Painting The Cottage: Before And After With Video!

Now that I've shared with you all our painting projects, how we chose the color to paint the outside of our house, and our new "family work day" tradition where we got all the trim painted, it's time to end the suspense and share with you the finished product- in both photos and a video at the end of the post.

For a little extra drama, here's a reminder of what our house looked like when we moved in six years ago:

Here it is in all it's ranch-house glory.

And yes, there is a front door in there somewhere. If you'd like, you can read all about the remodeling and how we found the front door.

And this is how our house looked just a few short weeks ago. I think it looks a lot more friendly now that guests are able to see not only the front door, but also all the windows.

And do I love my long front porch? In a word, yesssss.

So, we've done a little work on this baby to morph it from a run-of-the-mill ranch to a farmhousey cottage (farmhousey? Google is telling me that's not a word, but I think I like it!).

However, I think this is the most dramatic change of all:

Ta-Da! (cue music...) And isn't it great that the sun was shining, too?

Do I like it?

YES!!

I LOVE this Behr Paint Moonlit Yellow and how it practically glows.

I wasn't expecting much of a change on the inside, but a side benefit is that the yellow eaves reflect (deflect?) a lot more light in through the windows than the gray- bonus!

And how about the unfinished garage?

I know the neighbors are probably the most excited about this so they can finally quit wondering, "when are they ever going to finish that thing?"

No more wondering.

And Behr Paint's Premium Plus Ultra Paint And Primer In One (whew-that's a mouthful!) had it's work cut out for it- it had to cover the gray as well as all the different primed shades on the garage with the lighter color.

And it performed well: there are just spots here and there to give a second coat to, but we don't have to spray the entire house again, which if you've ever painted light over dark, you know is amazing.

I think the french doors we added really do a lot to help the house be more cottage-like, but the gray was bringing me down.

Well, no more!

I'm telling you, I can't believe just changing the color could make it look like a magazine.

OK, if you ignore the green moss growing on the market umbrella, that is.

Above is the back of the garage in desperate need of paint. And you can see where we tested the colors before picking the final yellow.

Is that cheery to look out on, or what?

Although, now I really do have to decide on a light fixture- our temporary one sure stands out now.

I sure like how the green doors look against the yellow. This green is a custom color I've used inside as well (which was no problem to have matched with Behr Paint- it came out a perfect match) and I like the yellow undertones of it (versus a gray-toned sage) next to the yellow paint.

Doesn't the white trim and green plants just pop against the yellow? My whole goal has been to make the house more welcoming, and I sure like how it's all come together.

What do you think? Would you feel welcomed arriving at this door?

The video below in our painting series is all about the process and the end result. And am I glad that process is finished!

Click here to see this video full size on YouTube.

A big thank you to the folks at Behr Paint for providing the paint for this dramatic change at An Oregon Cottage. They provided the Moonlit Yellow paint in their new Premium Plus Ultra Exterior Paint and Primer In One. And we are totally in love with the results!