why i have paint in my hair......

so many people at church today said "do you know you have paint in your hair?" 
ha ha ha!!!

i'm so thankful that God has given me this home.  i love sharing it with friends, whether at stamp camp or get togethers like this past friday night.  i love having friends around my dining room table sharing & laughing!  i've lived in this house for almost 21 years & it was way past time to paint!!!!!  there was also a LOT of hard water deposits on the brick that NOTHING would take off.  the beginning of summer is usually too rainy, the summer is always too hot.....fall is the best time to paint.  a couple years ago we had a hurricane so i couldn't do it then & i just don't know why i didn't do it last year!!!!  but it's getting done now!!!!  here are some before & after pictures........

the front window---the "before" is on the left, the "after" on the right

and here it is completely done!

(the brick does have some white paint splotches on it naturally because it looks like old, re-used brick.)

a couple shots of the gutters -- you can tell which is the before & which is the after!!!!!!!

my pretty antique white  trim, soffit  & gutters---(well, if it were sherwin williams paint it would be antique white----this is "cooper melon" from lowes which is an EXACT match and about $30 cheaper per gallon!!!!!!!!)  it's lowes' highest quality paint & i highly recommend it.  it's got great one coat coverage.  i didn't paint the garage doors because they're just a couple years old & are in perfect condition.

this is the discolored brick-----

- 21 years of hard water deposits from watering the yard.  nothing would take this off...i tried clr, bleach, powerwashing, several other things.  it looks disgusting!!!!  (and the homeowner's association doesn't like it!!!!!)

well, after i was done staining the bench, i looked at the rag i was using & got a bright idea!!  i had seen on HGTV where they took several colors of paint & fixed this problem--that seemed like a lot of work though!  i rubbed the stain filled rag on an inconspicuous area of brick & it worked perfect!!!!  so i proceeded to stain the entire front & one side of the house!!!!!!  it turned out perfect!!!!  i just rubbed & rubbed until the rag was too dry, put a little more stain on the rag & rubbed each brick .........here are pictures of the "in progress"......  what a difference!!!!!

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and here's the finished product!!!!!   the first thing i did this morning when i woke up was go outside & see if it still looked good----it did!!!!  it looks like a brand new house!!!! 

isn't this fantastic?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!

i'm so excited!!!!  i just want to stand in the front yard & look at the house!!!!

today after church i finished the one side & got 2/3 of the back side done.  it was so sunny & hot & there was no breeze or shade where i was working.  i was hot & tired & was starting to get sloppy & drip lots of paint so i quit for the day. 

the nice thing is....................the next time this house needs painting,

someone else can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!