Pump It

Ok so the truth is: I HATE the color of our house. If my mom is reading...she'd prefer I say "strongly dislike"...but in this case...I see it fit to say hate (it's an intense or passionate 'dislike' in this situation :) Everybody knows that. No, there are NO Tar heels basketball fans here...it just happens to be the color of our house when we bought it! Lucky us!

So...here we are 2 1/2 yrs later and our house is still the same color...but for many good reasons ;) We still have a lot of construction on the outside to finish before we...whomp whomp..paint the whole darn thing!! Patience is a virtue...yada yada yada ;) {Yes...this is my insert bad memories of painting our entire last house while 7 mo. pregnant memory...that may or may not play a part in my stalling} But! until we take the plunge... I was 'elated' {understatement of the year!!} to take on the task of "transforming" our pump house. Well, practically giving it a FULL makeover.

You see this tiny little house is what I stare out the kitchen window and see "every single day". At least our house is not something I visibly see until I am standing back, or driving home...{or riding my bike five miles away ...I think our house might even glow in the dark} but the obnoxious electric baby blue was also the color of our pump house in the front yard...and yes, unfortunately it was always in view. Pump houses...have you googled them recently? In my opinion they are these obnoxious little houses that have to fit the holding tank and pump supplies for the well and yet sit right in your front yard taking up space, and well it's hard to like looking at them all day...let alone if it's a 'bold' and ugly color. Well that is what we were contending with...that is until I changed the view.

Dum...da da dummmm..... Pump House Progression:

The "BEFORE" pic

Some serious iron + a leaky spigot =  bad news!

And scraping off the pealing 'old' paint was the worst!

Somehow they 'know' a power tool from a very early age ;)

All trimmed out..it's now taking shape {a little}

I may or may not have had help priming {the best way to let kids think they are painting by the way!!}

Definitely a little bit more to manage once the color was on the building :) But they had fun!

WOW!!! It's looking soooo great! We're almost there....

Except for the roof...

After some serious demo...and several DIY videos....it's time to roll out the felt please!

Adding the new sleek black drip edge (I could stare at that view out my kitchen window all day!)

Felt is on...drip edge in place...it's time to start the shingling :)

WALA! The "AFTER" pic

BEFORE

AFTER

Of course...I couldn't just simply paint the ugly little house...I had to make my hubby find a good use for his table saw and trim it out with some cedar, then I tackled the priming and painting, we added some (cheap $3) new hardware..and a hook to hang a planter or bird feeder, replaced the leaky spigot, and finally this week Luke finished re-roofing it (yes...we think it was the original '60's roof job we saw curling up on top)...and bam...we are in now business with what looks like a brand new pump house!

I am starting to enjoy looking outside the kitchen window again.

We chose the color Behr's Mined Coal. We thought we'd test it and see if we liked it enough to paint the entire house the same color...if not, maybe we'd accessorize with it, and chose something to compliment for the house color. All said and done, I LOVE my new pump house look, and with some bold teal flower pots or benches {I'm almost there with those!} parked in front it will look lovely...but I did agree that the house...being much bigger in size...might appear too dark if it was painted the very same color - so for now, we're thinking of painting the house a shade or two lighter but in the same color scheme...and are even tossing around the idea of going with Behr's Dusty Olive. I like the swatch I have taped up to the outside of the house :)

Thoughts? What color is the outside of your house? And do you like it, or .... ;) hate it? Or, if you could, what would you do differently? It's ok to answer that one truthfully.

For now...I am enjoying the view...and excited fall is coming soon, because then I can blame not painting the house on the weather!