We recently did some remodeling on our storefront. I snapped this photo of George hosing down the sidewalk, after we had hosed down the brick.
Isn't it ugly?
Really, you can say it and not offend us. We have always hated the front but didn't know what to do about it without spending a fortune. Maybe the brick wouldn't have been too bad by itself. Maybe the gray Perma stone wouldn't have been too bad by itself. But together?
Ugly. With a capital Ug.
I have wanted to paint it for a few years now, but George kept turning me down. His logic made sense. Once we start painting it, we will have to keep painting it. Paint tends to peel, especially it seems in the mortar joints. That's the voice of experience talking. It happens on our block basement walls at home.
But I started looking at pictures of paint that is done more in a whitewash style. No heavy paint in the mortar joints. Just a light coat. That may work.
We decided to go for it.
We practiced on the side wall. See the part toward the middle back where you can see more of the red brick? That is the look we were going for. But somehow, when we did the front, it came out a bit heavier. Not to worry. Time (and weather) should take care of that problem for us.
But despite getting a little heavier than we wanted on the front, we love how it turned out!
I haven't gone across the street to get a full view yet, but I will soon. As you can see, we only went up so far. There is a little ledge above the Perma stone, and that was our stopping point. Why? Even with an extension ladder, that's as far as we can reach. It will have to be good enough.
The white brick helped tone down the Perma stone. We still don't care for it, but we can live with it now. We don't want to paint it, nor remove it, so it is what it is.
We found this old beadboard door and used it just as we found it. The teal-colored paint on it was already there. All we did was wash it off and spray it with a sealer to keep if from weathering anymore. I bought the letters at Michael's Craft Store a year or two ago. They worked perfectly on the old door. Love it when things work together!
The crowning touch is the two cow stanchions, one on each side. Chances are pretty good we are the only store around with cow stanchions on teal colored barn wood!
What did all this cost us? Not much!
We used one gallon of paint that cost us around $25. It goes a long way when you aren't putting it on heavy. The door for the sign was free, but we did pay around $95 for all the letters. The barn wood behind the stanchions was free, and the stanchions themselves were very minimal, from an estate sale.
So, the whole project was under $150. Not bad!
I read about how to whitewash, by thinning down the paint. Everything I read said it's a very messy procedure. We couldn't take a chance on that much of a mess on the city sidewalks, so instead of whitewashing, we used the dry brush technique. Worked like a charm.
We have more to do. The window above the white apartment door needs some work, and I'm going to hang a teal-colored curtain in it. Same with the large windows in the apartment above, where we didn't paint. You can see them in the first picture. A few other odds and end will finish it up, and the next project will be the inside the display windows.
One of these days!
