Front Yard Care and How to Remove Rust from Metal

As I mentioned before, last weekend I was very busy. It began with a walk to the Flea Market, you can see my finds HERE.

With such a beautiful day we were having, we set to work on our front yard.  I snapped a picture.  From that distance, it looks OK, right?  Perhaps a bit boring, but up close, you can see the problems.

There were many little (and big), things to do so, I made a list.

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1. Remove dead plants that remained over winter.
2. Remove rust stains on concrete.
3. Remove rust from the metal railing before painting it.
4. Trim the Boxwood bushes.
5. Fill up empty spaces in the garden by dividing some plants.
6. Give some color by planting some annuals all around.
7. Take care of paint peeling off from door trim.

Ha, that's quite a lot!  We began with this nasty, rusty, ugly handrail. I told you, up close it wasn't pretty. In fact, is disgusting. ugh :/

Not a pretty color either.

Rusty all around.

Our weapon against all that rust???
Yes! these wire brushes that you attach to a power drill. These small ones are for hard-to-reach places.

| Wire Brush Drill Attachment  |

And this one is a bit bigger than worked perfectly well on those long flat surfaces.

....and I am talking about WE! because this job of getting rid of the rust was taken by no other than Mr. G ;) Besides, he volunteered to do it (like four years ago, though) and he took the responsibility for it all.

I like how well he prepared himself. Safety first. Gloves, safety goggles, and a mask are essential to protect yourself from the little particles flying away. He spent like 2 hours, including coffee breaks, to finish the job.

You can see immediate results. This is the same rail just sanded. It needs to be done this well for the rust to stop.

With his job done, it was now my turn to prime and paint.  For Priming, I used Rust Reformer (specially formulated to stop rust) and for painting, I used a Protective Black Enamel on a Gloss finish, both products by Rust-Oleum.

|  Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer  |  Rust-Oleum Gloss Protective Enamel Black  |

After covering the surfaces that we didn't want to spray, I began using the spray primer.  Notice how nice those bushes were already looking and no more dead plants insight.

I continued applying the primer, but oh Lord! I need to invest in one of those spray adapters you attach to these cans because at the end of the day I couldn't point at anything. My finger was so sore!

One side primed, the other one sanded. It was getting dark, but I wanted to finish priming.

Both sides are primed and ready to be painted after waiting 24 hours for the primer to set.

Which side is Painted and which one is just Primed?

You guessed it right! The right side is the one already painted.
You can tell by how shiny it looks.

Close up... Beautiful, smooth, shiny black paint. :)

And here, you can see the difference pretty well between each step.

I love the end result!

Looking at the yard from far away, again, is not that big of a difference, but during the two hours the mister was there sanding the railing, I managed to:

1. Clean the yard, dead plants and weeds are gone.
2. Trim the Boxwood bushes.
3. Divided two plants and planted them in empty spots. I even managed to give the edge a pristine, sharp look. ;)

It was a lot of work, it doesn't show that much, but we are happy with a job well done.

Next weekend we're going to deal with the remaining issues.  Planting some flowers will be the sure way to brighten up the space.

Until next time!