Painting Vinyl Siding

YES, IT'S POSSIBLE TO PAINT VINYL SIDING ANY COLOR WITH THIS SPECIAL FORMULA PAINT. YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO KEEP A COLOR YOU DON'T LIKE AND DON'T BELIVE THAT MYTH OF ONLY GOING LIGHTER. YOU CAN PICK A DARKER PAINT COLOR WITHOUT HAVING BUCKLING ISSUES DUE TO HEAT EXPOSURE. READ BELOW TO SEE WHAT IT IS.

Finally the chicken coop got its mini makeover and I’m so excited! Who’d have thunk a gallon of paint could make me so happy? And better yet I didn’t even have to do the painting. You all know how much I love hate to paint but it is much easer when a sprayer is used. 

I’ve been procrastination about getting the job done all summer long. It was either to hot, to windy, or I just wasn’t in the mood. I have to be in the mood to tackle such a job. Well finally now that the weathers cooled way down here in Michigan I decided to get the job done before snow arrived.

You’ll see by the photos the coop really needed a good cleaning before it could be painted so out I went with a five gallon bucket filled with soapy water, a scrub brush, and the hose. One hour later and the vinyl siding was dirt free and ready for paint.  I was all in the mood when we had two humid 80-degree days in a row followed by several days of rain. What was Mother Nature doing to me? She knew I was ready to paint. Now I’d have to wait to get back into the painting mode again.

After pondering paint colors for quite some time I decided to go with a shade of brown that matched the cabin’s exterior color. I have nothing against yellow vinyl siding, it just didn’t go well with our house or it’s surroundings. It actually stuck out like a sore thumb and really bothered me. Nothing a little paint can’t fix, right?

I headed to Sherwin Williams, the only place I buy paint, with paint swatch in hand ready to take the plunge. I showed the guy working there a picture of our cabin and showed him the paint color I’d picked. I let him know I was open to suggestions if he didn’t think the color I picked would be a good match. He said he thought going a shade darker would match the cabin exactly since paint dry’s lighter than the swatch. So that’s exactly what I did and went with the color “PLANTATION SHUTTERS”. I like the name so I bet the color will be great too!

I got the paint home; the sprayer out, and hubby graciously sent one of our employees to the house to paint for me. I was jumping for joy I didn’t have to paint at all; all I had to do was stand back and supervise. Now this is the way I like to paint! By the way the sprayer I have is from Sherwin Williams and it’s a GRACO. 

I know for years there’s been a myth that says you cant paint vinyl siding and if you do you can never go with a color darker than the original color. Finally that’s NOT true! Sherwin Williams has formulated a paint that can be mixed in any color for vinyl siding. Here’s the trick NO BLACK IS ADDED TO THE PAINT COLOR. By not adding black going darker is no longer an issue. It used to be if you painted vinyl a darker color it would absorb the heat from the sun and buckle. Not a pretty sight but not anymore. So YES you can go darker with any of Sherwin Williams exterior paint formulas, you just have to let them know you’ll be painting VINYL.

Back to the paint color….I opened the can and looked at our employee. I said it looks like poop but we’ll be calling it chocolate. Well I should have known better because now my hubby and our employees are calling it the Shit Shed! I opened myself right up for that one. As it was sprayed on it did look like melted milk chocolate, Ha-Ha.

If you ever have the opportunity to paint with a sprayer you’ll never brush or roll it on again. The entire coop was painted in 45 minutes and we used 1.25 gallons. So my free coop got a mini face-lift for $50. I still intend on painting the inside white just to make it feel a little brighter. So for now this is how it will remain through the winter. I do have other changes I want to make to cute-n it up but I may not get to them this year. I’m still looking for the things I want amongst the free items hubby brings home from jobs.

We have an ongoing scrap pile that goes to the scrap yard a few times a year and I’m always scavenging the pile for the GOOD stuff before it get’s loaded on the trailer and hauled away.

So do you like the coops mini makeover? I’m sure the chickens will be impressed!