It was July 4th weekend when the "construction" part of this project was completed.

Just trying to see what the various shades of green look like on the house (vs. on the paint swatch).

They've all been asking what color the house will be (are they afraid I'll use purple or something?).

Here's a portion of the house we tried one stripper on.

This stripper caused the paint to pull away from the house, but not consistently.

Well, here we are in mid-August and the switch has been made to another stripper.

Wow, how nice the original siding was under all that paint!

The window sills reveal a few past lives.

Not all of the house will be stripped to bare wood, but most of the lower siding had many more coats of paint than the upper level.

Wow, what a difference this makes!

These are all empty buckets of stripping chemicals.

A close-up of the shingles on the turret.

The wood was stripped, and now has a good seal coat of primer.

This definitely backs up my decision NOT to paint the house white!

Next pass of primer is tinted with the colors I chose for the house. This is "Fenland" green for the lower body of the house.

The ceiling will get two coats of this marine varnish...and it should darken over time. Looks great!

Well, here's a preview...the house primed in the two main body colors. Once the weather clears, the "real" painting will begin.

Sal, Al and John dodged the rain to make final repairs on the siding. Here they had two nasty clapboards to replace.

Two more old shingles lost the battle with the power-washer, so they were replaced, too.

Eagle-eye Al spotted what nobody else did since July: the dentil molding was not complete on the right side of the turret! Now it is.

So, not much different from the front view, but now that we're in the final stretch it's tradition to take a daily picture of the house. Tomorrow the "real" painting gets started!

The trim colors applied to the windows. Still have to decide on the sash color...

All four shades of green in action.

September 17 brought more color. What do you think?

Kevin will probably be happy to see another color besides green after this job!

Excellent!

What a difference with the white porch "gone."

With the front done, it's time to turn the corner.

Not much change from the front. Still getting used to the "new" house!

For the never-ending trim painting!

Three different colors here (four when the porch floor and treads are done).

only two colors here.

Variation on the tic-tac-toe here.

Can't wait to see the rest of the trim "pop" on the side of the house.

whaddaya think?

The left window has a cream sash; the right window has an "eggplant" sash. I'm definitely leaning toward the eggplant as color #5.

The neighbors are giving thumbs up!

That's the fifth (and final) color I picked for the house. Window sashes will need two coats.

New porch roof makes a handy scaffold for painting!

First the meter box gets reattached to the house (it's been "dangling" since May!).

Painting and wiring...we're getting dangerously close!

The new porch outlet will feed off this interior outlet...but what's with the spare parts?!

Juice for the wraparound porch.

No more flashlights to unlock the front door!

Day's End

Time for another round on the trim. Brian was on porch duty today!

Kevin is back on the windows.

New fixture is just right...and doesn't the ceiling look great? The natural wood has already darkened a bit with the second coat of varnish.

Day's End...I just love the way the plum looks on the turret windows! Looks like we'll have a rain delay until next week. But there's just a bit more trim painting plus the porch floor to go.

Porch floor and steps are finally done; just a couple of touch-ups on the house and the painting is DONE!

Kevin is dabbing more Plumberry on the newel posts...just getting a taste of what "foofy" trim colors I might use once I add more gingerbread to the porch.

All that's left is the decorating!

Hank LOVES the new porch (that's him on the steps).

Al's back one last time for final fixes, like the installation of the gutter downspout.

Painting is DONE! Well, it was four months (not four weeks) for this project, but totally worth the wait! Next phase: landscaping!

Click here for Chapter 6: Final Landscaping.