The Painted Hive

You know how on home renovation shows they can completely transform an entire house in just five days?

Yeah, well, this in’t a home renovation show. Clearly.

We’ve been grinding away at just the facade for over a month now and the finishing line is finally coming into view!

I know it’s not the fast-paced, instantly-gratifying kinda makeover most consumers seem to crave, though I hope it offers some real-life perspective, and possibly even inspiration, to those of you who also can’t commit long uninterrupted days and a massive team of people to your own home renos.

Last week my $14 DIY gable pediment went up.

It’s simply attached directly to the brick with some right angle brackets and masonry anchors.

At the moment it’s lightly stained and oiled, and I love the rustic warmth it brings, though I’ve been contemplating painting it black. It’s currently the only natural timber element at the front of the house, and whilst I like the fact that makes it a real feature, I’m just a bit concerned that in the end it might look a little lonely. I’ll wait until everything else is in place before I decide whether or not to change it though at this stage I think it will probably stay as is.

On a different note, the above pic shows the cool texture effect of the specialty Dulux paint we used really well.

I have also hung the shutters.

Now, I know some people loathe decorative shutters (especially those – like mine – which are clearly too small to give any impression that they may actually function), though I personally don’t mind them. To me they’re just like any other decorative element which is designed to do little more than look a certain way. I just wanted to add a bit of charm, interest and colour and they do that perfectly. If they bother you maybe pretend they’re the fancy kind which fold. Or just loathe them in secret.

You might recall that I planned on painting them a soft duck-egg colour so it kinda makes sense that I landed on Dulux Weathershield Semi-Gloss in ‘Duck Egg Blue’. Go figure.

It’s a gorgeous soft blue-green which just may be my most favourite exterior accent colour ever.

The dark indigo front door got the same splash of colour.

Although indigo can be lovely it was just a tad too dark and uninviting given the recessed entryway.

The duck-egg helps brighten everything up and now you can actually see the front door from the street – which is a nice novelty. LOL!

To add a touch of charm I dressed it up with these sweet nickel numbers.

In addition we’ve started painting the concrete block retaining walls.

In the below pic the yellow is the original colour, the stone-grey is the new colour.

I was tossing up between black for drama, white for continuity and stone-grey for subtle contrast – obviously, stone-grey won out and I love how simple it is. The colour is Linseed by Dulux and I used Weathershield Masonry Matt which is fantastic to paint with!

Unfortunately I don’t have a great before shot which shows all of the walls though they are pretty extensive. For this reason we were originally going to leave them. They look like quite a neutral sandstone colour in the below pic though are definitely more of a mustard yellow in reality.

Although the colour could be worse, it had little relationship with the new scheme so I decided to try painting just the small wall around the front of the house (you can see it – after one coat of paint – on the left in the above pic).

Even though I only intended on painting that one wall, it was such a surprisingly quick and easy job that I figured I’d just keep going! After painting around half of all the retaining walls I finally ran out of paint so will finish things off next time.

There’s been some progress in the garden too. A few new plants have gone in including Viburnum, Westringia and Pittosporum.

Given we’re just coming out of a long, hot, dry summer and don’t have the budget for lots of large established plants the garden is proving a bit of a challenge. Still, we’re up to the task and will do our best to make it look as nice, neat and fresh as possible.

For me though, the most exciting aspect of our progression so far is the purchase of a few decor pieces!

From the start I envisioned one of these box lights in the entry and I couldn’t love it more (still need to add a pretty bulb).

Makes such a nice change from the plastic “eyeball” light which was originally in place.

And I’ve also been playing around with some modern pots and a geometric door mat.

Deciding on plants for the pots has been tricky – in a good way!

My initial idea was for pretty cottage style shrubbery with white blooms, then I thought maybe something more rustic like a little olive tree and some rosemary would be nice, now I’m leaning toward lush statement greenery like a bird of paradise and blousy fern. Any preferences?

Anyhoo, that’s where things currently stand. It’s soooo close!

I’ll be back as soon as I can to share further details, hopefully including the barn style garage door!

Thanks so much for following along.

Catch up on all of my previous posts about the flip house HERE.

I must admit, from the start it’s been the ‘street appeal’ transformation which has had me most excited about this house. I haven’t had the chance to work on many (any!) full facades so it’s something I’ve always been super keen to tackle.

Whilst the original state of things was clearly far from spectacular, I think the classic style and basic bones offered so much potential.

Of course, there are lots of different ways we could have gone with this however to me the general design lends itself to ‘cottage’ so we’re going to try and inject some modern country charm. Not only will this help distinguish the house from most of the other (numerous!) nearby properties on the market, though it should also impart a homey welcoming vibe and work with the semi-rural location (oh, and my personal love of contemporary cottage may or may not have influenced things slightly!).

Obviously we’re on a tight budget so for the most part I’ll be looking for easy and affordable ways to update existing elements and layer character on top.

PAINT

It goes without saying that one of the best ways to transform a house is with paint.

Now, some of you might like to look away because I know not everyone will like this however…the brick is now painted!

Although the original brick wasn’t completely hideous (bear in mind it does look much better in the photos than in reality though), when teamed with the ashy roof and black trim the whole scheme simply came across as dated and lackluster. There was just no zing!

I wanted to create more contrast and after playing around with a few options eventually decided on white.

When choosing the white I wasn’t sure whether or not we would be painting the existing cream fascia and eaves, and also needed to account for the nearby yellow-toned boundary fences and retaining walls (which we probably won’t be painting) so settled on a warm white which would harmonise well. Dulux ‘Antique White USA’ is a rather creamy white which actually presents as quite crisp outdoors yet still has a hint of softness.

Rather than use regular paint, I decided to try something different.

Dulux Texture Medium Cover is a thick and flexible acrylic paint which provides the rustic look of bagged brick. It’s similar to render though as it allows the brick structure to show through it offers more character – which I personally love.

I’d never used anything like it before and absolutely adore it! You cut in with a brush first, just like regular paint, then apply straight from the bucket using a mitt. It’s a little bit messy though actually fun! Of course it was kinda tricky for me to document the painting process whilst decked out in my stylish painting glove, however if you’d like more information we basically followed the manufacturer instructions and this video tutorial.

Once the brick was painted we decided the cream fascia and eaves were letting the new fresh feel down so painted them to match using Dulux Weathershied in Low Sheen.

Our black and white scheme is now crisp and simple and ready for a soft colour pop (more on that below).

GARAGE DOOR

Unfortunately there’s nothing much we can do to salvage the existing dented cream roller door so have decided to replace it.

This is one of our biggest ticket items of the entire flip. The garage accounts for almost half of the entire facade so I figure making it look great will be money well spent.

I’ve been to-ing and fro-ing over colour options though think I’ve finally landed on matte black to break up the white and bring in the other black accents. Ideally I’d love a carriage style door though I’m sure you can imagine that they can be pricey.

This is just a rough inspo idea.

So I’ve been looking into some DIY options and affordable alternatives and am excited to see what’s possible. Can’t wait to share what we end up doing!

ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS

As mentioned above, something I’m exited about bringing to this house is a sense of charm.

There’s not a huge amount of scope for adding decorative elements, and I certainly don’t want to go over the top, though two areas I’ve identified which could do with some zhoozhing are the feature gable and the window wall.

For the gable I’m planning on adding a timber accent pediment. I’ve actually already built it (from a $14 length of treated pine) and am hoping the rustic wood will warm up the white and impart some earthy texture.

I had visions of creating something more decorative though decided that was a bit beyond me (and my tools!) so stuck with nice simple lines. Because I built it at home I made it slightly larger than required so I can easily cut it down to fit when I’m next at the flip house.

The large window on the right will be flanked by decorative shutters. Again, I’ve already built them (from $40 worth of cypress pickets) and plan to finish them in a soft duck-egg blue.

The front door, which is currently dark indigo and comes across a bit like an unwelcoming black hole due to its recessed position, will probably be painted the same duck-egg colour to provide some continuity and brighten things up.

Although black and white alone can be stunning, given the house is quite simple architecturally I want to add one feature colour to provide a bit of interest, liveliness and pop.

GARDEN

When I first saw and photographed the property it was late spring and the garden, although overgrown and weedy, was quite green, lush and pretty.

Then summer hit – and it’s been a long, hot, dry summer. With no-one living in the home to care for the plants many struggled and several died. We’ve had to remove a lot and drastically cut back others so right now things are looking rather brown, withered and barren.

We’re going to try and retain as many established plants as possible then fill the key areas and sparse patches with a simple mix of shrubs. Not certain at this stage though given the house is north facing we’re thinking tough varieties like Westringia and Dietes. We’ll see.

STYLING

At this point of the flip adding the finishing touches, such as lighting, pots, decor and furniture, is still a bit of a distant dream though I can’t help but look forward because they are the elements which will bring everything together – plus, to me, it’s the funnest bit! I have visions of matte black lighting, pretty pots and lush greenery, and natural materials such as wicker, among other things.

DOOR MAT | OUTDOOR SCONCE | WICKER BENCH | BANANA PALM | GLAZED POT

This is just a rough mood board I put together. Like I said, we’re not quite ready for this yet though I can’t wait!

If reading all this has made you think I must be super self-assured and confident, let me tell you that I’ve actually been doubting and questioning myself the whole way! Like I mentioned, this is my first time working on a facade and, just like anyone doing anything new, I’m simply learning as I go. At this stage all I can do is cross my fingers and toes and hope that, just like with my interior makeovers, things all come together in the end!

Thanks so much for following along.

You can catch up on Part One of the house flip HERE.