Over the weekend I started painting more of the brick. This time it was on the side we will see each day as we drive into our carport.
Here it is after my painting on it for a few days.
Can you tell any difference? Please tell me you can! Do I need to do more to get rid of more of the white brick?
I have to talk about the brick for a minute now. I have been pondering it and even went so far as to buy small samples of paint at Home Depot. Did I mention that in a previous post? You can buy 8 oz. samples of paint to try it out before you invest in a gallon. Hooray! What a brilliant idea. So, I took some bricks up to the paint department and talked to Les, who turned out to be a nearby neighbor! We talked about my hatred of the amount of white brick and discussed some options.
Actually, I think all the brick has overwhelmed me. Originally, I thought we’d paint the house. Never thought for a moment we’d keep it since it had all this white on it. But, we really love the “old mill brick” kind of look. Just too much white. I suspect the original owners went back at some point and added white to some places.
There are actually six different types of brick on this house:
We saved the brick from the fireplace inside to use when we build the front porch and new chimney so those new items will look similar to the front. Green thoughts indeed!
Did I mention that I am not afraid of paint? I painted a first coat on some of the more offensive white bricks on the covered patio area. Can you see the pieces of little blue tape? I am hopeful that when I am done, you will need them to tell which bricks I painted!
For obvious reasons, I ended up going back to do a second pass at it. Much more to my liking! Showed it to Jeff, and he said it looked fine! Now, I just need a day with a bit of time when I can attack the front, entry and side!
I do like a bit of white on my brick. In fact, as I was driving through Charlotte yesterday I saw the perfect example of this! I wish I’d snapped a picture! What I liked about it was that there was some white brick and that the white trim really set it off nicely. On our home, there is too much white and too much white siding.
Today was the big day! I got started painting it. I must admit I am a bit nervous about how it will turn out. I mean, brick is so permanent! Of course, it was painted white in places before, so I guess I am just “enhancing” what was previously in place. I stopped before I got too crazy with it figuring that “less is best” since I can always add more brick color paint after looking at it with fresh eyes. Of course, now that I see these pictures side by side, I think it still has too much white!!! What do you think?
Before (Above) & After (Below):
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We went over early this Sunday morning and finished up a project that has been bugging me…the side garden.
After my visit with the Master Gardeners, I knew I needed to get the plastic down to keep the weeds away.
Ben went with me and helped lug the bricks over to weigh down the black garbage bags. Whew! I was glad he was there.
The bricks are the ones that were inside my chimney, but are now outside!
We have been taking our dog, Lucy, over periodically to let her sniff around and get used to her new backyard. I don’t think she’s discovered Mr. Rabbit or Chippy, the chipmunk, yet.
I know you are still wondering about my painting the brick, right? Well, I need to take a couple of pictures of the test I did and run it by my husband before I go crazy, but it is looking good!
Yesterday I thought it was exciting that the hearth and chimney were out.
Then I stopped by this morning and saw that the fireplaces were all gone.
We are exploring the option of using a steel beam to go across the span. That way we won’t have to have a support column in the middle of the room. Wouldn’t that be nice? It would make placing furniture so much easier and give us more options.
My mom recently added a screened porch to her home and they used an innovative approach to the problem that didn’t require the column and she’s sending me the plans to share with my builder and engineer to see if they’ll work. I can’t wait to hear if this will work on our situation.
Here is another cool picture of the rear yard view
Also stopped by the Mecklenburg County Extension office and met with two master gardners! It was my lucky day! Two were there and we discussed the side garden in depth. I was so worried about what to do with the nice naked dirt and they confirmed I should be putting some black plastic on top of it to keep weeds from growing…..immediately! So, off I ran to buy black plastic garbage bags (which my sister recommended a week ago!) and paint for the brick.
I also found that I can send my dirt samples in and have them analyzed for FREE! I fill out a form telling the lab what I want to grow and they will tell me what my PH level is and all those important gardenly details like how to make it be in the right range for what I want to grow. It was a super easy form to complete. You can do it for your lawn also, so I will find out what it needs. Wonder how long it takes to find out?
They had a LOVELY garden in front of the office. Drat, why didn’ t I snap a picture? I will be going back soon and will be sure to remember. They also have a hotline that you can call and leave a message with any kind of gardening question. The volunteers research and will get back with you. Hooray, I am so happy about having professional gardener access!
Did I tell you I don’t like the white brick on the house? Well, that is a story for tomorrow I guess. I have to tell you that I am not afraid of paint! Just wait until you see what I am doing next!
87 days to go.
I dropped by to see how things were progressing and work on the yard renovation project, and was amazed at the progress!
They have removed the wall down the center and the entire ceiling for the vaulted area. You can see the temporary supports that have been added in the middle of the picture below. Also, the top of the brick fireplace shows where the ceiling formerly was.
Ben in front of the wall as it is being opened up. You can see how high the new fireplace will go! See the light in the attic? That post in front goes from the floor to the top of the fireplace.
Here you can see what the fireplace looked like above the ceiling line with the two systems running up the chimney.
Before I left, Mike had gotten started on the fireplace removal using a way cool tool that looked like a mini-jack hammer. It was amazing how quickly he was able to remove the bricks. Another person was cleaning them off, then stacking them outside to use in a later project. Another GREEN thing.
There will be more pictures tomorrow that will be simply shocking! I didn’t take any right before I left, but I did get a sneak preview of how it is going to look.
Renovation Projects 