Shouting from the Rooftops that the Sunroom Windows are DONE!

I can think of 88 projects that would be more fun than painting 12 sunroom windows. In short, this project was a bear. I am oh so happy it’s done though (for now) because we love the finished product!

My goal was to have the brown trim, windows, and door frame (to the door on the left that opens out to the deck) gone before my family got here for Christmas, and I figured that from start to finish this project would take me two days of on and off work.

Here’s a picture of the sunroom addition (and Teddy’s rear) from the side of our backyard –

I assumed the steps would go like this: tape, prime, paint two coats, peel away tape, touch up previously painted walls, and touch up any paint on the windows that seeped through the tape.

I have no idea when things started getting out of control, but multiply the aforementioned number of steps by 10 and you’ll have the number of steps this project actually ended up taking. I usually really enjoy painting, but this one just wasn’t fun for me; I really underestimated the amount of work it would take.

I started by taping off the floor and the six windows that don’t open (six do, six don’t). Next I painted on a coat of primer (using my favorite Premium XL Tight Spot 2″ brush) using Zinsser Bulls Eye primer. I ended up needing to paint three coats of Dutch Boy Platinum Satin Ultra White. I’m sure that sounds crazy to some experienced painters out there, but this trim just ate up the paint. Each coat took an eternity, so you can imagine how much fun painting four coats total was.

I repeated this same process on the floor trim and door frame.

Each of the six windows that open had three pieces of hardware each, so instead of taking them off in the beginning like I should have, I attempted to neatly paint around them. Bad idea.  Each piece is so detailed that things started getting messy fast, so halfway through the second coat I took a chunk of time and took off all of the hardware. Because I’d already gotten paint on the hardware, Jamie took some mineral spirits and scrubbed clean every piece of hardware.

Another wrong assumption I had was that as soon as I pulled away the tape the windows would look perfect. Nope. Didn’t happen. A few very small pieces of the paint pealed away with the tape, and there were also a few places where the paint seeped through the tape onto window. Touching up the windows and scratching off the dry paint on the windows was not a blast and super time consuming (the perfectionist in me was definitely coming out). Alas, we got it done.

In order to finish up the trim, I used my caulk gun and some white caulk to touch up the areas where the trim had pulled away from the wall. This step makes such a difference when it comes to painting older trim! It’s my secret weapon for making these trim projects look near perfect.

Next I had to dig up my can of Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue (colored matched at Home Depot) and touch up the trim and window edges. Tedious, but easy.

The final step was screwing and hammering back in all of the hardware. My amazing husband happily took care of this for me, and if it took him well over an hour to do I can’t imagine how long it would have taken me!

These windows still aren’t totally finished because as you can surely tell, the far windows on each side look a little funky. Those are the windows that open, and the dark areas you see are the areas that open to the exterior. I didn’t tackle painting those right now because I’d need to keep the windows open for an entire day, and I can’t do that when it’s freezing outside. I’ll take a day to tackle that this spring or summer, and then I should be able to wipe my hands and be totally finished with painting this room.

Remember my little dream book I mentioned a few weeks ago? I only have a couple more things to cross off – curtains and an updated light fixture. I’m hoping to find a good deal on some extra long curtain rods soon, and I already have the white curtains I want all picked out. I have 100 things I want to do to the house before I buy a light fixture, so this is one things that’ll only happen in the near future if I find a killer deal. Until then, I’m fine with the white ceiling fan.

Though this project was a doozy, we’re both satisfied and happy with the final results! It’s updated and has such an airy feel. This is definitely one of our favorite rooms in the house now!

Thanks for the linkup, Thrifty Decor Chick!