The Madness Continues

Thank you so much, everyone, for the feedback on the house paint colors! I really appreciate it, and it's heartening to hear so many people say, "Go bold!" Maybe I'm not losing my mind? I probably am anyway. At least there's some OCD going on here. Are you ready for round 2??

After eliminating (or perhaps moving upstairs to the bedroom) River blue, we turned our attention back to Vanderberg blue, which was my original color of interest when I first started trying to pick a paint. Ironically, Val, we discovered after we bought the testing samples that Yorktown green, which you love, is essentially the exact same color. Yorktown should technically have a tiny shade more green in it than Vanderberg in some light, but mostly they look indistinguishable from one another. So... I managed to pick out the same shade twice from hundreds of colors in the deck, listed under two different names in two different color collections (Vanderberg is a "Classic Color" and Yorktown is a "Historic Color"). Fate, perhaps? Insanity? I'm focusing on Vanderberg just because I found it first and I like the name better! Here's the board painted Vanderberg blue:

Too teal?

Up against our side door, which is black with white trim like the front door

And, again, in many kinds of light...

With Maggie! She and Kate picked blue over grey, so that's their opinion on the record, for what it's worth.

The neighbors behind us also have a blue house, and while it's a shade we like very much (lighter and grayer, no green; a very common and classic New England color), we are trying to avoid painting our house exactly the same shade - seems a bit stalkerish!

And then there is this house. It's in a neighboring town and Mike and I ran across it on the way to a gardening center (I know, what has become of my life?!) last weekend. It used to be a kind of taupe-putty color until it was recently painted this color! It's a bit lighter and greener than we wanted to do, but it's striking. According to zillow.com, this house is worth $1.3M and it's HUGE - what do you think, crazy or genius?!

Teal Zeal

Waaaaay back a long time ago, I wrote a post on this blog about trying to pick a shade of white to paint our whole house interior. There are so many shades of white and they all look very similar when you're just staring at tiny squares of paper. After a while I had a kind of snow blindness and just threw up my hands and picked a color and ran with it. It's turned out fine, but it was stressful.

You know what's worse than that? Way worse than that?? Picking a color to paint the shingles on the outside of your house. Way worse. Especially when your husband is color blind and can't help you at all and the neighbors already hate the current shade of turquoise (which you secretly love even though you know it's a bit too much really) and almost all the other houses on your street are just white even though the rest of your neighborhood town area state looks like an Easter basket.

I'm having a small mid-life crisis about this paint color thing. I know that no matter what color I choose some people are going to love it and some people will inevitably hate it. I know that whether you love turquoise or not, the current paint is chipping and horrible and any color of paint at all will look better merely because it will be clean and new and smooth. I know it's only going to last about 5-7 years (think of it, Maggie's already 4 years old - how time flies!) and we can choose a new shade then if the color isn't awesome. I know terrible things are happening in Libya and I'm fretting about paint. I know, I know!!

My problem is that I hate the idea of going from TURQUOISE!! to *boring* and just choosing a safe color where the house loses all it's fun personality. I hate the idea of settling for something safe just to please the neighbors who all like white. But in my heart of hearts I know that I'm really not that much of a renegade and I don't want people blaming me for their falling property values (as if they aren't bad enough already). And I'm not so brilliant with color and visualization that I feel confident choosing something off beat and having it come out perfectly. What if it ends up looking like a circus tent?

We've driven around looking at houses in the area trying to find one that is painted a color we like. There is a house of nearly every single color you can imagine within 10 miles of ours, but I just can't seem to find exactly the one that makes me feel confident. Some are too green, some are too blue, some are too light, some are too dark, etc...... I really think Mike wishes I would just shut up about it already. You probably wish I would just shut up about it already, and you're only 5 paragraphs into this here (and maybe a couple of several emails if you're related to me).

At any rate, here's where we stand at the moment.

I know, isn't that board hilarious. I asked Mike to paint a largish piece of wood from his basement collection of pieces of wood in a color I'm considering so that I could carry it around outside in different light and see it away from the turquoise. He and his dad cheerfully added this front door and trim to it for me. It's nice to see the contrast with the black (our front door is black) and white, but... it's a little cute. Especially when I'm dragging it around the house taking photos of it. However, Kate loves it.

The color swatches on the house are (above) Narragansett green, Yorktown green, (below) Knoxville gray, Templeton gray, Vanderberg blue, and River blue, all by Benjamin Moore.

The board is painted Knoxville Gray, which is the front runner at the moment. I had really wanted to do a dark teal, hoping to bring down the turquoise a notch or two without giving up the WOW factor of a bold color. Teal on the exterior takes some moxie that maybe I just don't have in the end. (I'm so disappointed in myself.) I like gray, but I felt like it might be too boring and conventional. Knoxville Gray is leading the pack right now because it does have kind of a teal undertone to it. It's a pretty weird color that seems to change shades in different light. Check this blog out to see a designer's photos of it under different light in an interior. I love the fact that it has a chameleon quality to it, even if it is just plain ole gray.

Are you still awake? Did you pass out from the monotony just then? Or do you find this scintillating? Perhaps you're loving this?? Eh, eh?? You are still reading this, you glutton for punishment. Is it because you just can't get over how cute that little door is? It's even got a doorknob. Hilarious, right?

One last thing before you run off. Here's a shot of the color of my dreams, River blue.

Pretty, right? But here's what it looks like in bright sunshine:

ACK!! Circus tent!! Oh well, I think we're just going to try it out painted on the walls in our bedroom instead. I think it'll look gorgeous with my lime green sheets and maybe a yellow throw pillow or something.

Maggie Sez...

... Mrs. Pruney dropped all the tea cups in the soup, Mom!

Me: Who is Mrs. Pruney?

My imaginary mom. Mrs. Pruney is a VERY good mom!

What about me?! Aren't I a good mom?!

Yes, you're my real mom, and you're also a very good mom, but Mrs. Pruney is a VERY good mom.

How is she such a good mom?

She's not like you, she let's me stick my fingers in my nose.

I don't think I can compete with that.

iBuns

Ring, ring! Hi Mags, it's me Kate.


Hey. I'm eating lunch, what's up?


Hold on a sec. I've got another call.


Oh, it's just my accountant. I'll call him back later. I was calling to find out if you already ate all the cherries out of your fruit cocktail, and if not, can I have one?


Sorry dude, cherries are gone.


Oh well, it was worth a try.


No prob... Oops, the call dropped. This stupid hot dog bun gets terrible reception.

This is what we do around here on rainy days.

Tu(n)esday

I haven't posted one of these in ages! It's not that we haven't bought any good new music lately, it's just that I'm a slacker. But I'm here to make it up to you...

Here are a few Justin Townes Earle videos:







I can just sense my brother-in-law Roger rolling his eyes at the hillbilly-palooza on display here. Don't worry, we'll bring him over to the dark side eventually.

She Don't Get No Respect

My cousin Amy recently sent me an email full of corny jokes which reminded me that I needed to share about Maggie's current infatuation with telling jokes. She loves them, the cornier the better! They are made hilarious to us by her uniquely four-year-old style of punchline delivery and the fact that she laughs with such delight after each one even though she's told it a hundred times already. Here are some of her favorites:

Why did the chicken cross the street (yes, she usually says street instead of road)?
To get to the other side

What do you call cheese that doesn't belong to you?
Nacho cheese

What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
*sniff sniff* Do you smell carrots?

Why was six afraid of seven?
Because seven ate (eight) nine

What did A say to B?
AHHHHHH!
(This joke was originally made up by our friend Kevin's daughter, who is the same age as Maggie. Maggie thinks it's brilliant, so they are obviously on the same wavelength.)

My mom says she's going to bring Mags a bag of Laffy Taffys so she can work on some new material! I'm sure she will love that.

Maggie Sez...

... Wanna play a game called Two Kids Stuck in a Bucket with me, Dad?

Kate wasn't allowed to play because the game wasn't called Three Kids Stuck in a Bucket.