This is the post I was supposed to write yesterday before I had a little meltdown. Speaking of which, thanks for all of your advice on de-stressing. Also thanks to Sara from RussetStreetReno who made me fall off my chair in laughter with this comment:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, stressed, crazy, brain fade, but…..you were wearing a SKIRT??
I’m still chuckling.
I spent some QT with my donkeys and my guy yesterday, and I took today off today(which I’d been planning to do all week) to build a cabinet for my moms bathroom. Really, nothing relaxes me like getting a little sawdust flying. Oh, AND I GOT THE SIDING ORDERED. Take that, universe.
So, anyway. It’s back to just the usual garden-variety insanity today, coupled with house-color anxiety.
I don’t know how most people do this… go into building a house with the exact colors planned out? Have an architect or designer pick them? Granted, we’ve not ever been 100% sold on an exterior color of the house, but after picking the windows, then the roof, then the fascia, I thought things might be starting to come together. But that last little bit of staining/painting I thought we would do the old fashioned way – buy some sample quarts of paint and patch tests all over the house.
I was prepared to not have to worry about it for a while. Except the lumber-yard was prepared to factory stain and prime everything at a very reasonable cost, and it’s very possible that we’re going to run out of time on this before winter.
Which is a really long winded explanation for how I ended up doing this yesterday:
Checking stain colors against the roof.
Against the doors.
Checking the house color against the fascia.
And prompting the neighbor to come over and ask me what in the hell I’m doing.
Then, since I was having trouble visualizing, I did some hasty and crappy photoshopping to help:
I showed this to MysteryMan yesterday and he was all, “it looks like water.” And I’m all, “yeah, well it’s supposed to look like wood siding.” Sheesh, do I look like Rembrandt with my mouse over here? Try squinting a little, I think that helps.
Dude is still pulling for green siding.
I remain unconvinced.
We’re also struggling with corner boards of the house, and whether or not they should be the same color as the siding, or if they should be the same color as the trim.
And if we do that, do we also do the sill as well?
Honestly, I think neither. I like the house without vertical breaks, and it keeps the emphasis on our timberfame porch. Maybe. Maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about.
So here are the exterior color questions that remain for us:
- What color are we going to paint the exterior siding?
- Do we paint the “corner” boards to match the fascia and window trim?
- Do we paint the sill to match the fascia and window trim?
- Should I just start drinking at… 10:44 AM… and avoid making any more decisions for the rest of eternity?
9 Responses
I’m a big fan of the blue siding and painting the corner boards the same color; there’s just a little too much contrast between the dark blue and the white on the edges…
Awesome stuff by the way, I believe I’ve just found a new blog to ogle over daily 🙂
Sorry, I was blurking your site off of Remodelaholic and had to comment on this post…. that blue is very similar to the blue we’re going to do on our home (ours is just a smidge lighter). I love it!
We’re going without the corner blocks, sills in a white/cream, shutters in a deep red/purple, and in the peaks/gables, we’re putting the wood shakes. The wood shakes will tie into our wood fencing and rustic wooden posts on our covered front and back porches.
That’s my story – not sure if it helps, but you’re SO not alone in the color deciding war. =)
1.) I’m really loving that blue color you have picked out.
2.) Honestly at first I thought no but after seeing your mock picture I think they really add a nice pop!. I love the timber details but from the street/far away the dark stain + dark blue = the white fascia and trim are what you notice. The corner boards add another dimension by defining the unique shape of your house. Plus I think it would help define the entry area since it’s significantly recessed. Making up a full house mock up I think would be very helpful on this one.
3.) No. It makes your house look shorter. Horizontal stripes aren’t flattering on people or houses.
4.) Yes, I’ll join you! I have almost 70 hours in this week and I still need to go in Saturday morning. Just when I thought my week couldn’t get any worse it spiraled out of control.
Hope that helped. Hang in there!
Blue siding! And I say keep the corner boards blue as well.
Hope you are well my friend…and have some indoor work for this rainy Saturday.
I love the flow of the color on the boards without the vertical breaks. Think leave the trim and sill board same color as the siding. Looks great that way in the first photo.
1. Exterior Siding=blue (sorry Mystery Man)
2. Corner Boards=same color as siding. Making them the lighter color cuts up your house and makes it look choppy.
3. Sill to match facia
4. I think four-o-clock-tails are okay but ten-o-clock-tails are not.
I have to say that I got tripped up when the skirt was mentioned too. I love the blue. It’s perfect.
1. I’m voting for the blue siding.
2. I’m torn about the corner boards. I like both.
3. The sill can be anything but hot pink
4. I ask myself the same question many times during a project. Noon is what I go with.
Ha! Skirt!
1. Blue
2. Yes, most definitely! No question!
3. Doesn’t matter, but probably no, the painted sill makes the house look a bit more squat.
4. Yep!
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