Siding and Paint: Before, During and After

So in case you missed it, the siding on our house is weird. Diagonal siding...popular in the 70's/80's, and should have stayed there/been banned. Neal and I felt like it was the #1 factor in making the house look out-dated. "Cute" is not a word you would use to describe it (unless it was 1979). Just so you don't miss it, here is a visual reminder:

Mmmmmm, yes, such a rare specimen of '80s goodness or badness, depending how you look at it. Poor house. Needs a facelift. So we gave it one:

 This is the "belly band". Also, notice the two new windows replacing the "trapezoidal" (read: embarrassing) one. Actually, those aren't the finished windows. Stay tuned for the picture windows, not sliders.

 In process

 Literally, he's unstoppable. It was pouring, he had worked all day, he won't stop. 

 We decided "board and batten" would give some good texture and depth and break up some of the big walls.

 The last of the sad vertical siding about to be covered up.

The siding is finished. The "yellow" is the primer that protects the siding in case you're a normal person and wait a bit to paint. That word doesn't exist in his vocabulary. Neal was a bit appalled that I bought 7 tester paints. I reminded him of all the times he'd had to repaint certain rooms a number of times in our old house thanks to my lack of paint-picking skills. We narrowed it down, and down, tested a few more, and landed...

Right here: 

 Notice the sliding windows got replaced with picture windows. Less visually distracting.

 That thing to the left of the garage is the beginning of a little fence that will hide the garbage cans.

This color is warm, calming, comforting. The paint is Sherwin Williams "Gauntlet Grey" (darker), "Mindful Grey" (lighter), and Shoji White as the trim. We're both really happy with it. Again, I'm amazed with Neal's ability and his drive. He started siding a week ago. I'm thrilled with the transformation.