Exterior Decorating - Hampshire 08.25

As soon as I entered discussions about this job near the New Forest, I had to snap it up. Being the country bumpkin that I am, it was a dream to be able to spend some time in the countryside and decorate this beautiful cottage.

It also came at a perfect time as the weather was dry and sunny all week - rain and paint don't mix well! To make the most of the weather, I also spent a couple of days gardening, which you can find in this post.

As for decorating, the main task was to paint the front elevation of the cottage as it had accumulated lots of dust and dirt from the adjacent road. This was especially visible at the bottom of the property, where the dirt had settled to give an ombre effect.

I was only tasked with painting the white brickwork - apparently the client's usual decorator had advised not to repaint the wood yet to maintain its breathability. I wasn't going to argue with this, I've never painted a property like this before and the wood was in fairly good nick still. I did give it a light wipe though to remove dirt and cobwebs.

Here is a before & after of the whole property. The photos don't show a very dramatic difference and sadly that glare in the second photo is doing me no favours. However, I can promise that when the morning sun hits that fresh paint, it fucking glows. I'm glad I brought my sunnies with me!

That's what I thought was the whole property at least... After painting the bottom two rows, I proudly summoned the owner to show him my progress. He was very pleased, but then smugly told me that his part of the property goes past the downpipe and all the way to the neighbour's door. I then jumped for joy as it meant I got to spend another hour of my life painting!

Another task was to repaint a picket fence at the back of the property. As you can see from the before photos, it had been a good few years since it was last painted. As the fence had accumulated lots of cobwebs and moss, I gave it a wipe over and gentle sand to prepare it.

Here you can really see how well the moss cleaned up after painting. I realise as I'm typing this that I've actually taken pictures of two different fence posts, but hopefully you get the idea.

I try not to get too attached to any outdoor decorating work I do, as it's only a matter of time before something shits on it. Also I love how my phone camera went full on portrait mode on this shot, it knew exactly what it was doing.

Finally, I stained these sleepers in the rear garden with CreoSolve to give them a bit of colour and protect them from the elements.

The stairway to heaven (a BBQ).

I was really pleased with the final result, it definitely makes the flowers and pots pop out much more. I'd love to do more outdoor decorating jobs like this although that's looking unlikely this year as I watch the heavens open outside my window.