Army green

That's what you get when you mix colors from four other rooms in the house. I like the richness of it. It's free, too, so there's that.



I started mixing paint a few weeks ago. I'd paint a test strip next to a piece of white trim. There were several of these around the room. I finally got to a color I liked.



This morning, after the second cup of coffee, I started.



The yellow was easy to cover with such a dark shade.



During the drying time, I sewed up the $1 fabric from Wal-Mart. I've had it longer than I had the paint. It's not my best work, but it covers the brown comforter that looked great before the cat got her claws in it.







There's still no doors, to the room or closet. Those will come later. The trim needs to be painted again to match the white of the rest of the house. The windows need to be cleaned. And I need shades. I'm thinking a dark bamboo for this room, light for the computer room. White Roman shades for the rest of the house. Maybe. I only have three windows that need to be hidden from the neighbors. The rest of the house is so high off the ground, they'd need an extension ladder to peep.

The sun came out around 1pm. I saw a Monarch and black Swallowtail in the back yard. It never broke 80 degrees today. Would have been a great day to be outside.

Paint

I finally did it. I bought the paint for my front door and shutters. No, I haven't built the shutters yet. That's today's project. I'm building 4 simple shutters for the front of the house. I want three vertical boards roughly 3" x 54" with a 3/4" space between them. Two horizontal cross members will tie them together at the top and bottom. They'll be attached to the brick using Tapcon screws. The color will be revealed once the painting has been finished. It's a bold color for a single man in a small town. The lady at Lowe's who mixed the pain suggested hunter green instead. No thanks, that was the color when I bought the house. I hated it.

Other things on the agenda today include powerwashing, with bleach, the front steps and porch overhang. Spiders love this house and build webs all over the trim and brick. I'm hoping to get some of the trim painted today too. It's been a task I have put off way too long.

I'll also be sowing a few more seeds today. Annual rudbeckia that should bloom in 10-12 weeks once it germinates, two packs of Four O'clocks, and two packs of orange and yellow cosmos to replace some missing plants in the perennial bed.

It's going to be a nice day with temperatures in the mid 70s. Updates to follow.

2:38pm - Busy day. 77 and sunny.

Shutters, 3 coats of paint each side/edge. Assembled. Drying.
Front door, 3 coats of paint. Done. Need to reinstall latch and deadbolt.
Garage door, 2 coats of paint. Third coat needed.
Basement door, 2 coats of paint. Third coat needed.
Trim boards above dining room, 2 coats of paint. Done.

I've also cleaned some of the brick, which I can't really see a difference. I took down a small metal railing on the side of the front porch. I'd like to build a trellis that I have a design for in my head, but the wren in the hanging basket is having none of that. She's been disturbed enough today. I'll work on building that on my next rainy day off.

No seeds or roses have been planted yet. I'll wait now until nearly sundown to keep the stress down. Another coat of paint on the doors and I'll be ready to hang the shutters. Lots to do. I need an iced coffee.