The mint-green vinyl siding that our house has been sporting for the last 20 to 30 years is officially gone, and now we can finally see what’s been hiding under there all this time.
Here’s the vinyl siding, which was a little bit hard on the eyes.
And here’s the original wood, which is in need of lots of work…
Actually it’s in pretty good condition underneath all that dirt and chipping paint. There are a couple of rotten spots that need replacing (like that nasty one over the door that has a nest in it), but the guy who is going to repair it said that it shouldn’t be hard to fix. It took us forever to find someone who works with historic hardwood siding, but we finally found a really nice guy who actually shows up when he says he will.
Here are some more shots of the “new” siding.
Now I have to decide if I can do all of the prep and painting or if it’s worth my sanity to pay someone to do it. I wish I wasn’t such a saver, but of course it’s tempting to paint the house myself and use the extra money on the kitchen. It seems so easy when I look at it… just a little scraping and a couple of coats of paint. I’m sure I won’t be saying that when I’m 30 feet in the air in the freezing wind in January still trying to finish scraping the last chips of paint.
A Date with Design 
Wow, that looks like alot of work. Can I ask why you removed the vinyl instead of painting it? We have vinyl siding (and trim) all over our house – it’s ugly yellow, and faded reddish brown on the trim. Our plan was to paint the trim this spring… but, well, that never quite happenned. lol Anyways, I was wondering why you guys didn’t decide to paint the vinyl – do you know something about painting vinyl that we don’t? :)
~Chelsea
Hey Chelsea, We had to remove the vinyl because it was dented and bent in the hail storm this summer. The problem is only part of it was really badly dented, but our neighborhood is zoned historic so if you take something non-historic off they make you go back to the original look. It’s really a pain… As far as I know, there’s nothing wrong with painting vinyl. :) In fact the vinly that was up on our house was painted that green color, and the paint lasted a long time. I totally know how it goes with project procrastination. That’s why I’m leaning toward hiring someone for this job!
– Anne
Ohh, well that makes sense. :) It does sound like a pain to keep with the historic looks, but I bet it makes for a gorgeous neighborhood!
~Chelsea
Yay! Anne is back to blogging. I know it’s been a rough time with Jimmee’s arm in a sling and your finger hanging by a thread. You poor guys! Given your luck I don’t think you need to climb to the roof in the possible snow and ice and take on the painting as DIY project, Anne. :) Leave it to the pro and spend that time putting IKEA stuff together. We have had TONS of IKEA trips this year and Whew! It takes quite some time, as you know, to put everything together. But in the end it’s worth it. I’m so happy to see you’re blogging again and the house progress is under way. Imagine what it will look like when I get back to OKC to visit?! Hugs from Germany! xoxo
Thanks Savannah! Things have been crazy lately, but I’m so ready to get the exterior and the kitchen done. I feel like it’s been hanging over our head since we moved in. I’m delegating the job of putting together the IKEA stuff to Jimmee. He actually likes it, if you can believe that. :) Hope you guys are doing well!!
That’s so funny you say that. That’s how we do IKEA building over here. I look at the booklet and hand Christian all of the right tools and trinkets, line things up for him and instruct him where to put the things. Sometimes he’s got to review my dictating since more than once I’ve failed. haha SO excited to see the latest from you on your blog. Makes me feel like I’m just a door away from ya. :) Hugs and miss you!! xoxo