Before/After

BEFORE

AFTER

Some shots of the final day:

First coat of primer on the doors.

Second coat of finish paint on.

Final coat (#8) of finish paint, with doors ajar to let them cure.  The color was Benjamin Moore's Million Dollar Red.  It turned out more vermilion/Japanese red than was on the paint chip (our mild-mannered painter was very pleasant throughout all the testing and painting and samples).

Walter (l) and Mike, the painter.  He started out in automotive painting, so he's really aware of not getting overspray on anything.  He even re-painted my back door mat where his other painter -- Ryan, who would paint anything that wasn't moving -- had oversprayed. I hadn't even noticed, but Mike's really good with getting the details taken care of.

New FIBERGLASS back door.  We'd replaced this door twice already with wood doors, and because it gets the full brunt of any storm, we went with fiberglass this time, hoping this will be the last time we have to replace it.

We do feel like it looks like a new house, certainly much better than the old paint job and doors.  Our painter had planned on 10 gallons of primer and 15 gallons of paint.  He used 12 gallons of primer and 25 gallons of paint, apparently due to the fact that it hadn't been painted in so very long.  He did lots of caulking, repairs, double painting and we were very happy with how it all turned out.  Our neighbor came out this morning and said as she drives around she sees brown houses and tan houses and gray houses and beige houses and then there's our house, with it's happy sunny yellow.  I feel the same.
Or as my Dad would say: to each his own.

Now to recover.  I told Dave I'm wrapping up the garage doors for his Christmas present.  He can wrap the paint job and the back door for mine.  We already know our next big home improvement project: a re-do of the front yard, taking it from bushes and lawn to xeriscaping and native plants.  Give me a couple of years to recover, and I'll get started.