How to decorate an exterior, and in which order.

If you have fascias and soffits to paint, do these first.
It’s always best to remove the gutters so you can paint behind them properly; this is where they can start to rot. It’s also a good time to clean out the gutters and wash them before putting them back.
If the fascias and soffits are dirty, give them a wash down first, and then dry them off. Now rub them down, remove any flaking paint. If you have any bare wood paint them with a primer.
Next undercoat them with a suitable undercoat, then you can topcoat them with a gloss.
Obviously if your fascias and soffits are stained, you would simply do as above but paint them with two or more coats of stain rather than primer, undercoat and topcoat.

Next if your walls are painted, paint these next.
Before you jump straight in, rub your hand over the wall, look at your hand; does it have a powder on it? If so this means the paint already on the wall has been affected by the sun and weather. You will need to ‘stabilise’ the walls first, this sounds dramatic and as if the walls are about to fall down, but it isn’t. All you need to do is buy some ‘stabilising solution’ and brush it onto the walls. What this solution does is ‘stick’ and seals the old paint giving you a good surface to paint onto.
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