ROLLING UP MY SLEEVES

Our porches, when we moved in, were painted one of the most hideous shades of red's I've ever seen. I love red, but not when it looks like the color of the primer that my dad would prime the wrecker dollies with when I was a teen. The porches were drab, faded, and rusty-looking (if wood can look rusty), with peeling paint all over, splinters coming off in the kids' feet, boards coming loose, missing railings, etc. They were embarrassing. I hated that rust-red paint chips were constantly being tracked into the house. I wanted to repair and paint them, but about a hundred other projects were screaming for my attention first, and it was already snowy when we moved in, so there wasn't much to be done until summer anyway.

When summer came, so did a verbal notice from the management informing us that our porches were unsightly (as if I didn't already know that) and that they needed to be repaired. It was just my luck that Hyrum was driving semi at the time and wouldn't be around to help me repair and paint (not that he'd find any pleasure in the project anyway, right?), and the deadline for completion was near, so I was the lucky one who got to tackle it head-on. Yeah for me!

So the sanding was awful, horrible, miserable drudgery, but luckily, Dallas and Weston came to visit came before I had finished sanding, so Weston sanded the floor boards (after my feeble attempt didn't result in much difference), and Dallas did a bit for me too.

I painted the porch the color of the trim that I love on the house in Coos Bay, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to paint the rest of our home the rest of the colors.

So, now it's time to see the before and after pictures.

Whole porch before:

During sanding:

After:

Peeling railing before:

After:

In front of door before:

After:

Steps before:

After:

Floor before (but after my sanding and before Weston's sanding):

After:

Heading up the steps before (my porch was a catch-all for junk...just keeping it WT, baby):

During sanding:

After (I wonder how long I can keep it uncluttered):

Maybe you didn't believe me about the junk. Here's closer proof (and a view of how badly the porch was chipped and peeling before any sanding):

 So much better!:

The back porch wasn't quite as bad as the front, but it did need a lot more repairs. My elderly neighbor kept me company while I painted this one.
Back porch before:

After (not landscaped yet, but I did re-set the patio stones at the bottom):