Thursday, July 10, 2014

Cape Hatteras

[I have no idea why there's this space up here, I can't delete it] It was so good to be with family again last week in Cape Hatteras. It's always way too long in between visits, so it's amazing to have been with everyone again. I'm trying very hard not to be upset that stupid Hurricane Arthur forced us all apart halfway through the trip. There was a mandatory (and our realtors took that to heart, even though we wanted to stay!) evacuation so the trip ended early. Boo. Good thing we soaked up every minute together before that happened. I took tons of photos with my tribe at this beautiful beach, with everyone getting to do their favorite activities... paddleboarding, kitesurfing, bodyboarding, catching crabs, letting off fireworks, building bonfires, chilling in the hot-tub (Pete!), splashing in the pool, catching waves, swimming, or just hanging around catching up. xoxo Til next time! Hopefully very soon...



Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Exterior Paint Saga

What should we paint the exterior of our house??? 
This is what it looked like at least a few years ago. I found this by searching the house on Google maps! Try it if you just moved into an older house - maybe it will be a different looking house and you'll get as big of a kick out of seeing how it used to look. Google maps is so amazing.  

This has been a helpful reference for seeing the house colors divided up differently from how it is today. Today the house walls are all one color, I think I like it better this way:


Below is the house in the neighborhood we really like and decided how we want it to look. Nice grey-green, ivory, and red. I think of it as an army jacket, with an ivory shirt and red lipstick in terms of proportions. We bought the paint and tested it, but I just don't love it. The red was too heavy on the green, and not enough white to give the colors a chance to breathe. The reason is our house has white cross bars on the windows, whereas they've painted theirs red. Tocco promises me we shouldn't/can't/do not want to paint our crossbars red, so they must stay white. But then that means that the shutters and trim become red and that throws off the color proportions completely. Read straight on green is too much!  So we can't do that. At all.

Here's the paint sample we were working with and example:

So now I've moved away from the red and am thinking blue-grey as the second color. Steel, slate, nautical, neutral, all good images to me. Plus I think the blue next to the green is easier on the eyes since they are analogous colors, not complementary. 


A few examples around that theme:



And my favorite (for now) and one for which I think I'll buy a sample to test at home. Where they have the "casa blanca" color we'll try something a bit more white:


Other pretty ideas:





What do you think/like? THE PAINTERS ARE COMING THIS WEEKEND. Help! But really, anything is better than what it is now...  puke.



Monday, July 7, 2014

Vacation!

We got back from our amazing vacation to Cape Hatteras yesterday. I can't wait to share some photos. I took a ton! It was soo so nice to be with family again, especially at such a gorgeous beach. Well, until Hurricane Arthur came in and swept us all away... He was definitely not invited to the party but it was so perfect while it lasted. Thanks Mom :)

The view getting there was not shabby...