The Face Lift

A little over fifteen months ago, our family had the opportunity to buy a house. This was a really exciting prospect because we had moved every year for one reason or another from various rental properties (a difficult task with a family of seven.) Like people, houses come with a lot of personality and a whole lot of personal issues you can't always see until after you've moved in. This summer, I knew we couldn't ask the paint to protect our home for another winter. It was peeling and cracking and exposed wood could be seen losing its strength. So, in August, I began the task of scraping the old paint from our house. I decided on a deep green color with white trim to add a crisp, freshness to the look of our home. I knew it would compliment the red brick (although we have been teased about being the Christmas House all year long!) James and I bought a Forest Green Stain because it is a self-priming and there was a woman in the paint department that just raved about the coverage and life of the stain. The only problem was, I discovered that our ladder just wasn't tall enough to reach every portion of the house (and the fact that I could only paint for about an hour a day with my three inch brush.) Thankfully, a few hands came on deck to help me. Chrissee and I painted one day. James rapelled off the roof to reach under the eaves (until a taller ladder was volunteered). The Oborn's offered a hand. Several men from our ward (including Kyle Liljenquist and Scott Ploharz - who is TERRIFIED of heights) came for a few hours one evening, and Vince Coates painted with me for four hours one Saturday morning. Thank you to everyone who helped me give our home a face lift. When I put the last coat on, James replaced the gutters and hung some white shutters in the front. I'm so relieved we finished before the snows came.