Facelift: Our House

When we bought our house 7 years ago we knew it would need to be painted fairly soon. We got a slight discount in price because it had siding that was on a defect list. However, we found out that our particular siding just needed to be resprayed on the bottom of each piece to seal it. Apparently, to us "fairly soon" is a very subjective term.

It was a light blue-gray color with a darker blue trim and gutters. Out here in the country I can see why the former people chose a color that might melt into the sky. The scenery is so gorgeous that you wouldn't want a house to clutter it up too much. But it was definitely NOT us. And it was becoming kind of old and faded looking and, well, just not crisp and clean - or even warm. It just looked like it was about worn out.

For seven years it stayed two shades of blue, more and more faded, with more bare spots as time went by. Then a few years ago we added on to our house. The new part of the house was covered with siding that came already painted with primer in a tan color. The way the house is designed it didn't stick out as much as you'd think, having two different colors. But now it most certainly needed to be painted.

A couple weeks ago we were finally able to locate a painter who could do a smack up job for a great price, and now our formerly faded, tired looking house has a brand new look.. and it holds a surprise too!

Here are some pictures of the newly painted house. This will also show you some of why I haven't been around on my blog much the past month.

I took this picture to remind me of just how many paint colors we tried before we got what we were looking for. We wanted people to have to ask themselves " Is this house tan or green?". We like to keep people guessing.

With new paint on only the patchwork area and one garage door, this shot of the front gives you an idea of the former colors. What you don't see are the spots of bare wood on many parts of the trim (note adorable big brother carrying baby brother).

We finally ended up going with a custom mixed color for the main body of the house. We painted two of our architectural features a half shade lighter, as well as the areas just surrounding both front entry doors. The trim is the lightest color in the family. And we added a totally different color to the overall mix by painting the face boards just under the gutters a very dark shade of purple. In some lights it even looks black.

Here is what you see as you come up our driveway, which is actually the back of the house.
The two bumped out, kind of rounded places, are the areas where the paint is a half shade lighter.

And here, TA-DA!! is the surprise...

I am suddenly feeling a little more cheerful and a little whimsical and garden-y when I walk up to our Overtly Green door (which still has no hardware!). I told you, we like to keep people guessing!

We figure a house is kind of like a sofa. You should make sure it's conservative and that you can live with it for a long while. And a door is kind of like your pillows and room accents. Go wild if you want to. They are inexpensive and easy enough to change later, right?

I love this color of green. You can search on the internet and come up with all sorts of opinions about what green means and how it makes us feel. But this color reminds me of the newest sprouts of growth on a plant just coming back after a long winter -- refreshed. It is also the color of baby plants coming up for the first time -- new life. And it is the color of some beautiful accent plants we love to use in our hanging pots as well as our gardens, like the Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea) in the huge floral beauty hanging on one end of our garage.

We are really happy with all of our paint choices, even though it took us awhile. I guess all of that running back and forth between home and the paint store with little quarts of paint paid off. Hopefully soon we will find hardware for the door that we love just as much.

And with this beautiful scene to look at from our house, what's NOT to like about any shade of green?