We moved to a tourist city in Ontario, Canada. This was by far the hardest place to find a house that suited our needs. Almost every house here hasn’t been updated. We looked at houses that had bedrock as a coffee table in the basement to houses that get 2ft of water in the spring…..and we were told this was normal. Real estate is also alot different here, you have set days to bid on a house and the seller chooses what bid they like best. Therefore you only get one chance so you need to bid high to essentially “win”.
After biding on multiple houses and loosing I honestly didn’t think we were ever going to get a house. It was highs and lows of bidding and waiting then finding out you didn’t get it. That ment we had to look at houses again and repeat the process over and over. We did this probably 9 times. Ours was sold so we needed to find one asap.
Then then came this house, which ended up belonging to us (thank gawd)
It had the modern look like the new houses we were used to. It had the right amount of bedrooms PLUS 2 bathrooms (which here is not common) but it needed to be updated in the worst way.
We like to do things ourselves but we will pay a contractor if it’s something that needs it like electrical or if we were to structurally mess with the house but that’s not our plan. We just need to get it to look modern and new.
The exterior was actually in great shape. The home only had one owner since it was built and they took very good care of the house. Because of that we chose to paint the entire home. That’s right JUST PAINT.
Siding: Benjamin Moore Iron Ore
I wanted my house black. I wanted bold, but after talking to the experts at our local Benjamin Moore paint store they talked me out of it. Our house has two levels and up high and they advised me that it would heat up the house…alot so I went with my next choice which is a no fail option. Chantilly Lace was one of the top colors so I just went with it and we LOVE it. It took about 7 Gallons at $70 each which may seem like alot but when you think of how much it is to re-stucco in your color of choice this was a no brainier and saved us thousands and we did it ourselves. I should say my husband did because there was no way I was getting that high on a ladder.
If your ever questioning whether or not to paint stucco, just do it. We have had plenty of storms and heat waves and it’s held up perfectly and exactly what I expected.
Birch and Peony 