This post is brought to you by Taubmans


For nearly five years {so the whole time we’ve lived in our house!} we’ve been a bit ‘meh’ about our alfresco area. It was never that inviting or anything special to look at. 
The huge wall of yellow brick left me very uninspired and Daniel and I literally just stuck 1/3rd of an old bamboo Japanese screen on there above the daybed in an attempt to ‘pretty’ up our outside area. 
Somewhere along the lines I added some string lights and we called it done. And it stayed like that.
For years.

So when Taubmans asked if there’s anywhere in our home that could do with a little make-over with a splash of paint my very first thought was our alfresco area;
for two reasons. 1. we seem to be afraid of paint {and maybe colour too}
2. I was sure that anything would look better and more inviting than the great expanse of yellowy brick
And so we left our safe little comfort zone and took the challenge. I thought it would be hard painting brick, and half way through we’d end up wishing we hadn’t started. But I am happy to report the whole experience was actually a breeze and we’re quite ready to paint the rest of our exterior brick now! 


Let’s start with a ‘before’ photo : 
Here is our alfresco area.


I headed out and picked up a whole bunch of Taubmans paint chips from Bunnings. 
There are seriously so so many to choose from. 
Taubmans Ambassador Shaynna Blaze gave us some tips when it came to choosing colours and said for an outdoor area you could either go nice and bold or go neutral and use furniture and accessories to add a pop of colour. 
We compared colours in all the different light that our alfresco gets throughout the day and settled on a gorgeous subtle grey called Mountaintop. Yes, as I said we might be a little afraid of colour so we went with the neutral. I’m hoping it will be a good start to transforming our outdoor area and adding more colour in down the track!

Painting day came and to tell you the truth I was a little nervous! Daniel and I had never painted a wall before, aside from the odd touch up on the walls inside which totally doesn’t count! We were also painting brick and to both of us that was a little daunting. 

We prepped our alfresco area and laid drop sheets down, grabbed a paint tray and some brushes and rollers, crossed our fingers and said bye bye to the yellow brick wall.  

We were told that as long as your bricks are not glazed or glossy or crumble away when you rub your finger across them they should be very easy to paint. 

Taubmans Endure is self priming, which means you can start painting straight on to your brick!



We were really surprised at how thick Taubmans paint is and the coverage was amazing.
This is a picture of our wall after just one coat!



And after two coats we were amazed at the transformation and the huge difference it already made to the look and feel of our alfresco. And the hope that it would make our green leafy plants just pop – success!

The finished wall colour is very true to the paint chip we picked up, but I think we could even go a little darker next time! The blue daybed makes the subtle grey “Mountaintop” look a little blue but it’s really a very lovely grey. I love how it makes the wall look finished and how it makes our green leafy plants just pop! 



We were so happy with it there was no way we were going to put the ugly make-shift ‘wall art’ back up so Daniel set to work to make a new feature for above the day bed. 
We also moved our herb garden from the right hand side fence wall where it was too windy on to the wall behind our outdoor dining table and ta-da! 


We are so impressed with the difference a couple of coats of paint makes to this space. It is so much more inviting out here and we are already spending much more time out here enjoying the new atmosphere {I’m sitting out here right now writing this!}. 

There are a few things I’d still like to do out here. Keeping Shaynna’s advice about adding pops of colour with accessories and furniture I’m hoping to find some perfect new cushions for the daybed. I think the dark timber colour looks fantastic against this wall so we will either end up sanding and re-staining our existing furniture of being brave and painting them with some of the Taubmans paint colours suggested to us! 

I am seriously loving the look of our painted brick alfresco area, and it was really very easy to do! We were a little surprised actually since we are complete paint newbies!! So if you’re feeling a little inspired to paint something at your house there is another great incentive…
  
Take the Taubmans Endure Paint Challenge and pick up a paint brush and change a space in your home with a splash of Taubmans. There are over $150,000 in prizes to be won including a $500 Bunnings Gift Voucher for the first 100 entries! 
There are also major cash prizes and the winners will be photographed and featured in a magazine! Inside or outside, Taubmans want to see your paint make-overs!
To enter simply register with Taubmans and buy a tin of Taumbans from Bunnings and keep your receipt. 
Paint at least two square metres of your home using Taubmans Endure and upload a before and after photo by April 26 2014. 
Easy!
I’m so glad we stepped out of our comfort zone and gave this a go. It’s like a whole new space {even Chloe looks at the before and after photos and says to me “our old house, our new house” haha. 
The weather is still gorgeous here in Perth so I can see us using our revamped outdoor space a lot before winter sets in.


So what do you think? Have you got a space in your home that could do with a little splash of paint? Have you considered painting brick? It’s not so scary!

xx

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