What I Did for My Summer Vacation

[akirlu]

My vacation so far, anyhow. I will be vacating and working on this for a couple of weeks, I think. I'll probably try to take an hour or two a day off work for the duration, because I'm not much good at painting full time. Anyway, yes, I finally took the plunge and started re-painting the house. I've never been fond of the previous color, anyway. Then recently some painters were canvassing the neighborhood offering quotes. $1800 they wanted. Yeah, no. I may be slow, but I'm cheap. And HomeDespot had a sale on paint, including their new Behr base-and-paint-in-one paint, and the weather forecast looked good for painting, so my house will be red ("Forbidden Red," forsooth) with white trim. Eventually. Right now it's parti-colored and a bit-scrofulous-looking, but once the second coat is on, I believe it will be beautiful. It had darned well better be. Because I can tell already that I am not re-painting any time soon. I'm hoping I started with the hard side. Please, lord.

Speaking of parti-colored, before I committed to a paint color I used the shed for doing test samples, so it's a real work of art at the moment:



I'm glad I bought sample pots this time -- both of my first choices based on paint chips turned out to look less than ideal on a larger surface. The barn red was too orange and the cherry was too pink. So we settled on Forbidden Red, which I'm thinking is an allusion to the Forbidden City -- it's a Chinese red, symbol of good fortune and prosperity and all that. I'm all for it.

And in other news, I've actually managed to keep one of my Trader Joe's el cheapo Phalaenopsis orchids alive long enough long enough that it's blooming again. God alone knows how that happened.

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Two years??? Well, I hope to be faster than that, anyhow. Ideally, I'd like to be done before August, but I'll settle for being done before the end of summer if I must.

Yeah, I'm very impressed with the re-bloom myself. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's something I can duplicate. The other orchid of the same vintage shows no sign of a second bloom.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That orchid is just stunning.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Wow, red! Lovely color on a house, but getting it opaque can be tricky. I see what you mean about the pink and orange, though.

Um, may the Force be with you (because I'm not going to be able to visit and help).

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yes, I had forgotten about the opaque problem. I'm really hoping two coats will do it...

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Oh, red! Falu red, nearly!

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Good eye! Yes, Falu red is the aim point, unsurprisingly. For all that they're so traditional and all, I've never actually lived in a house that was painted Falu-red & white house. So, now that I have a chance to fix that, I am.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, nothing like painting the house yourself to see why it costs so much to have somebody else do it. It's a lot of effing work.

So what's with calling it Forbidden Red? Is it so you feel transgressive using it? Ha ha ha, I flaunt your forbidding!

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

It is a lot of effing work. But as long as the weather holds (ho, ho) I can just keep doing a little bit at a time until its done.

Yes, I do like the transgressive aspects of the red being forbidden, but in truth, I really do think it's some paint company marketing drobe making an allusion to the Forbidden City in Beijing. There's a lot of it that's painted dark red.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Hm. You should consider putting a large portrait of Chairman Mao on the front of your house. And a colonnade.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Okay, there, I've considered it.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I hope I've helped you better appreciate what you have.

[chiefwirehead.livejournal.com]

I'm also impressed at the re-blooming.
We were given an orchid as a gift about a year ago - maybe the same kind, not sure, looks similar - and I'm mostly happy its still alive & green. I spritz it everytime I take a shower, but not sure what other encouragement to give.