House Painting, DIY Tools, and a Birthday

Some time ago, I told you we were painting our house.  That was quite an intense project, especially considering I left when it was about three-quarters done and spent 24 hours staying with a friend and painting in their house which they were getting ready to sell.  Quite a week that was... here are the results.

Sadly, I did not take any "before" photos... (WHAT was I thinking?)  You can see from these pictures what the color was... we had stained this new siding when we put it up 10 years ago.  It was in sad shape and we were sick to death of the color.

I had help with the priming...

My job was to do all the low parts-- primer and two coats of paint.  Up to the tops of the windows and doors is what we deemed "low." Nathan is better with tall ladders (well, that is debatable considering the risks he takes... but he is bolder anyway) so he did all the high work.

Here is the finished color.  Not sure how you may see it on your screen, but it is a greenish gray.  In bright sunlight it looks more green.  I just last week painted the doors... and I don't like the door color.  I really wanted red doors.  Of course.  Of course I wanted red doors.  And my sweet, tolerant husband expressed being a little tired of my red accents.  "What's wrong with white?"  I said a door should be a cheerful pop of welcoming color.  "How about yellow?"  I didn't love the idea, but I set out to try yellow.  But this shade I ended up with is exactly like that popular 70's color, Harvest Gold. I just really don't like it.  But I'm stuck.  Not sure where to go with that.  Maybe I'll repaint it with the trim color for now and revisit that problem in the spring.

You can also see the new patio that Nathan did in the spring.  It's not done, of course... those front blocks that are slanted are temporary pending a small retaining wall with a flowerbed.  Next spring also, hopefully.

We painted not quite half the house.  You can see the old siding with brown paint almost all flaked off.  That siding all needs to be replaced still, hopefully next year, and then we can finish the paint job.  The sides that look bad are of course the sides that face the roads...  It looks really terrible, I can tell you that.  But it's come a long ways and we are glad for it!

After house-painting I have had several other projects in the works, none of which I can show you yet.  It will probably be a couple weeks before I can post about them, but I will.

In the process of these other projects, I really needed a light table.  I do not own such a thing, but I managed to DIY one, with much patting of my own back.  Behold:

I inverted a clean plastic storage bin on the table and put a desk lamp under it.  I used a piece of plexiglass which I have for painting and placed it on top for a clear, flat surface.  It was the perfect height to stand and work at, worked wonderfully, and my children were fascinated with the glowing box on the table. 

One more newsworthy bit is a birthday here this week.  I have always let the kids choose the cake flavor AND decide what they want the cake to represent.  They pick something out of their interests and imaginations and I do my best to make the cake as they specify.  We have had lots of fun with this tradition.  This time Andrew said "I want apple cake."  Okay, I said, but what do you want it to look like?  "Like an apple." was his reply.  

It's pretty crazy, but it is apple shaped, and everyone loves a caramel apple, right?  He insisted it have a stem, too.

 He turned 5!