As I was painting my front door turquoise last Saturday, I found myself thinking of high school English class. Do you remember your first day of high school English class? You know, the one where, after handing you a five page syllabus with a list of books to be read during the semester, the teacher calmly explained that, at the end of the semester, you would be writing a twenty page, typed (single spaced) report with properly formatted foot notes and a bibliography?
I remember sitting at my desk, still sunburned from my final day of summer vacation, staring at the neatly typed pages before me, wondering how in the world I'd ever manage to read all of those books and write that huge paper. Heck, I barely knew what a footnote was... and I most assuredly had no clue about proper format.
Just when the lump that had been in my throat was turning into a knot in my stomach, the teacher explained that when you have a mountain of work ahead of you, it's best to start at the top of the list and, rather to look at everything that needs to be done, to work through the tasks one at a time.
So, beginning last week when we closed on the French Farm Project, rather than looking at the mountain of things that need to be completed and/or repaired, I decided to start at the beginning. Yep, I started with the front and back doors to the house. These are the doors that we will open and close as we come and go and those which will welcome family and friends.
It seemed only logical that these doors should be the first to get their French Farm House makeover. I love the doors, especially the front door which has its original brass hardware and brass thresh hold. Our locksmith re-keyed the deadbolt and tightened it up for me. I polished the brass just a little bit with steel wool. I decided to leave it a slightly tarnished because, after all, this house has a history and I'm embracing
This soft turquoise is the new color for the exterior doors, shutters and garage doors at the French Farm House Project. It's Benjamin Moore Exterior paint in Historic Color HC-138: Covington Blue in a satin finish.
I love every thing about this shade! It's warm... and soft... and just bright enough to give the house a little pop of color without being in your face. The red brick on the house will be lime-washed in the near future. More on that topic when I do it.
I'll admit, the list of projects at this house is long and there are times that I get just a little overwhelmed, but then I remember English class and I remember that I'm rehabbing this house one project at a time. It makes me feel a lot better about the fact that I had to start a new page in the notebook yesterday when I added a couple of things to the list. :)
Up Next: duct work cleaning...and the Kitchen
