We Finished Painting the Exterior of The Downtown Cottage!

This post is sponsored by our friends at Benjamin Moore. All opinions are our own.

Before we begin, you can enter code MYSAVE10 during check out to save 10% on Benjamin Moore color samples, paint and supplies now through April 15, 2021 in the US only. Terms & Conditions apply. Head to the Benjamin Moore Online Store for more info!

Y’all. This is not a drill. WE FINISHED PAINTING THE EXTERIOR OF THE DOWNTOWN COTTAGE. And we’re in love.

If you remember, when we bought the cottage two years ago, it looked like this:

The green color with that funky front addition and the off-center windows gave us nightmares. PJ always knew he wanted to rework the front and knew that ripping off the entry and coming up with a new color scheme was the winning recipe to completely transform this little house. He worked on the front all last summer, but stopped when it started getting wet, cold, and rainy during the winter months. This is what it looked like right before he took a break:

You can see he tore off that weird 1960’s front addition that ate up almost the entire front porch, added brand new windows, and framed in the new porch. And he did it all by himself (!). The kiddos and I had fun coming over to the cottage and seeing the progress and updates he was making every day. And I really mean every day. PJ is so fast when he works, even after 11 years of being together, it still blows my mind.

Anyway, now that spring has just about officially sprung here in Tennessee, it was time to resume work and get this thing finished. We’re simultaneously so close yet still have so much more to go, so right now it’s in that in-between phase, which can sometimes weirdly be the most fun.

When Benjamin Moore reached out to collaborate, we almost couldn’t believe it. We have been using their paint for years on our projects. Remember when we painted the guest bathroom at our old house Hale Navy HC-154? And all of the bathrooms, our kitchen, and now our living room in our home are all painted White Dove OC-17 (our absolute most favorite white ever). So when it came to their beautiful paint colors and this cottage, it’s safe to say we jumped at the opportunity to work with them, a company we’ve known and loved for many years.

Since this cottage is located in the heart of downtown, PJ really envisioned a sort of Americana theme when it came to the colors he wanted to use for the exterior. We had initially considered going with more of an earthy color scheme (similar to our home), but it ultimately didn’t feel right for this house. It’s so charming and cute and almost storybook-like, so an ode to the colors of our flag just made sense to him.

We used the Benjamin Moore Color Portfolio™ App to visualize what the exterior colors would look like together in real time. It’s seriously so cool! You take a picture in the app (or upload one you’ve already taken directly to the app) and then choose the Benjamin Moore paint color you want and “paint” it onto the picture with the “magic wand”. It’s surprisingly accurate and is an incredible way to play around with different colors until you land on the one that’s right for you and your overall vision.

We chose the Aura Exterior Paint in a Satin finish, which is formulated with proprietary Color Lock® Technology for rich colors that provide a beautiful finish and durability after repeated washings, so we knew it would not only look great, but it would hold up for many years.

Our starting point was choosing a color for the siding. We knew a white house would not only stand out on the street, it would be a classic choice that you would (hopefully) never get tired of coming home to. We debated on going with a different white than we normally do, like BM Chantilly Lace, or BM Cloud White (both gorgeous colors), but in the end, we settled on our tried and true favorite: White Dove OC-17. It’s such a versatile white: creamy, but not yellow; white, but not stark. It’s welcoming, and we knew it would be the perfect color for the downtown cottage.

Next came the shutters. Like I said, PJ really wanted an Americana, red, white and blue theme, so it was a no-brainer to do a navy on them. Call us creatures of habit, but we really loved the way our bathroom at our last house turned out, so we went with Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy HC-154. It’s a deep, rich, true navy that couldn’t be more perfect if it tried. The way it pops against the White Dove siding gives us heart eyes. PJ made the shutters himself and I love how cottagey they make the house feel, especially painted Hale Navy.

After the shutters, it was time to make a statement with the door, and considering the only color of the flag we hadn’t used yet was red, we immediately knew what we had to do. Only, do you know how hard it is to find the perfect red? We poured through all of Benjamin Moore’s choices and thought we had settled on one (Raspberry Truffle), but right after we picked up a gallon of it, PJ found another color he liked even more at the last second. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore’s Caliente AF-290 and y’all. I can’t even. It’s so gorgeous. In person I find myself unable to stop staring at it, like a moth to a flame I am drawn in. We’re both smitten. So you heard it here, folks: if you’re looking for a gorgeous red that’ll stop you in your tracks, look no further than Benjamin Moore’s Caliente.

The last color choice we found on Benjamin Moore’s Color Portfolio App was for the front porch. Because the color scheme of red, white and blue was so obvious and bold, we wanted a quieter color as to not overshadow our three core colors. We went with Benjamin Moore’s Gray Huskie 1473, which is a really soft, neutral gray. We both love the way it doesn’t compete with the other colors; it stands on its own as a welcoming shade of gray that begs you to come on in (when it’s safe to visit others, of course).

Now that we’re finished painting the exterior of the cottage, we still have to install the front porch lights (they’re picked out, we just have to get around to putting them up) and landscape the yard, and then we can focus full time on finishing up the interior. PJ picked out all of the finishes and colors for the interior and I am SO excited to see it come together. I have a feeling we’re both going to wish we were living in this little cottage when we’re finished with it.

We want to give a huge thank you to Benjamin Moore for partnering with us for this post. We feel so grateful to work with a company who not only inspires people to get creative (and also provides the tools to do so), but who we have admired and loved and actually used for so long. They make getting paint so easy, with both online or in-store pickup and delivery options. Just visit the website to order online or find a retailer near you. It’s truly been a dream come true for us to work with them, but stay tuned for more updates in the coming months as we finish out The Downtown Cottage for good!

Before we go, how about one more before & after?

Before: