Exterior Painting

I figured after focusing solely on the interior of the apartments that I should probably give some TLC to the common areas. And true to my nature, I did the easiest thing first. Nothing makes a bigger impact change than new paint and I started out by grinding off all of the rust around the stairwell door, front drainpipe, and metal grate above the front gate. I bought oil-based metal primer and was surprised at the amazing "rusty metal" color and how well it went with the bricks. Unfortunately they can't do oil-based in all colors like latex paint, so I with with a latex paint and primer in one for the final coat on the upper grate and drain pipe. My designer frowned on it around the stairwell door so I went with glossy white.

I'll post more pictures of the finished product. It looks pretty great, but I really need to get a different front gate (and the mailboxes and the lighting) to complete the transformation. I balked on de-rusting the front gate and attacking it with similar paint, because it really is too far gone. It's functional but not pretty and the missing metal at the bottom and wired on screening are somethings that are hard to hide with paint. Lots of rust in hard to get to places also make it tricky. Eventually I'll spring for a new gate instead.

Another thing I balked at were the window grates. They are almost pure rust and I'm thinking they involve a similar redo to the gate in addition to a fix of the wood around the windows and cleaning. A little bigger project than I was doing in one of the final warm weekends.