Garage Painting

The garage is a crucial part of our backyard update because the paint is in terrible shape. It looks AWFUL. It's been peeling for a while now and while we touched up the worst of it a few years ago, it's time to finally do a full repainting job.

The biggest change? Color. We are breaking the rule that the garage color should match the house. I don't love the yellow. I like yellow houses, but it doesn't "speak" to me the way that other colors do. The yellow also "pops" in the yard, it stands out. And honestly the positioning of the garage (centered in the back, taking up a lot of space) is intrusive enough already. I wish the garage had been placed more towards the side, where it wouldn't break up the yard so awkwardly... but that's not something I can change. What I can change is the color, to something that visually recedes instead of standing out.

We're going with the same gray that I used on the foundation last year. So technically it does match some of the house. It's a cool, neutral and basic slate gray. It looks nice with everything we have back here - the dark wood, the white fencing, the gray paver patio and gray pavers/slates in the garden. And the gray helps the garage feel less intrusive visually.

Step one was to scrape off the loose paint and power wash the whole garage. SO MUCH CAME OFF. Seriously I was a little horrified.

And all those little paint flecks that came off? Like I mentioned in my chaos post, they stick to everything like glitter and are now EVERYWHERE in our backyard.

Weirdly enough, this side the paint came off the way I expected it was going to everywhere. Lots of loose pieces came off, but the side was still mostly yellow.

The rest of it looked, well, terrible.

Mike and I split the work - I did everything I could reach on the ground and he tackled everything above that on a ladder. This included the eaves under the roof, which really needed the paint. His job going up and down the ladder was much harder than mine.

I quickly realized the gray was the right call.

We did two coats of the gray paint. It's a self-leveling, highly durable outdoor enamel + primer in one that can be used on concrete floors and walls. The self-leveling part was critical - I was amazed at how the paint wrapped itself into all the little dips, nooks and crannies. Paint usually just sits on top of the surface... this paint basically self-shrink-wrapped itself over the surface and sticks to it like glue. The white paint is a basic outdoor primer + paint in one enamel. It's what I bought to do the porch railing in the fall before realizing it was rotted through. It isn't magical paint... in fact I kind of regret using it because I know it won't last nearly as long as the gray. But then again, I'd rather use up what we have, especially when the garage door will need replacing sooner than later and the side door frame needs a full replacement (it's been rotted for a while at the bottom).

And when it was done:

SO. MUCH. BETTER.


I like the gray for several reasons. One - it recedes visually (instead of "popping" like bright yellow did). It makes the garage much less obtrusive. Two - the darker, more neutral color is now the perfect neutral backdrop for brightly colored flowers. And Three - it totally works with my collection of garden inspiration and fits the "English Country Garden/New England Country Garden with a side of French Country garden" theme. The gray and white combo, the blending into the background as a blank canvas for structure and flowers. I think it's definitely a step in the right direction.

This makes me so happy! And now I can put up the trellises and arbors to support the climbing roses while we work on the pathways in the garden (left side of the wall above will be getting one for my fancy Lady of Shalot rose).