They would wipe off any dirt or cobwebs with a clean paint brush as they went.
I was nervous about this, so I decided to pressure wash as much as I could before they started painting. I bought this pressure washer and did as much as I could. We'll see how it holds up over the years, but so far, so good!
The After
Are you ready to see it?
I'm in love...
As you can see, we not only have white trim and black shutters, we also have grass! My husband put down sod around the same time everything got painted. And it all looks a thousand times better.
So you don't have to scroll back, here's the before again...
The sod is still growing in and greening up, and we haven't been able to cut it yet. So it'll keep looking better with time. But I'm beyond thrilled with how it's all turning out!
We also hired a landscaper to come in and give all the greenery a major trim. It was getting out of hand, and we don't have the time or expertise to keep it under control. That large loropetalum bush was overtaking the sidewalk, so we had it cut back a LOT, and it will grow back with time.
Our brick stairs with the black iron railing are one of my favorite parts of the front of our home. Now that I've pressure washed them, they look so much better! And I love the black front door. I might switch it out for a wood door someday, but for now the black door is perfect.
You may remember that I shared a mini front door makeover in a recent home goals post, and I've ordered several of those items. They're slowly arriving, and I hope to share them soon! You can see I already got the American flag out there in time for Memorial Day and July 4th. I love it!
New Orleans style lantern | classic planters | faux boxwood topiaries | American flag | monogrammed front door mat
The Paint Colors I Used
Now that you've seen the transformation, let's talk about paint colors! In my opinion, it's harder to choose paint colors for the outside of a home than the inside. Everything looks brighter outside because it's in direct sunlight. I remember painting Revere Pewter on my concrete patio floor at our old house, and it nearly looked white. So crazy!
When it came to choosing the white for our trim, I tried my go-to white, Simply White by Benjamin Moore, and it worked great! I love that color so much, and I think it goes with anything. Since it reads as a creamy white, I was hoping it wouldn't look too stark outside. And it's perfection!
For the black/dark gray trim, it took me a bit longer to find the right color. I originally planned to paint the shutters and front door with Graphite from Benjamin Moore. I had the sample color matched at Lowe's, but when I tried it on the front door, it was way too light. I wanted a very dark gray, and it came out more of a medium gray.
I honestly think the color match wasn't right. So I went to the decorating store and had them color match Black, Black Beauty and Onyx. In the end I chose Onyx by Benjamin Moore because it was my favorite of the three, so I just went with it!
Now that it's on the shutters and door, it honestly looks black, not dark gray. But I like it, and that's all I care about! If I ever repaint the front door and shutters someday, I might revisit the color, but probably not.
It makes me smile every time I pull into the driveway now. It's never a bad idea to make a home look the way you love.
What do you think? Would you have painted the brick white? Or do you like red brick houses?
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
