Foolsewoode Redux...

Foolsewoode Before:

Foolsewoode After:

A permanent face lift in the form of a fresh new coat of paint (or in the case of the Sun Dried Tomato...several coats of paint...ahem) I have been planning and waiting for about 7 years to paint Foolsewoode, as I've never been overly impressed with the stark white with green trim that this house was painted. First, I needed to do a few other improvements in the form of insulation, roof, rock work to the foundation, plumbing, pergola, and gutters...

My amazing painters (also the team that is working on resotring and eventually painting the oustide of my mother's home) started this project last week with a shorter time frame in mind that the project actually took. Apparently, when painting red...it's so dark that it is streaky enough for the need of 2+ coats on most of the surfaces. Lucky for us, I chose the Sun Dried Tomato for the accents (the screens, inside window trim and doors) but it was still quite time consuming.

The fact that I now have red doors and window sills makes me swoon with happiness.

I am so utterly blown away by the results of the painting (and believe me, at one point Taylor and I were standing looking at the house both trying to reassure each other away from the statement, "boy...it sure is brown!" by telling each other that it would be fine once the trim was painted on. Of course, after having a stark white house with green trim...it would certainly seem that way)

After having planned this project in my head for so long, it was almost a bit surreal that it was actually happening (after all, 4 years ago when I had the pergola put in, I had it matched to what I thought was going to be my eventual window trim color...it was perfect!) and I could barely picture what Foolsewoode would look like with new paint. I think the house finally looks like a house. The color weights it down and makes for some pretty classy lines, making all the details pop a little bit more. We used a color palette chosen from the Historical Arts & Crafts Palette from Sherwin Williams, the body is Craftsman Brown, the window trim is Roycroft Velum and the accents, screens and doors are Sun Dried Tomato (which is not part of their historic palette, but one that I grabbed on an accidental whim) in a semi glossy BEHR paint that looks both very rich and very permanent (and will be helpful in protecting my old craftsman wood)

(They also painted my wicker chair and ottoman and my patio table cream as a total surprise bonus!)

My only real complaint at this point is that the sky was so overcast this morning while I was taking the pictures, I think they could have been much better. There's one shot that I want to take to show you how well the rock and the roof look with the new colors as well...but it will have to wait.

As for now, I am having a hard time leaving the house because all I want to do is stand outside and stare at it...and every time I come home it's like an amazingly happy surprise. I think a party may be in order.

(Meena is also happy that the house is done...no more power washing, closed windows during the hottest week of the year, or people there all day doing things...)

I highly recommend:

Double Action Contracting LLC
Taylor Burk (928) 830-3816
Sean Smith (928) 533-7479

For their professionalism, extremely hard work, great clean up, all the prepping (sanding, washing, repairing, and caulking), their happy attitudes every day they showed up to my house, and their overly reasonable bid to do this job.

I am one happy gal!
(Especially when I open my red red door in the mornings...)