House Painting Heroes

I don't remember the first time I picked up a paint brush.....well, it was more likely I was handed a paint brush....and painted an interior room. 

My parents built the house I grew up in (and they still live in) throughout my entire childhood. It was a long slow process. There is a good chance I helped paint it when I was in elementary school, but I definitely remember painting my room a new color when I was in my late teens.

Throughout my adult life I have helped paint other people's dining rooms, front rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. There may have been a bathroom or two thrown in the mix for good measure. There are several offices in Taz that I have painted or helped paint.

There was also the two-summer projects of painting the food stand and shelter in Henry, but that was more work coordinating the crew of teens then it was painting.  

This summer I can officially add exterior house painting to my list of projects completed.

In late July, my siblings, parents, uncle, J, C, and Little J painted my parent's house. Dad and I spent a couple of weekends prepping. Dad bought a new toy...I mean tool... that he wanted to use, a paint sprayer. Since we are not pros, we decided to cover the windows and eaves with plastic. 

We also made a few repairs to the house. We patched up some holes woodpeckers had created, and their birdie friends had used to build nests. At the same time, we knocked down nests that the barn sparrows had built on the window sills. Oh my, this created a little bird war.

Check out the damage....

The house originally needed painted due to fading. After our prep work, it needed painted due to the massive amount of bird poop that was sprayed all over the front of the house. 

It was a big team project. Both mom and I are glad it is checked off the to-do list. It has been on it for a couple of years. 

I took that project and let it snowball into my own house painting project. This past weekend, my sis and her kids helped me paint the lower portion of my house. 

It was time for that yucky brown paint to go. 

My parents' house got done a lot quicker than expected. My house took a lot longer than expected.

Those textured blocks were not fun to paint. 

Did you ever watch the painting show on PBS in the 80s? As I was painting these blocks I kept thinking of the "happy little trees" technique that Bob Vila....no that's not right, Bob Summit? .... ugh, what's his name? Bob Ross!!! I basically painted thousands of happy little trees as I dapped that paint into all of the little dimples and holes. 

It was interesting to listen to J, C, and Little J whine about how hard this painting job was. They said they are never going to buy a house that needs painted. I probably said the same thing at their age. If I had only known what the future held. :)

 PS - I'm done painting for awhile. It is time to get back to refinishing my windows. Bring on the power tools.