Exterior painting is one of the most important home improvement projects because it protects your house from snow, rain, and ice. Not to mention, a fresh coat of paint can help improve your property’s curb appeal and boost the resale value. As soon as you start seeing your home’s siding start to peel, crack, or blister, you’ll want to start planning on repainting it. Ignoring your degrading siding will not only make it a more expensive job but a more extensive one at that. To help get started on repainting your home’s siding, below are 11 tips that you should follow.
Preparation
1. Pressure-Wash Your Walls
In order for your paint to last longer, remove any dirt and grime from your house using a pressure washer (see http://www.thebestelectricpressurewasher.com for more information).
2. Inspect and Repair any Damaged Surfaces
Walk around your house, inspecting any damage to your walls. When you notice any holes or cracks, you can fill it with epoxy filler using a spackle knife. Once it’s dried, lightly sand it with a sanding block until it’s smooth and can be ready for repainting.
3. Remove Loose Paint Chips
Once your exterior walls are dry from the pressure washer, walk around your house and notice any chipped paint. Put down drop cloths under these spots and remove the chips using a paint scraper. After, sand down the area with a sanding block.
4. Caulk Trim
If there are any gaps or cracks between your house’s trim around windows or doors use caulk to fill it. However, if your home has a variety of materials, such as brick and siding, caulk where the different materials connect.
5. Protect Your Lights, Doors, and Windows From Paint
Using plastic sheeting and painter’s tape, cover up your lights, doors, and windows.
Priming
6. Prime Stains
Using stain-blocking primer, cover any exterior areas with stains or wood knots with it using a thick paintbrush.
7. Prime the Remainder of Your House
Even though the current rule of thumb has been to prime, sand, and then paint, you don’t have to do so. New paint technologies have been able to combine both paint and primer to reduce costs into one product. It may seem like a more costly up-front cost but is far less than the number of primer and paint cans you would have to purchase.
Painting
8. Combine Your Paint Cans
Instead of painting can by can, you should combine all your paint of the same paint into a large container to make sure that the same color is used on the exterior of your home. This step is called unboxing the paint and is a rule that even the pros follow.
9. Start Painting in the Shade
Painting in direct sunlight will make your paint dry too quickly, which may cause it to flake and blister. Instead, you should start painting on the shady side of your home first and wait for the sun to move before painting other areas of your siding. However, you can always paint on an overcast day, whichever is easier.
10. Start Painting at the Top
You should start painting at the top of your siding and work your way down to help prevent streaking. This way, gravity will work with you, rather than starting at the bottom, where it will work against you.
11. Paint Your House’s Trim and Doors
Remove all your plastic sheeting from windows, lighting, and doors. Paint at least two coats of exterior semigloss paint to your woodwork and doors using a paintbrush. Then, you can remove all your drop cloths once it’s dried.
One of the most important elements in any bathroom is the use of light. Luxurious lighting takes many forms. A skylight can help bathe the entire room in natural light. Consider other specially designed windows just for the bathroom that can help you control the amount of light that gets into your home. If you have a magnificent view, install floor to ceiling windows to show it off.
The shower and tub are the focal point of the bathroom. Let them shine. A large tub with a jetted spa tub allows multiple bathers in the bathroom at the same time. Older tubs can also be magnificent as well. A freestanding cast iron tub is ideal if you want something with retro flair. Consider a separate shower stall in the room to allow more than one person to bathe there.
Storage is another extremely important consideration. You want enough storage space in your room to allow you to store all the things you need. Baskets woven from natural materials can fit under the sink in the room allowing you to store your toiletries. 
Very few people take the time to optimize the flow of their lifestyle when moving into their home. They just move in, put their stuff where it seems fit, and start to live around the initial layout. Take a step back – doesn’t that seem a little odd? With a little bit of testing you can really make your home much more well suited to your life, and once it’s in place it’s good to go until there are any serious life changes within your household. Just think of how much easier everything could be if your house was laid out according to a well-thought plan. Even better if you think of this at the time of construction.
