Paint the Garage

Anxious to make some forward progress, I thought, "What if I painted the garage?"

If I decide to extend the garage, then some of the new paint will be demolished. That's the downside as I see it. Worst case, we'll end up repainting all of it, but the new light paint will act as primer.

The upside is that I get to feel forward movement, something happening. I remove the gutter, scrub the walls, prime the dark fascia and shiplap, then paint. Maybe $150 in materials. Maybe I reinstall the gutter after painting.

The view from the kitchen sink inspired the project.

It's about 45 SF on this side, 40 above the doors. The doors are 112 SF for both. Total 192 SF, or a half gallon. Maybe I hit the garage doors with something slightly darker. 32 SF of primer on the green.

Maybe I keep going on the west side.

The west side would make a great proof-of-concept for a specific color.

Mark, my neighbor on 9th, used Behr "Still Gray" and I like it, but his house gets a lot more sunlight. Still Gray has an LRV of 40. Sherwin Williams Wormwood (HGSW1505) is 38, Magnetic Gray (HGSW1506) is 46, and on the same card, Lapland Ice (HGSW1507), with an LRV of 59, still seems dark to me.

Sherwin-Williams "High Reflective White" (SW 7757) has an LRV of 93.

I would propose High Reflective White in gloss for the soffits (<100 SF, not counting the west wall), and Conservative Gray (SW 6183, LRV 63) for the fascia, gutter, and walls. Perhaps the doors should be Escape Gray (SW 6185).

I'll remove the door handles--the lock doesn't allow you to open it from the outside. I'll see what I can do to repair the bricks--some sort of plaster with touch-up paint.

Lastly, the floodlights are stupid--they come on when they see motion even in bright sunlight. Amazon has the fixture on the left for $32.

Maybe I'll continue and paint the breezeway alcove next. That needs more in the repair department, and it is subject to work--new breezeway door, replace frozen windows, the glass blocks and greenhouse window--all are provisional. But, again, hitting the dark blue with primer and Conservative Gray is good prep for a future paint job.

If I decide Conservative Gray is still too dark, I could try Nuance  (SW7049, LRV 74)

Unfortunate that they painted the brick on the left. Not sure what to do with that.

Lots of wires on the soffit to simplify. I think that the two plastic boxes are no longer used (landline phone).

On the front of the house, I need better numbers. Amazon has some nice 6" black metal on standoff numbers for $10 each.

The "front door confusion" in a nutshell. I think, regardless, that centering the number (the 6" numbers) makes more sense.

One more thought: I could paint the brick. I wouldn't want to paint the brick at the living room, but maybe the garage and breezeway could be the same color as the walls. It's a fine line between the elegant monochrome of Coast and a whitewashed shack.