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Friday Favorite: Sprucing Up

October 4th, 2013

Back in Ohio, we had pretty much redone everything in our house to make it just like we wanted.  Moving to Maine meant we were starting at the beginning once again.  We haven’t really done any sprucing up besides cleaning until last week.
working into the night
Our garage/barn is desperately in need of a coat of paint.  It probably could wait a few years, but by that point the siding would have needed ripped off and redone.  Eventually, it will be sided in cedar shakes or something else.  We didn’t want to do that in a year or two, so we decided to paint the garage to keep the siding viable for another 10 years or so.  We had the same issue with our garage in Ohio and the paint was still going strong after 11 years with no sign of new siding being needed.
Painting 1
We finally settled on black as our color of choice, the red barn color just isn’t my thing. Black barns with white trim were fairly common back in Ohio.
Painting 2
Mr Chiots washed the garage well and we got started. It’s tedious work, painting the grooves in the siding with a paint brush, we’ll use a roller on the main walls. The garage is two stories high at the peak, so we’ll probably rent a little lift for the weekend to reach those spots safely.
Painting 3
Painting 4
It’s not necessarily the job we would have chosen as our first project, but it needed to be done. Hopefully next we can paint a few walls inside the house, though after painting this we might not want to paint for a while.

Any big home improvement projects going on at your place?

16 Comments to “Friday Favorite: Sprucing Up”
  1. Susie on October 4, 2013 at 5:58 am

    Just found your blog not long ago so haven’t had time to look around and get the full scoop of things BUT my husband and the other day were talking about how we JUST got this place we have lived in for 30 years the way we want and we are now going to sell in move off grid in the woods and would have to START all over again getting a place the way we want.
    I personally LOVE red barns and don’t recall seeing a black one. Must be I don’t get out much. Can’t wait to see yours finished.
    Thanks for sharing,
    OH and why did you decide on MAINE???
    Susie in northern NY

    Reply to Susie's comment

  2. Patricia on October 4, 2013 at 6:09 am

    Looking good so far! I can’t wait to see the finished project……I don’t think I have seen a black barn.

    Reply to Patricia's comment

  3. Chas on October 4, 2013 at 6:12 am

    Susy, we are finally getting out root cellar back in working order. It has been down a few years because it was having so much condensation on the inside. We’ve added a vent, dug back out around it and will fill in with gravel around the sides before we fill back in with soil. It looks more like a hobbit hole (which is dandy too…except it’s not a round door, haha) because we live on very hard ground and could only dig down so far before we hit rock. Dynamite was too costly, so we had to compromise. BUT, to have that space back to be able to use again and begin filling with stock and supplies. It THRILLS me! It has been a huge project we have been wanting to work on since it went down, so I am tickled pink!

    Reply to Chas's comment

  4. Adelina Anderson on October 4, 2013 at 6:19 am

    Where should I start. We keep a list of all that needs to be done to our house, but honestly we are so darn busy with work, driving the kids around, and we can’t do it all. So far we need a new deck and stairs, a shed, paint some rooms, and to update one of the bathrooms.

    We did paint the door a marigold yellow, that was the big project for the season – and people love it! I have head so many wonderful compliments from people who drive by.

    Reply to Adelina Anderson's comment

  5. Adriana on October 4, 2013 at 7:10 am

    We are in the same boat. We had a little house in Maryland that we worked on and got just how we like it. When we moved back to VT we bought my husband’s childhood home. It was in need of major removatio. We put in new windows, re-insulated the walls and ceiling, replace the roof, re-sided the house, took walls down, built new walls, etc… It’s been 6 years and every room is in some stage of construction. Not to mention all the other homesteading related stuff like building a greenhouse, digging out the root cellar… it is a never ending list, but we love it!

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  6. Modern Mia Gardening on October 4, 2013 at 7:30 am

    We need to finally repaint our bedroom walls. Our house was a renovation when we purchased it with a nice, soothing khaki color on the walls but I’m ready for some color and to make it look lived in, not a rental. The girls want pink and purple in their room while the boys want red, white, and blue stripes. We’re wanting a nice, creamy green for the master.

    Reply to Modern Mia Gardening's comment

  7. Amy on October 4, 2013 at 8:22 am

    Ooo, black will look sharp! I can’t wait to see pictures of the finished project!

    Last year we built a new garden with cedar raised beds. This year we finally got busy on our 1978 ranch style house after living here five years. In the spring and summer, we remodeled two rooms, the guest room and small bedroom (which is now the nursery). Both got popcorn ceilings scraped, retextured and painted, new windows, doors and closet doors, and fresh paint on the walls. Both still need closet organizers, light fixtures and window coverings. Last month, we also painted the exterior of the house and semi-attached garage, and installed new gutters and downspouts. Next year we plan to remodel our master bedroom and bathroom, rebuild the pump house, and hopefully paint the barn. The projects feel never ending, but it feels good to get started.

    Reply to Amy's comment

  8. amy on October 4, 2013 at 8:43 am

    Where I hail from…. black is the main color of the barn as well with white on the doors and air flaps…..Your barn is a lovely structure….I once dreamed of converting one into our home…..C’ est la vie…. Our big project this fall is the greenhouse….My husband just got his gun shop….completed….and that was also a big project….We have been working on one “big” project after another since we bought this place…..which we had to gut…..no bathroom….no kitchen….rewiring…..replumbing…..We are on our first vacation this very week…..in years….because all monies(out of pocket)…..energy….and time were called for when we purchased our home…..It has been worth it:)……and we love our home….but shew!….It has been hard work and many many big projects:)

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  9. Nebraska Dave on October 4, 2013 at 8:47 am

    Susy, my big project right now as your probably know is to get the garden fence built. Just like Adelina things of life seem to pull me away from getting the project finished. The little set back with the van skidding through the fence really slowed down the progress and now we are at a time when garden clean up is starting. There’s never a lack of projects to do.

    Have a great painting day.

    P.S. I’ve never seen a black barn either. :0) It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  10. KimH on October 4, 2013 at 10:21 am

    We did a slew of work about 8 years ago but we’ve still got a few more projects that could be doing..

    However, on Monday, we’ve got an Amish & English crew showing up to tear off our roof and put a new one down.. Its guaranteed to not need another one for life.. ours anyways. ;)

    All of our floors need work.. again.. We need new carpet in the living room, all the wood floors need sanded & sealed, and the tile floors we have, some of the tiles need replacing. With the tile in the kitchen, they all need to be taken up and a new sub-flooring put in. The guy who did them didnt put a sub floor in and we’ve got quite a few that have broken in the couple years they’ve been down.

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  11. kristin @ going country on October 4, 2013 at 11:39 am

    I currently have silver insulation panels on the north walls of my room and the baby’s room. Sheetrock is going to have to wait, and Lord knows when it might get painted.

    Blackrock is pretty much one continuous big project.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  12. Emily on October 4, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    Looks like you have a good start on a big project. We just finished painting the exterior of our cape house. It took two summers to scrape and paint all 8 sides. It sure feels good to have it done and with the color change (blue to sage green) it feels more like it is OUR house.

    Reply to Emily's comment

    • Susy on October 4, 2013 at 7:23 pm

      The scraping is a killer for sure, not my favorite job!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  13. Trish on October 4, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    new siding and windows on our 100 plus year old farmhouse. What a transformation! But I love rustic and kinda miss my shabby old farmhouse.

    Reply to Trish's comment

  14. Kellie Steele on October 4, 2013 at 8:35 pm

    I think the black and white will look lovely. Do you think the black will help to keep the temperature a little warmer in there in winter? In Australia we have the opposite, we try to keep our colours light to reflect the sun and keep the temperature down a little in summer.

    Reply to Kellie Steele's comment

  15. Maybelline on October 4, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    Remodeled the kitchen. Usually you don’t pick home improvement projects. They pick you.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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