Outdoor Painting Project Update and Shed Makeover

Hello, my sweet friends. I promise that I didn’t run away and join a circus or anything. There have been so many times that I have wanted to post an update on here, but we’ve been so busy. Now that one baseball season, ballet, and other activities have wrapped up, our days will {hopefully} slow down.

In between places to be, we’ve been working on painting the back of our farmhouse. Remember last year when we did the front, sides, and garage? (You can read all about that makeover HERE.) Well, this spring and summer, we have turned our attention to the back. (We had been working on the back yard and you can see the dramatic before and after pictures HERE.)

{Post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure here.}

After the countless hours in the front last year and all the extra time that it took due to the incline around our home, we knew that painting the clapboard in the back would seem like a breeze. And it has. The details are where our time is now being spent. I have a vision and a plan and given a few more weeks, I can see it being complete. But, I wanted to give you a sneak peek to hold your curiosity at bay a little bit.

{I do update much more regularly on Instagram, if you’d like to pop over there and see what we are up to.}

Let’s do a quick before picture of the entire exterior in the back of our farmhouse. {Insert huge cringe…yikes!}

We first tackled the clapboard and painted it in Behr Charcoal, using their outdoor flat finish. Oh and I have to tell you about The Home Depot’s paint sale event. Around Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day, they offer a rebate sale on their indoor and outdoor paints. You have to pay full price, but go home and submit the rebate online. You’ll receive a Visa gift card in the mail a month or so later. It is really worth it to buy all the paint you need for a while at that time.

The clapboard is now done. Okay, well, once my part was done. Here is our deal: I do everything that I can safely reach on a 6 foot ladder and the hubby does everything higher than that. I was then able to move onto our porch and patio areas. There is still so much to do, but I wanted to share an update after painting one coat of white.

{Don’t judge me on my painting outfit. And why does it always feel higher on a ladder than it looks?}

I decided to paint the beams white and leave the wood ceiling as it is. The contrast and texture is amazing now.

Can’t you just see a long farmhouse table underneath here? Seating for 10 is my goal. And don’t forget little twinkly lights hanging down too!

My plan for the porch and deck wood flooring is to strip, clean, and seal it with a poly. I am hoping that just cleaning it up will be enough. If it isn’t, then I will put a coat of light stain on the flooring before a few coats of poly.

Just to give you an idea of what it will look like…the bottom window trim is painted and the top window has not been painted. And that metal roof…I am weighing all of the options on what color to paint it.

And that rain barrel…we have a love/hate relationship. I love “free” water for the flowers, but hate that it’s so big and ugly. The “someday” goal is to reroute the gutter down to the other side of that roof and hide the rain barrel a bit better.