We’ve been pretty busy these past few days. We have been enjoying time with new friends, trying new restaurants around town as well as making good progress on our property. Our latest project has been to paint the exterior of the cabana!

Needed a little refresh -Cabana before

One thing that’s really fun about living here is you can choose really bright colors to match the tropical evergreen and vibrant climate. It is not uncommon to see houses in bright pink, neon green, aquamarines and yellows. I thought a nice orange-red terracotta color might make the plants stand out even more, so at Home Depot we picked up all the supplies needed for this and more projects to come. I chose a color swath sample and looked at the name: Shiny New Penny. I thought that was pretty accurate for how sharp the results turned out.

The whole painting project had begun because the small wooden deck on the back side of the cabana had started to become unstable and the stairs were disintegrating, making it unsafe to be out on the deck. Plus, the wood was covered in mossy slime and needed refinished.

Deck before

We figured if we were going to take apart the deck we might as well get the painting started as well. Many projects start with what seems like a simple task and then we realize it will take a lot more to actually accomplish it if we want it done right.

Deck after! We were happy to be able to reuse quite a few of the boards

Kitty was not too happy that his favorite lounging spot was out of commission for a while though!

Kitty missing his favorite little deck

After Britton prepped, sanded and stained/waterproofed the boards and replaced a few of the disintegrated ones, we were able to go on to the next step of painting the house. Britton started by powerwashing the walls and removing the bars on the windows. No one in our neighborhood has the kind of jail bars that this place has on it and we were pretty excited to take them off and make it a little more friendly and inviting of a place. They have served their purpose for the past few years when we weren’t here to watch the property: no one has broken in. But now that we are here full-time it seemed a little ridiculous to live in our own bird cage.

Powerwashing the walls prior to paint

The bars were not easy to come off though. Britton had to file and then clamp the rounded bolt on the outside while I turned the ratchet on the other side (inside the house). Because they were so heavy, he had to carefully hoist them down, but we didn’t have any rope so he used an extension cord!

Removing the heavy bars from the windows with an extension cord!

Finally we were able to paint both the side and the front of the house.

Britton painting and Kitty supervising

Britton put the deck back on and then I painted the railings white to go with the other white that the trim will be as well as the doors and windows. We often refer to the wood house as our “boat” because we have to basically make it able to withstand constant moisture as you would on a boat. We decided that this little cabana we’ve been living in is the life-raft. And it’s even the right color! And it’s now as pretty as a shiny new penny!

We still have two more exterior walls to go as well as the trim, but we thought we’d show you the progress so far! It’s amazing the transformation that a little paint can make!