Color Help Needed

We are finally beginning the project of fixing up the outside of our house. (I'll spare you the entire history of this endeavor.) We are down to the point of choosing paint colors for the windows, eaves, front and back porch walls, ceiling, trim and floors.

Here's the trick: for now, the north side of the house has siding which is a sort of oatmeal tan color. The rest of the house is the burnt (but dirty) red color, and the trim is currently cream. We will need to choose a trim color and colors for the porch which will be painted before the rest of the siding will go on. The timing for finishing the siding will be measured in months, and hopefully not too far into the double digits.

Ideally, then, the color for the trim will need to contrast with the siding and coordinate well with the brick on the front porch, but also not look completely ugly when contrasting with the burnt red, which our neighbors to the south will have to endure for a little while longer.

And I have no sense of color, which is why I am posting these pictures and asking for ideas.

Without further ado:Here is the siding with current cream trim. (And yes, the contractor admits it was a mistake not to paint the trim first.)

This shows the north side of the house and the brick of the front porch. Note that the ceiling of the porch is the same cream color right now.


Here's the front porch. The green carpet is going to be ripped out.

Here is the in-process south side of the house where the wood is being repaired and the eaves are being primed.

What was suggested to me was to do the trim and eaves in a forest green, and to paint the front and back porch to match the siding. The green would contrast nicely with the siding and the brick, and not look too hideous with the burnt red. The color for the floors of the porches is still up for grabs, but obviously something that would hide dirt decently.

The house next to us (north side) is also getting a face lift, and it has a nice forest green on its upper portion.

I do think it looks nice with the brick.

So, I need some comments and feedback. I just have no visual sense whatsoever. I had wanted the whole house to be a deep blue, but that was before we realized that siding was how we needed to go (lest the house crumble to bits in a few years).

Oh, Craft...

My children love Christmas decorations. And they have a minor bone to pick with their liturgy-obsessing mother who strives to allow Advent be Advent and Christmas to start on December 25 and continue until Epiphany. Looking around our neighborhood at all the sparkly lights, they wonder why I insist on waiting for the feast of St. Lucy to turn on lights. Of course, it would help if we had a tree up, but that will come as well...

So for weeks now, my children have been asking to decorate with lights. Last week we got to the stage of pulling the lights out of boxes and testing them. Today temperatures reached the 50s. I knew it would be now or never that we pursue the whole decorating-with-lights thing. So this morning, we finished testing all the lights, and I picked out one survivor: an innocent enough looking string of white lights. I announced that either we could have a simple string of lights hanging somewhere on the porch, or we could make a very simple shape with it.

Maybe you are picking up a vibe here. Truth be told, I hate decorating. I have no talent for crafty things or pretty decorations, and I have even less interest in same. I would be fired on my first day as a preschool teacher. I just hate crafts.

My daughter wanted the lights to become a snowflake; my son wanted them to become Santa Claus. How do you expect this string of lights to turn into Santa Claus I barked, patience already dangerously thin. I offered that we could do either a bell or a star. We agreed upon a star.

Ok, so now I'm really snookered. I have a string of lights, and I've promised to turn it into a star. What was I thinking.

I am not a visual person. I cannot picture objects in my mind in a way that allows them to be reproduced in reality. So, I googled a picture of a star and called for cardboard. I had a rough idea of creating a star pattern and hanging lights on it. Only, it needed to be pretty big, so I would need to enlarge my template. This was getting ugly. I thought "protractor," and realized we haven't one (at hand at least). Then I thought "yardstick." Ditto. "Eraser." Ditto. What kind of a family doesn't have these basic tools laying around?!? I wondered. In the meantime, I told my son, "You know how much you like sitting down and doing multiplication problems? That's how much I like making crafts." I just don't. My mind does not work this way. Crafts and I are about as incongruous as a heavyweight wrestler in a tutu. This is not computing.

I'm thinking isosceles triangle, and trying to estimate the ratio of the straight lines in my template with the size of the chopped open cardboard box I'm working with. Patience is way gone. The careful geometric reproduction I've labored over comes out looking like a bloated spaceship.

What the heck, draw it freehand, I say, and in ten seconds it looks as decent as I can make it. I cut it out, and I think about why we bother with stars at Christmas time. Pontification to my children ensued: "You know, the star showed the wise men where to find Jesus. So, if we have a star, we are letting people know they can find Jesus here with us." My son laughed. "Yeah, right! They're not going to find Him sitting in our living room." "Maybe He'll be standing," I say, impatience making me feel sarcastic.

Later, as we added the lights, we all braced ourselves for the prospect of our craft looking ugly. "That's ok," I said out loud. "Sometimes that's pretty close to the way we make Jesus known, so at least it is realistic."

We finished it, and hung it in the hallway window so that elements wouldn't destroy it, but it would still be seen from outside. My son beamed from outside. "Mission accomplished!" he shouted. My daughter proclaimed it "so pretty."

Golly, was I glad to see my children's satisfied smiles. At one point during the conflagration, I had literally snarled at my son, "The only reason I'm doing this is that I love my children and I want them to be happy!!" As we finished up, he thanked me for my effort, despite hating doing it. "You're welcome" said I, feeling quite a need for a time-out to calm myself down.

And then there was the Jesse tree frame I made this morning as well...

Ok, I'll show you the pictures, and I give you permission to chuckle. Just don't do so audibly into my combox, please!

The star, inside view.

The Jesse Tree

Advent is Coming! Advent is Coming!

Pardon me while I feel a bit dragged out...



I don't really know if it is the flu, exactly, but I'm taking my Influenza remedy #26 just to be on the safe side.

And then my daughter reminded me this morning that it is almost the beginning of Advent. I love Advent. It is my very favorite liturgical season. But it always sneaks up on me! Even doing Nablopomo this month was supposed to remind me to get ready to get ready. So, I want to try to start facing that way. Just as soon as I can face some direction that isn't the ceiling, at least mentally. I like to empty out our living space a bit to slowly add in Adventy and Christmasy things. My brain is still so stuck in May or June.

Gardeners, Lend Me Your Thumbs (Or at least your ideas!)

We are enjoying a Spring-like day, so we've been outside this afternoon. Ok, so it's only 48 degrees, but the sun is shining! I'm attracted like a moth to a lightbulb.

But, when I venture out my door, I discover that our little side yard is a complete mess. There's something about spring and hope for change that spurs me to wonder whether I could do something different with this little plot of ground which seems to only be effective at gathering dead fall leaves.

I enjoyed all the feedback from my request for interior decorating ideas last spring, so I thought I'd try again with this gardening thing. That is, if you aren't disillusioned by the fact that I still have not painted my living room or purchased drapes. When our shade broke I hung a blanket over the rod. Hey, it's attractive enough. Have I mentioned that I am decorating-challenged?

So, here's what I have to work with:

And yet another view


Here are a few facts to consider. This is on the north side of the house, so it gets some morning sun, but not much. There is supposed to be a border of slate rock around the dirt, but as you can see it has pretty much been destroyed. We have this tenacious ivy that refuses to die, even after numerous attacks. We also have a large bed of hostas that grow closer to the fence. We plan to have the house painted (that's been the plan for the last two years!) and the rotting wood repaired. So complete destruction of the current, motif (if you can call it that) would be very doable.

Can anything pretty grow without lots of sunshine? Can anything kill off ivy? I'd love to do a "natural" look with wildflowers, but I have my doubts. This blog post is the most attention I've given this piece of ground in almost a year, and I'm not likely to give it more anytime soon.

Realistic ideas, anyone?

Advent Prep, Made Physical (Finally)

I had envisioned a lot more of this kind of thing this Advent, but today I had a burst of energy and creativity and patience to clean out the living room and put up the first of our decor. Above you see our table decked out with tablecloths and tiny Jesse tree (and one wise man, journeying), and the mantle bedecked with our creche and some candles. Our two Advent wreaths are there, one barely visible because the candles are so short (hint, they are around our large white wedding candle, the larger-than-the-rest pink candle is hidden behind it). Below we have our winter scene stuff and Christmas cards displayed for the first time ever. Off to the far right will be our Christmas tree, but I think we will hold off until Christmas Eve for that. My daughter painfully pleaded to see Baby Jesus today, but we kept Him hidden away until it is time for His appearing. I shared in her yearning...

It's Out!! Rejoice!

I know all of my faithful blog readers are waiting with bated breath to hear the news. The living room carpet is out! The floor is beautiful! It will need more washing, and the furniture is not put back yet (we are still working out how to do so). But I will post a few of the in-process pictures.

The first peel-back.

A lovely pattern is revealed.

How about a close up of that? And exactly what was someone thinking to put carpet over this in the first place?!

And in front of the fireplace, brick work and a hole are revealed. I suppose this means it was actually used as a gas fireplace at one time. Hmm.... potential here?

My son and I have been reading about microbes, dust mites and other creatures that share our lives without being seen. Talk about extra motivation to complete this project quickly. I've been saying for I don't know how long that I would hate to look at our carpet under a microscope. I'm guessing there would have been more microbes in it than there are people in China. Perhaps in the whole world!

I am just so happy! I need to play the Peanuts theme and dance on the new floor!

More pictures to come when we get the room refurnished.

Last Saturday's Accomplishment

Although it isn't part of our living room, I include these pictures of our upstairs hallway. The carpet was all connected, so out it came. I finished the whole upstairs on Saturday afternoon. The wood is much lighter than downstairs, and a bit worn and stained in different ways than downstairs. But I love it!

And I thought I'd throw in a picture of the top of the hallway, featuring our (broken) stained glass window. Fortunately we have all of the pieces that have broken off the window, and perhaps someday we need to get it fixed.

Currently I have about 3/4 of the downstairs entry hallway finished. The wood is lovely, but very dark. My next item of research will need to be the sanding and revarnishing process.

The Window Exposed

I took down the curtains and rolled up the shade this morning to reveal a beautiful window. The only downside is that we are so close to the street that there is little privacy without some kind of covering. The window and wood are both in excellent shape however.

Compare!

Progress

The steps are nearly bare. They haven't been scrubbed yet to remove the bits of glue (or perhaps melted foam pad?) from the rise of some steps, nor the dirt. Remaining are the strip off the last step that covers the rising portion, and the top step and landing. And of course, the rest of the steps going up, the hall way, the bedrooms, the living room and the downstairs hallway.

But I do think they look lovely, in a worn, homey sort of way.

Compare with the "before" picture showing the steps:

This is What Committment Looks Like

I started ripping out the carpet today. The wood is a bit worn on the step, and the wooden strip used to nail the carpet in does a bit of a number on the varnish. But anything has to be better than old filthy carpet!

Ideas, Please!!

Work on our living room has been long anticipated. I've decided to begin in earnest gathering ideas for re-doing it. The only difficulty is that my ability to visualize what might look nice leaves me lacking. Heck, my ability to look at a finished room and notice when it is ugly is not that strong, either. Hence, when we bought this house three years ago and the living room came as is (minus several stains on the already worn carpet), I was pleased that the curtains and the carpet matched. I didn't even really notice that the carpet was probably going on to 25 years old and desperately needed to be replaced.

So, I am trying to enlist the suggestions of anyone who feels they like to work with color or rooms or anyone who is willing to give a suggestion. Below are the photos of the current situation. Here are the non-negotiables: First, the carpet is being ripped out and the hardwood floor below exposed. Second, no painting the woodwork. Third, we have two young children, and we "decorate" with them in mind. The rest is up for grabs. I'm thinking it is about 14 x 15, something close to that, at least.

This is the front window. What you can't see from this picture is the design in the top of the window, similar to the side windows, below. I probably need a better picture of this.

Ok, so this is a bad picture of the staircase and entry hallway taken in the living room.

This is a wider angle picture of the front window, showing also the smaller side window with beveled glass, hinting at the ceiling fan, and the obvious white walls.

This is the view from the entry hallway into the living room. You see the two small windows, the fake fireplace, the light green print wallpaper and most of our current furniture layout.This is a close up of one of those windows, and a better view of the wallpaper and mantle. This window has the curtain rod taken off; you can see the white band on the opposite window in the picture above that previously held a valence type thing identical to the one on the hallway window, second picture.

Here is a brighter picture of that fake fireplace.

Here is a detail of the stenciling currently over the archways and the front window. You can also see the blue wallpaper in the dining room a bit.

Here is a wider angle picture of the archway into the dining room. I suppose that room needs attention, too, but one thing at a time :). The flooring in the dining room is a laminate we put down to protect the hardwood floor which was bare when we moved in. The actual floor is dark, much closer to the color of the woodwork.

This is the view looking towards the front door and shows the exposed hardwood floor at the entryway for an idea of the color.

This is the view standing at the front door looking into the living room and towards the dining room.

This is the view standing at the front door looking straight ahead.

This is the front door.

So, what do you think?

Renovations

Ok, so I haven't completely fallen off the face of the blogosphere.

Yesterday I had an inspiration and a surge of energy, and took the carpet out of my son's room. Probably not a week goes by that I don't look at one or the other of our old, sorry looking carpets and fantasize about ripping it out. When I vacuum I often test corners to see just how easy it might be to take it up, and to get a peak at what the floor looks like underneath.

So I was cleaning and vacuuming, checked out that corner, conferred with my toddler regarding her thoughts on the matter (she agreed it would be a great idea). So, I went for it.

It was old, very dirty goldenrod carpet with a decaying rubber pad underneath. Based on the discovery of a 1967 penny underneath I am guessing that either someone put that there on purpose to date the installation, or it was put in in the early 70s (goldenrod?!?) and the penny was an accident.

Good heavens -- can you imagine? Carpet almost 40 years old?

It went in a garbage truck early this morning. Have a nice time in the landfill.

The floor underneath is pretty. But someone painted about an 18 inch strip around the perimeter with brown paint.

It took me maybe 6 straight hours Tuesday, with some tidy up work today. We went to the Vigil Mass for the Holy Day on Monday night. Always seems funny because it ends up that the only days I don't go to Mass are on Holy Days that way. Twice the day before, but none on the day itself.

It struck me that I was able to get so much done because we didn't take the hour and 15 minutes out of the middle of the day to go to Noon Mass. But then it struck me another way -- just think of how much we accomplish spiritually on a daily basis by investing that time day in and day out. It is hard to measure non-tangible investments like that. But I know that the benefit is there. I do not at all care for the feeling of not going to daily Mass for any extended period of time. It's just not God's program for me. Somehow He knew that this non-schedule, non-routine person needed that anchor of a daily encounter with Him. It was His first directive to me on my road of conversion, after I got done sobbing at Him that it was so hard for me to become a Catholic, after all, I didn't know any Catholics and everyone I knew was going to reject me and oh! the pathos.

God told me then "Be going to Mass."

So I remember back to that when my son is carrying on in his dramatic way; just state the plan -- the sky is NOT falling.

Now, if only I could free the rest of the floors!