Hi Renee,

You poor thing! There you were, slaving away, wearing yourself out painting the house the WRONG color. Oh, I'd be mad! You could have been slaving away, wearing yourself out pulling weeds, or watering, or planting, or mulching or planting....but, no, painting! Well, our house needs a new paint job soon, and I am not looking forward to it either.

I think the mint green may be a lovely background color for plants, so don't be too hasty to repaint. The lighter green might grow on you, you know.

How's the green stuff that's growing around the house?

And, thank you for the birthday wishes.

It has been VERY hot and dry here, but everything is growing like mad, so that part is good.

Good to see you back again, and I hope that your yard and garden are doing well.

Dawn

Men and women never agree on a house color do they? We are in the process of having ours painted also. We have a friend that works here but lives out of town and stays with us part of the week. When he learned we were going to paint, he wanted to do it for us. He paints after he gets off work so I expected it to take a few weeks. He just started this week and has it about a third finished, so I am pleased.

Back to that color choice thingy...my husband kept telling everyone that I was painting it "gun metal grey", and I have had all of the "battleship" stories I care to hear. I chose a flagstone grey with white trim, and I have a white metal roof. Now that it is going up, my husband loves it..............but yesterday it started all over again when our friend asked what color I was going to paint the front door. Just let me chose..........and we will both be happy.

It's just a little lake house anyway, so it will never be a mansion, but I love being at the lake (in my little grey house).

I'd like to see a couple of pictures myself.

I've been thinking about using some of my neighbors discarded fence materials from when they get their wooden fences replaced to build some rustic looking shutters for outside the windows at my house. One of the things I've been thinking about doing was painting them a pastel color like they have in Italy and the European countryside. I've been thinking a sort of lime green but a tad darker streaked with white would look good and grab attention.

What do you all think?

That sounds cool, Hank! I have a white painted brick house with dark green trim and shutters. My house was built in 1949. It is more like a little cottage. Right now the front yard is still a mess - will I EVER get it done? I'd also like to tear down part of my deck, but I can't figure out which part yet. It has 4 different levels (or 5?). The middle part is covered, and I'd definitely like to keep that. And the part that meets the patio doors off my computer/plant room. The people who lived here before extended another level from the covered portion to accommodate their hot tub, and when they removed the hot tub, they covered it with octagonal shaped decking, and made it a step higher than the other deck portions. Really weird. There are two planter boxes built to extend from the deck, but the stupid guy who built them, did it out of plywood. Well, you can imagine what they look like now. I am just going to have to rip them off. They are so tall that it takes a truckload of dirt to fill them. But, they are coming apart at the seams and I need to figure out what to do with/about them. Portions of the deck need to be replaced as well - old and rotting lumber. They didn't use deck screws, but nails (ouch!). There is a rail around the upper portion and the covered portion, but it needs some work done as well. Oh, well....best laid plans.

Congrats, Renee on completing that task! What a job that must have been, right? I know you're glad to have it done! The color may grow on you. I remember one time we saw in a Country Living magazine that a homeowner had painted their kitchen cabinets a cobalt blue and it looked so cool that we did it to our kitchen! OMG! It looked AWFUL! So much for magazines. We had to hire someone to come in and strip that goshawful paint off the cabinets and redo it in a nice cool beige. Much easier on the eyes.

Susan

Hey hope all of our stories about paint mishaps help you feel better. I once painted my living room three different times before finally finding the "perfect" color. I just made the mistake then lived with it before i could save up the budget (and energy) to do it again. Now I look at photos and am like "oh that was the year of the bannanna yellow," then "that was the year of mustard yellow" until I finally found that perfect trendy gold I was hunting for!
Soonergrandmom- have you ever considered a beautiful red door to go with your grey and white? If it was a barn red type color it really may make a great entrance!

backyardmomma - Red is what I am going to use (she says quietly so husband doesn't start in again). I actually got lots of support from the guy that is painting the house, so maybe DH will get over it. I think DH understands that he isn't going to win anyway.

The friend that is painting our house is not a painter by trade but has all of the ladders and stuff to paint. He has a very good eye and is somewhat of an artist. One night he called us out to our bunkhouse where he is staying, and took us into the bedroom and turned off the lights. Suddenly the ceiling started to glow. He had painted a night sky with "glow in the dark" paint. It is like sleeping under the night sky. In daylight it appears white and just blends in with the ceiling. It is cool.

I have been gone all morning, so I must go get a few more things planted in that grass and weed patch that was once a garden..............but my containers look nice.