Pictures from my Canvas

Tonight I am going to help our Associate Pastor with the Middle School youth group.  We are going to be baking dozens and dozens of cookies for our church and I can only imagine the mess, and the fun.  I've been trying to do some more volunteer work now that I am more settled into staying home full time.

I've also been trying to finish up some painting projects outside and I need 3 days to get the jobs done.  It looks like the weather will be in my favor this week and then I will be spending a week deep cleaning my house.  It needs it.

All of my posts on painting the fence brings me to sharing about painting our house and what it takes to paint the details on a house such as ours.  

My house has become my artistic canvas.  This week I painted two windows which I never got to the last time we painted the house.  They are on the south side of the house and are blocked by trees so aren't really noticeable.  To give you an idea of what it takes to paint a house like ours, here is a closeup of one window.  There are five colors in this picture and you can see the thin stripes of yellow that I have to use a small artist's brush to paint. 

Here are the spindles: 

As you can see in this picture there is a small brown stripe towards the top of the spindles that I have to use a 1/8" wide brush to paint. 

Here are the porch posts:



Again, more details and striping.

All of this work to get this affect:

It's all in the details, but is it worth the work?  For now it is.  I love how this color scheme came together when we painted it a few years ago and when we go to repaint it, it won't be as difficult as we simply paint the same color on the old color.  The previous house color was a light grey with white and maroon trim.  I was constantly referring to a paint chart as I was painting the spindles or as I told people I was painting my house by numbers.  Remember those paint kits?

As time goes on I know that we will not be able to continue to paint the house like this and I do believe that we will have to hire out the 2nd story to be painted and leave the first story to us.  If we continue to live in this house until retirement and after, we will have to make the decision on whether to have the house sided.  It is a hard decision for me to make as I know the siding will cover up the beautiful millwork of the house, but it just may happen.

In the meantime, and as long as I am able, I will continue this color scheme as I enjoy it.

BTW - I haven't forgotten about my post on the living off the contents of my freezer and pantry.  That will be coming soon, I promise.