I thought we’d never be able to get the white paint off our front porch. We think it was initially fully painted white sometime in the 1960s.
A1960s photo of the house – painted white brick front
In the 1950s, it was only partially painted white.
1950s photo
The white painted brick porch remained when we purchased the property in 2015.
2015 photo
When we installed the deep navy blue siding and opened up the front porch, the white painted brick of the porch felt too jarring. I dreamed of removing the paint from the brick and taking back to the original, which is easier said than done.
We tried an experiment a few weeks ago…
Paint starting to come off the brick!
And thankfully it worked!
Chris blasting the paint off with high pressure hot water.
My sister’s fiance has a huge hot water high pressure sprayer that we used. It did the trick! With a little paint remover soaked on the paint before spraying, it works even better.
We need to tuck-point some areas, but overall we are loving the new look.
The house today – after one pass of the hot water high pressure sprayer.
You can see from the photo below, we’re taking red paint off the concrete steps too.
With a little more work, I think we’ll have it pretty close to original (sans paint)! One more thing crossed off our long list. 🙂
Special thanks to Chris for his help on this project!
~Miranda
OMG! That looks ahhhhh-mazing! I agree the white was too much, it took over the siding. This look makes both the siding and the porch pop and looks more original. I love what you have done so far. Hannah would love it too.
Thank you Tena!
Hi Miranda! I’m the one that had fostered Tillie in Houston. I had forgot about your blog until I recently came across it. I just read everything from beginning to now. I had no idea your reno project was so massive! You and Blaine are doing a great thing, and your house is becoming truly amazing. I can only imagine how much blood, sweat, and tears you and your family have put into it. I have no doubt that Hannah loves everything you have done. I can’t wait to see it finished.
And I’m so happy Tillie and Lincoln are living and loving country life.
Hi Rebecca! Blaine and I think of you often. Tillie and Lincoln are doing great and seem to love the extra space we have here! Thank you for your sweet comment. Hope y’all are doing well in Texas!! xo