house tour: front verandah

I've shown bits and pieces of our house, but thought I would do a little series of house tour posts. Our photos are currently stuck on our wet computer while we sort out what to do-is it worth fixing it? Get a new one? See if we can buy parts on ebay and get a non apple company to fix it for cheaper… Decisions, decisions.

First up is the front verandah in its entirety.

Since we've been here we've painted the railings white, painted the french door white, sanded and oiled the floorboards, and fixed a small but long term and persistent leak in the eaves, and replace the rotted boards (caused by the leak).

Still to do

· recover cushions on the lounge in a white/natural fabric (or maybe navy?)

· replace the hardware on the doors-it's a bit worse for wear in the harsh, salty conditions

· change lights to non rusted out versions

· replace the missing posts from the railing (they are painted and ready to go, we just need to putty up the existing railings)

· get a small table for the lounge area

· repot the magnolias into a nicer pots

· possibly an indoor outdoor rug under the sitting area

· freshen the windows and front door with a new coat of paint (they look a little tired now the doors and railings are bright white

Plus we are looking at painting the whole exterior this year, so the blue will be changing-probably to a grey or grey blue. When we paint we will also get rid of the yellow facia and eaves (and paint the replaced boards). They will be either white or navy.

For most things we will wait until we have painted. Partly to save up for the expensive paint job coming up, and partly so we are decorating for the finished product.

This is one of my favourite places in the house. It gets gorgeous morning sun, and I love having breakfast out here, or reading and having a tea in the morning. It’s also shady and cool in the afternoon, Great for a nap, reading or drinks with friends.

What do you think?

it's alwhite: part 2

The french doors are done (well one of the five sets of french doors), but we've also had the white paint out on the front verandah railings. It has to be the most frustrating of painting jobs, fiddly, time consuming and boring, but now it is done I love it, and kind of want to start on the other verandahs too!

Don't mind the few missing posts-they wont be missing for much longer

I love gardinias-I will be so sad when ours finishes flowering-one of my
favourite smells

A few befores to remind you of the creamy, pinky yellow that is no longer

Painting on the other railings won't be happening for the next few weeks though due to a crazy end of year coming up at work (reports, finishing up and moving classrooms) and a few things on over the weekends.

Do you hate railings? Any tips to make it less painful?

it's alwhite: part 1

I've said it before, and I'll say it again-It's amazing what white paint can do. I was a bit negative on painting last weekend, but every time I've caught a glimpse of the finished product I've felt re-energised-even for the other railings!!

Starting the doors that day ended up being a fairly spur of the moment decision-what do you want to do tomorrow? I might start on the doors, and apart from the sanding dust in the house was fairly pain free. We took them off their hinges, sanded them and the door frame back, taped the glass, 1 coat of primer, 2 coats of white paint and rehanging all in a day. We started pretty early-no daylight savings in Queensland is good for getting started first thing in the morning.

Sunday was touch ups, removing the tape, scraping the glass, and a few more touch ups when needed. Every time I look I find another bit I missed with the razor!

Here are some before to remind you of what it used to look like.

And an after to leave you with. Thanks for all of your opinions when I asked whether we should varnish or paint. They look amazing, and I am so glad we decided to go white. I just needed to make sure other people didn't think I was making a mistake!

The front verandah is certainly not done, but a few hours and a bit of paint over the last few weeks have made such a difference.