The Painted Lady

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The house is painted! And there's not much more to say than that. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

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Painting Commences

I was going to begin this post by saying it was like Christmas morning here on Friday when the painters arrived to begin work on the exterior of the house — but then I realized I must have used that opening line before. The fact is that every time we begin a new project, the day the workers arrive is like Christmas morning. It's exciting. It's full of promise. And the biggest gift of all is to make progress.

And so it was. The painters showed up and began their work. In case you're interested, we are using a company called Detail Painting, Inc., based in Hollywood not far from here. I chose them because their ratings on Angie's List were through the roof, and so far they have lived up to their reputation. They have gone over the house with a fine-toothed comb, repairing plaster, propping up rotted wood exterior beams, and scraping away the old to make way for the new.

And what colors, you ask? Well, in the end we caved and got some professional help with the decision. A new but dear friend, Catherine, recommended Teresa Grow, who is the principal designer and owner of a company called Madison and Grow, which makes the most exquisite wallpaper. (She showed us her portfolio.) In fact, Jim and I liked both her and her wallpaper so much we are strongly considering using both inside the house. But that might take a while. I'm on a roll with this exterior stuff.

So the colors we finally chose were all from Dunn Edwards, and they are:

Dunn Edwards Paints DE6231 Shaker Gray LRV 13: Main body of the house

Dunn Edwards Paints DE6222 Weather Board LRV 28: Garden walls, front door, garage door, side garage door

Dunn Edwards Paints DEC761 Cochise LRV 58: Soffit/Trim

Now, despite what it might look like here, in all its digital glory, that Shaker Gray color is DARK. We put big swath of it on the front of the house, and I've seen caverns in New Mexico that refracted more light. But I'm both trying to keep an open mind and genuinely liking the contrast between the window frames and fireplace and this dark, rich color. We'll see how it looks when it's covering out entire house.

Until then, I leave you with our house, as it looks today, as yet unpainted: