Circus House

Our first run at the color question.

The yellow was a little bold for a full house.

The back of our house looks like the circus came to town.

The paint is peeling pretty badly on some parts of our house and we have a lot of exposed wood. J and I have talked about painting it ourselves, but the best time for painting also happens to coincide with the busiest time of year at J's work. In addition, this year, we are performing in a production at the local community theater that will take all of our time and energy in September. When we looked at it realistically, we decided we would either need to have someone paint the house for us or we'd have to wait a year (or more).

The same guys who put in our wood floors in our living room are going to paint the house... now we come to the difficult decision of what color to actually paint it.

J's directive was clear: no pastels. He wanted something bright that popped. We also wanted to not shock our neighbors. We have been all over the map. I found a house in town that was yellow and green that I absolutely adored:

We chose colors that we thought matched, but the yellow was over the top. At that point, we asked - do we really want yellow - and the flood gates opened. We have gone through blues, through browns, through yellows and greens, and many bright and muted shades in between. Our dining table is covered in paint chips. The back of our house has gotten wild:

J says he likes this house:

I like it. I also like this one:

I thought about it last night and what I want from a house are something that gives me joy on gray days, but also works with our amazing garden and landscape. The thing I love about our back yard is its wildness and Wabi Sabi - ness to it. I want the house to be a part of that, not a separate entity.

Not a tall order or anything.