How to Paint a House + Our Bungalow Exterior Reveal

Disclosure: For this post I received gifted product from Sherwin-Williams. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting content that keeps Jojotastic going.

You guys, I lived in the tiny bungalow for 4.5 years… and it’s had peeling paint on the exterior the entire time. The siding is vinyl (not my fave, but it will do), so that’s in good shape. But the wood trim needed attention for way too long. A big part of preparing it to sell last month was to improve the curb appeal… and finalllllly deal with the exterior paint! I reached out to my friends at Sherwin-Williams to help us finally get this project off the list! After sharing some peeks on Instagram, I figured I should dedicate an entire blog post to how to paint a house in addition to revealing how ours turned out. If you’re in a similar situation with a 100+ year old house and no idea where to start, but a desire to DIY, this is the post for you!

How to Paint a House Exterior: Tips & Tricks

Choose the right paint

I’m a firm believer in doing things once and doing them the right way from the start. That’s why I chose to use the Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint. First of all, I have loved the Emerald line since I first used it in the living room. It’s held up incredibly well, especially in our kitchen which got the most use out of any room in the house. The overall performance of this paint is consistently amazing and is considered Sherwin-Williams’ highest quality outdoor paint. The finish is smooth, while also providing enough coverage to hide any imperfections. It’s also mold-resistant and offers extreme resistance to blistering, peeling, and color fade. That first one is key here in the wet Pacific Northwest especially!

Build scaffolding

When it comes to how to paint a house, you need a sturdy surface to stand on first and foremost. We made one by using two sawhorse legs and some extra lumber from the backyard. If you go this route, make sure the sawhorse legs are sturdy enough to support your weight! I especially liked this type of scaffolding when I was prepping the windows. It makes a big difference when you don’t have to climb down and move a ladder in order to reach another part of the window! And for a big project like this, efficiency is a must.

Folding ladders are also incredibly helpful and a really great tool to have on hand for our many renovation projects… I literally cannot tell you how many times we’ve used it! It came in handy for painting the soffits and the apex of our roof over the porch.

Set up a table with all supplies needed

We also made a central area for all of the tools and materials to help us stay organized during this project. Then at the end of the day, everything gets cleaned up and returned to the table for the next paint session. I just know that things can get messy while remodeling and renovating, so I try to keep us as tidy and organized as possible… the last thing we need is to spill a gallon of paint!

Also, as much as I try to avoid plastics, using Press and Seal is truly the easiest way to speed up the clean up process! Instead of rinsing out my brushes at the end of the day, I wrap them in plastic wrap so that I can use them the next day. It saves so much time!

Prep the surfaces

Since our paint was peeling, I used a heatgun to remove it and then sanded the surface. It’s literally the same process I used in this post, so I’m not going to repeat myself! But trust me, it works really well! Especially if you want to get back to the original surface. After you’ve sanded the surface and patched any holes or flaws, the next step is to prime. I firmly believe in using primer because it helps to smooth the surface and helps the paint adhere for a longer lasting finish!

Here’s the list of materials we used and had on hand to paint the exterior of our house:

• Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint in Pure White and Tricorn Black
• rollers and handles — I like to use smaller rollers for trim and larger for areas like the front porch floor and ceiling
• trays and tray liners
• brushes in variety of sizes
• stir sticks
• spray bottle filled with mineral spirits — this is soooo clutch if you get a little sloppy and need to clean up a surface like vinyl siding
• cotton rag or paper towels
• gloves
• Press and Seal plastic wrap

What do you think of how our exterior paint project turned out?? I wish I had more professional, better images to share with you of the final outcome! Between the fires here on the West Coast, incredibly heavy rains, and the insanity of our move, this was the best I can do… but even with these iPhone photos, you can totally tell how great the exterior paint project turned out!

Photography by Jojotastic.