Facelift, part 1

So while most of our projects have been focused on the inside of our house, we took this past Saturday to venture outside and tackle one that we hope brightens the house a bit. See our house, as much as we love it, needs a LOT of TLC....especially on the outside. It was a rental home before we got our hands on it and let's just say it's been a bit neglected in terms of aesthetics and all things eye-appealing. Then add that it was built in the late 70's and hasn't been updated much since then- and yah, well you get the idea.

SO what did we do you ask? Well...

we decided that we'd paint our shutters! Right now our exterior consists of two colors- white and brown.... LOTS of brown: the siding, the stucco, the trim, the fascia, and the shutters. But not for long!

In order to get to the fun part of painting we had to do a little prep work- you know, take the shutters off the wall, sweep them off, rid them of all the DISGUSTING spider and caterpillar nests on their backsides, wipe them down with a wet rag, and then finally- paint!

Basically this is what it looked like:

Oh yah- we umm, tried to wait for this couple to finish their biz-nass but moved these stick bugs with a stick so we could continue on in our project. 

Once that was taken care of we unscrewed and took all the shutters down.

We cut open and laid out some cardboard boxes to spray on.

Used very 'official' tools to de-bug all the backs of the shutters. (I'm referring to the obliging stick, not the power tool =P)

 Exhibit A: All the nasty spider and caterpillar nests on the back of the shutters.

 (Ewww eww gross gross... sorry still creeps me out)

(look at them all!)

Once all the critters were off, we swept and wiped off the shutters too.

TA DA! All the prep work was done and it was time to paint!

Tune in soon for the painting and finished product shots! We're still in the process of deciding if we like the paint color enough to continue with spraying or to change the color. =)