This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small financial compensation if you make a purchase using this link. Thank you for supporting Real Girl's Realm!
We have not painted an area this large before, so we did quite a bit of research online before we started. My friends at HomeRight sent us the Power-Flo Pro 2800 airless sprayer to help make the process a little easier and if you stick around to the end, you will have a chance to enter to win one!
Prepping Your House for Painting:
- Decide on a paint color. Buy several sample sizes of the paint you are considering and paint swatches in several spots on your house. The paint looks different depending on the lighting and when it is close to other colors. The original shade of gray I was leaning toward looked great by itself, but when I painted it next to the navy shutters, it had too much of a blue hue. Another lighter gray looked almost white next to the white window trim. It may take a few swatches to find the perfect shade.
- Cut back bushes and trees from the house. We keep the bushes trimmed, but they were in need of a good thinning out, so we cut them way back in order to get to the side of the house.
- Clean the exterior using a House and Siding cleaner for a pressure washer. We used this one by Zep, but they also make ones that you can use with your garden hose if you do not have a pressure washer.
- Scrape any loose and flaking paint off the house and window trim and sand if needed to have a smooth surface.
- Replace any rotten wood. The piece of wood trim on the end of the carport was badly damaged from the weather, so we opted to replace it.
- Remove cracked caulk from the windows, using a scraper tool and re-caulk if needed.
- Cover areas that you do not want to paint, such as the windows, doors, and soffits. We used the ScotchBlue Pre-taped painter's plastic to save time and effort.
- Cover the floor/ground with a drop cloth or tarp to contain the paint spills.
Honestly, I think all the prep work was harder than the actual painting of the house and trim. Now let's get on to the fun part...the painting!
Painting Your House:
I am not going to give you a tutorial on how to use the sprayer, because we actually learned from several videos on the HomeRight blog like this one from H20 Bungalow, so I highly recommend checking this one out! She does a much better job of walking you through the process than I could!
Touch up any areas that were missed along with the trim, using a brush. In addition to the window and door trim, we had vinyl siding above the porch. Since it required an extension ladder to reach, we opted to not use the sprayer. Instead, I rolled the paint onto the panels, then my hubby went back over with a large paintbrush to get in all the grooves.
We used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior Paint Plus Primer in Satin. It covered so well, that we ended up on doing one coat, which was good since we used most of the 5-gallon bucket!
Make sure to remove the painters tape before the paint is completely dry to avoid any sticking.
It is so nice to drive up to our house and see wood and vinyl siding that matches!
 |
| Before |
 |
| After |
PIN For Later!
Disclosure: The product in the post was provided to me by HomeRight, but all thoughts are 100% my own.
You really take on some projects that I would be intimidated by! You rock! Your home looks great!
ReplyDeleteCarrie
curlycraftymom.com
We have been putting this one off for a couple of years because it was such a big project, but overall, it was not too bad and ow we should not have to do it again for several years!
DeleteOur home is brick so fortunately that withstands weathering. However, our faschia, soffits, and eaves need paint every seven to ten years.
ReplyDeleteI would use this for painting the inside of two houses! My mom is moving into a new house and the walls need to be completely repainted. Also after she moves put of her old house Ill be repainting the rooms for her before she sells. This would be a sanity and time saver for me!
ReplyDeleteThat is a huge job! Good luck!
DeleteWe are going to paint the inside of our house so this would make it so much easier and nicer. We are also looking at painting the outside shed again and our porch. So this would come in very handy.
ReplyDeleteThis would be perfect!
DeleteI just had a garage built and this would be perfect to paint it.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to paint our walls with it.
ReplyDeleteWe have repainted most of the rooms in our home but still have a bathroom, our bedroom and our sons room. I would love to have this sprayer, it would go so much quicker than the other rooms.
ReplyDeleteIt would make it go faster! Good luck!
DeleteI have to do window trim on this 160 year old home I bought and enjoyed getting your tips. I have lots of wood that will need to be replaced and I will follow your suggestions with getting samples to try for color.
ReplyDeleteThanks and good luck!
DeleteI would use this paint sprayer on my Adirondack chairs.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a great idea! I will have to use it when I repaint mine!
DeleteMy house needs to be painted but I don't want to pay someone to do it and it would be a ridiculously hard job without a sprayer.
ReplyDeleteI would use the sprayer for my kitchen! It's in desperate need of a paint job. It still it just the sheet rock.
ReplyDeleteI would use this to paint our basement.
ReplyDeleteOur whole house needs a new paint job. It was built in 1920 and hasnt been painted since! We just bought it and we are in dire need to paint it!
ReplyDeleteWe are looking at buying a house so of course we will need this :)! Thanks for the chance what a cool giveaway! BTW love the new paint colors on your house!
ReplyDeleteThank you and good luck!
DeleteMy garage
ReplyDeleteI'd love to use this in the spring to paint our deck! And in the meantime, try it out in our basement game room!
ReplyDeleteI would love this to paint our deck!!
ReplyDeletekdraebellamy@yahoo.com
I would so use this to paint my family room! greaseballs80 at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteWe are re-doing an older home, so lots and lots of projects large and small. The first thing that comes to might for this awesome sprayer is painting our basement--we don't plan to do a complete "finished" space, but want to make a great working pantry and work space for refinishing furniture.
ReplyDeleteMary Beth Elderton
**comes to mind
DeleteI would use it to paint the outside walls of our back patio which have not been painted in almost 24 years.
ReplyDeleteI will use it to paint my barn
ReplyDeleteI need to have my garage painted! It's really starting to look worse and worse!
ReplyDeleteMy husband needs to do some touch up painting to our house, and this would make it so much easier!
ReplyDeleteI would love to use it in our garage.
ReplyDeleteI would use it to repaint our kitchen cabinets and to spray all our door with!
ReplyDeleteI would give it to my son for Christmas. He would use it to make extra money.
ReplyDeleteI would love to paint my front porch and back deck. Just hate to think about all that painting! This would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteI would use this paint sprayer to paint the house.
ReplyDeleteI want to update our oak kitchen cabinets with a light gray color paint.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kim
kimberlybreid at hotmail dot com
my 12 year old and I do a lot of various crafts with pallets. This would be amazing to have to speed those projects up.
ReplyDeleteI would use it to paint our barn.
ReplyDeletePaint the porches and garage doors.
ReplyDeleteI paint everything! My next project is my front door. Red, Cobalt blue or black. (jozywails@gmail.com)
ReplyDeleteI want to paint my bathrooms and my barn storage building
ReplyDeleteMy fiance' is a painter and my master bath has been in shambles for 8 months. I want to do it myself!
ReplyDeleteI would use the sprayer on our deck.
ReplyDeleteI would practice on our shed first. Great practice project! Then I'd go for the porch.
ReplyDeleteI would use it for my bedroom and kitchen.
ReplyDeleteMy husband would paint our storage building and all the wood trim on our house.
ReplyDeletewe have been here for 23 years and we really need a updated paint job so the house and shed and pump house would all get it.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like such an awesome product. I would use it on the front of my home. My Nana passed away last year and left her home to me. I am busy trying to renovate/ remodel certain projects at a time. This would certainly help with the outside paint! starla.batesATyahoo.com
ReplyDeletethe front porch need to be re done and the rim around the house and then the land lord wnat to pint in the house i told them you move furnture you can pain
ReplyDeleteI would use this to redo our deck! Thanks for the chance!!
ReplyDeleteI would use it first to paint the garage. We've lived here for years and it still just has the white spots covering the nails.
ReplyDeleteMy bedroom, would love to win, thank you
ReplyDeleteWe need this for a few projects! Main one is repainting the fence!
ReplyDeleteWe are buying a house and I will be doing lots of projects that need painting including the house I want to change the color. This would be awesome!!
ReplyDelete