This Summer's Project: Exterior Paint

The house had just been painted when we bought it 7 years ago, but the paint hasn't held up very well. As with any old house, there are cracks that have been filled in over the years with material that probably can't stand up to the rain and sun on the south-facing side of the house.

In addition, the painter missed a few spots (quite a few, actually!). We didn't notice this until after buying the house and moving in. I guess he didn't much like going up on ladders!

This is a blessing in disguise, because we wanted to redo the color scheme anyway! The current pink and brown are fitting for a Victorian, but two of my least favorite colors!

We've gotten a few color samples. We're thinking a warm gray or taupe with white trim, and leaving the door its natural wood color (at least for now). I'm crazy about gray as a base color with earth tones in the foreground (dare I say, "pops of color"??).

Here's a sample paint inspiration on a much fancier house than ours:

Photo credit here.

You may be wondering, after all of our hands-on success with the Patio Project: will the Strubgrasses be the ones to pressure-wash, scrape, fill, brush, spray, and roll this paint on? Hell no! We are currently taking bids and excited to hand this project off to someone who knows what they're doing (and who likes going up on ladders!).

Keepin' it Rustic

I take a great deal of inspiration from DesignSponge.com and recently read a feature on fireplaces. I was surprised that many of the Interior Decorator photo worthy fireplaces are non-functional like ours. This is why I love DesignSponge - nothing has to be perfect, it just has to be well-designed and loved.

I dream of a functioning fireplace or woodstove, which would be BRILLIANT in our (chilly, high-ceilinged) living room. That project is a little daunting, however. We'd be looking at tearing out the wall, ripping out the coal chimney brick by brick, and installing either a woodstove or gas line. Although I prefer woodstoves, gas log fireplaces are actually pretty great, too. I used to scoff at them until I stayed at a place that had one. Honestly - they put out consistent heat and are super cozy.

In the meantime, we've kept the historically accurate mantle half-finished (full story on that here) and fitting of the period.