Painted Exterior Trim

I finished painting the rear deck trim!

Last I reported on this, I had done all the prep work and was needing to match the top coat trim to the aluminum clad windows. I had brought a window to my local hardware store which does color matching but that was a fail -too dark. It turns out that, whereas a computer will give a good estimation of the formula, after that, it falls on the skill of the mixer to get it perfect.

A reader had pointed out that I could get the color match formula from the window dealer. I went on the website of my manufacturer (Loewen) and discovered that there were several sage greens in their catalog and I couldn't figure out which one was mine. It felt like just getting the color matched would be easier than calling the dealer, etc., etc., etc. 

Anyhoo, I went to Creative Paint in the city and they matched it, like, perfectly. Hurray. I used a low luster exterior paint because that sheen best matches the window frames.

I used two coats everywhere except the sill that had the most damage. There I gave it three.

After I had finished painting but before giving the windows a washing, I polished up the clad siding with car wax. It worked wonders in getting rid of the dullness. I simply wiped it on and then buffed it off with a soft rag. I worked in the morning before the sun was strong because I've always heard not to polish a car in the sun. I also want to note that one would always do the car wax thing after finishing all the painting because the car wax would interfere with paint adhesion if it accidentally got on the trim to be painted.
  

I plan paint the trim on my front deck (which is the mirror image of the rear) myself. I do plan, however, to hire out the rest of the job. The windows on the front of my house are really, really high so I don't feel safe doing it. 

A long time reader might notice all the plants on my rear deck are gone... I transplanted a lemon tree to the rear yard but everything else fell victim to the draught and my laziness in watering. My long-term plan is to build some planter boxes around the perimeter of the deck and install an automatic watering system. This is probably not going to happen until after I finish getting the hot tub built in the yard -which I have ordered and am waiting delivery (Yay) in probably about a month.