A huge thank you to Romabio for helping us transform our exterior using their Avorio White Limewash!
All styling, photos, and opinions are mine alone.
We've done it! That is, we've taken on our biggest DIY-to-date, and I think we might be a little crazy for such a big undertaking, but oh my is it worth it. Our sweet little 1950's ranch has been ours since the end of summer 2016. When we first bought our home, it had been sitting vacant for about 11 years, and the outside needed a lot of love. More so, it needed charm.
Over the last two years we've been working on our house from the inside out, with the exterior always on our mind. In its original state, it wasn't truly reflective of our style and the work we have accomplished with the interior. Thanks to Romabio, we finally began the exterior transformation using their Avorio White Limewash, and our sweet little home exudes so much character now. To say I'm obsessed wouldn't even cover it. I cannot believe what a difference limewashing our brick has made, adding shutters, attaching window boxes, and painting our porch has done. Our neighbors can't either!
We went with Romabio's limewash for a handful of reasons:
- The limewash is non-toxic, making it child- and pet-friendly, which is huge for our young family.
- We knew we wanted our brick to be white, but we loved the idea of a patina. Using Romabio's limewash, we were able to achieve that look instantly. The limewash will patina over time, but washing it off 30 minutes after applying it gave us the artistic ability to create the look we wanted. That subtle pop of the natural brick peeking through is kind of my favorite.
- It's a one-coat process that gives ways to an old world feel. I love the warmth and coziness of our interior and wanted to carry that through to the exterior.
- There is little to no maintenance involved. Can I get an amen??
For detailed instructions, visit the Romabio website, or check out this great video tutorial from a PRO applicator they recommend.
We ended up limewashing our brick and stone to transform the entire exterior. One tip I would give anyone taking this process on is to be aware of the texture of your brick. Our particular brick is very textured and porous. To work with that, we diluted the lime 66% for thicker application. This also meant that we would need more buckets to get the job done. But, after trying a thinner dilution, we knew the thicker option was going to give us the best look. And did it ever!
To contrast our new white brick, we went with a deep chocolate shutter and painted the porch floor and stoop. Rounding out the house, we added two dimensions of landscaping. Remember, originally our home had no landscaping at all. And well, that just wasn't pretty. So we added white window boxes with my favorite, ornamental cabbage, and then put in shrubs. The difference of our before and after is staggering. I can't stop looking at our home!
As it is, time is hard to come by with two littles. So while the front and one side of our home are finished, we have the back and second side to complete. While the temperature and weather were nice for the first part of November, we most likely won't get to the remaining parts of the house until spring, or if a warm day pops up in-between. It's certainly a lot of work, but more than worth it. Our curb appeal has increased exponentially, and I think our neighbors are super happy to be looking at the beaut our home is now. I know we are!
Be sure to check out where you can purchase Romabio with their Store Locator!
Once you have your product, Romabio has plenty of information, tutorials, videos and tips on their website to help you out. Their instagram feed has hundreds of examples if you're having trouble deciding on one of their seven pre-tinted shades of Classic Limewash. And, I'll be posting more photos throughout the year. So stay tuned...
SOURCES:
Window Boxes || Shutter Dogs ||
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