A New Look

While we were out of town, the painters were busy.  For the past couple of years, I've been considering this color and that, trying to find just the right color for our house.  We live in the Central Valley, where houses are beige and grey and cream and maize and the colors of the land when shrouded by fog.  In the winter, when we do have fog, the view can be dreary and depressing.  Same thing during the summer, when the heat and the haze beat down the landscape.  Everything is drab and dusted in dirt, especially now, in the midst of this drought.

Our house looked like this:

When we bought it, it was shades of grey, with a bit of white on the lapboard.  When we painted it the first time, we thought it would be light blue, with medium blue trim.  Instead, it came out "white," with Disneyland blue trim.  Oh.  My.  It's been this color for at least 10 years, and I've never been happy with it.

It needed painting, and this time I told my husband to trust me.  oh my.  I barreled through, painting patches in the shade, in the sunlight, next to the brick, making sure that I liked the chosen color.  I did.  I liked it everywhere I painted it.  So I went with Acapulco Cliffs, expecting something happy and beachy.

The camera doesn't capture the color.  In real life?  In the brutal light of the sun?  It's the color of Gumby.  I wish I were joking.

The good news is that it looks crisp and clean, and that part of the assault on the eyes comes from all the shrubberies that were pulled out to access the walls to paint them.  I think a trip to the nursery is in order, despite the lack of water.  (Notice the lawn?) 

The color is growing on me, but it's definitely deeper than I expected.  I thought it would be more like the 6-foot section of a swimming pool, not 12-feet deep!

The other good news is that the neighbors are still speaking to me.  I've only seen one do a head-fake and scurry back into his house.  wow.  Paint is tricky.  Too back I couldn't have covered the house in fabric!!!