If It Haint Blue, Don't Paint It

"I want the body & trim white, the shutters
that very dark green that's almost black,
the front door mumble-mumble-mumble,
and the porch ceiling painted in
Benjamin Moore's Morning Sky Blue."

(Now why does this remind me of that famous scene

with Myrna Loy choosing colors in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?)

And so began the painting of That Old House, 8 days ago. 

Update as of Friday --

Sanding and scraping: done!

Priming: pretty much done.

Painting: first coat of white on about 80% of the house.

Which is all pretty exciting, but what tickled me pink today was something very blue. 

Yesterday, the porch ceiling was primed, and looked like this:

 

Today, it looks like this:

It's blue!

Why blue? 

My mother thought all porch ceilings should be blue because of the legend that blue ceilings

fool bugs into thinking that there is just sky -- air -- above the porch, and they don't nest there.

In the South, there's an old custom of painting porch ceilings haint blue to keep away

haints,

or evil spirits -- haints can't cross water, and apparently aren't the brightest bulbs

in the porch lights if they mistake a blue ceiling for a body of water.  Duh.

Third reason?  That's just my personal one.  Blue is pretty, and calm,

looks like the sky (even if you are not a bug) and helps to make a front porch

the perfect spot to relax and have a morning cup of coffee or an evening apertif.

 It's just one coat so far.  But I love it.

It wasn't until after I'd chosen Morning Sky Blue for the porch ceiling that I realized

we'd used that same color out at the beach house for one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Former sewing room at beach house, now a guest room.  In Morning Sky Blue.

 A good color's a good color, you know?

 As for the color of the front door, I'm going to make you wait for that, for a full reveal.

I hope you like it; I've managed to convert my artist daughter Anne to my side.  Kind of.  Almost.

As for using haint blue paint to keep spirits away from

That Old House, we don't need to do that.

As long as they stop stealing our silverware.

More on that in another post. . . .

Have a wonderful weekend!

You won't believe what our calendar looks like for the next week, as we approach

The Wedding Day on June 25th.  That Old House is going to be crawling with workmen,

and Howard and I have our own projects in the works; check back to see if we get it all done!

   It's a good thing we work best under pressure!  -- Cass

Noises Off

It's darned noisy around here these days.

Peek with me through the blinds next to my desk;

a couple of the painters are outside, masks on,
sanding down the crazed old paint and crackles on the porch.

Look closely -- there are hands holding a sander along the railing, and a mysterious masked man in the shrubbery in front.

I took late afternoon pictures.  The cracked old paint is smooth as a baby's behind.
Well, almost.  If my baby's bottom looked like this, I'd probably schedule a visit to the pediatrician.

But for an old porch, it's ain't bad.

The columns look terrific, clean and smooth.

And the ceiling?  Heaven.  Well, it will look more like heaven when it's painted Morning Sky Blue.

Right now it's looking clean and ready, in white primer.

 All trim and woodwork white -- and the soft blue beadboard ceiling.  Traditional old house colors.

There's always something to fix on an old house, and on this porch a bit of the soffit board was squooshy.

Squooshy in wood is not A Good Thing.

So down it came, and Danny the Painter showed me what they removed.

"We thought we'd find plywood up there," he said.  "But it's 1 x 10.  There isn't any plywood in your house!"

The rest of the soffit is fine, needing just sanding and a bit of caulk.  But plywood?  No, not on this old gal.
 
But what did go on this old gal today . . . was more primer!

Just a little yellow left on the front, along the porch walls.
Otherwise -- it's white primer, and Boy Howdy does it smell.
I love that smell; I wanted to be an art major just for the turpentine. . . . 


Okay, so this isn't her best side . . . it's primer -- like the moisturizer you put on before the foundation.
Smoothes out the wrinkles.

 There's not much yellow to be seen anymore.
My apologies to the Yellow Fans.  I hope you feel better knowing that white is the original color.

 

And that wraps up Wednesday for me.


Just a note to the wax begonias and geraniums planted along the base of the sunroom wall:
"Grow!  Grow!  Grow!  You have one week to make something of yourselves,
or be replaced with plastic flamingos!"

"But you weeds?  Die."


Tomorrow, we may see the first paint go on the house.  Whew.  It will be done before The Wedding.
Moments before, perhaps, but before, and that's all that counts.


And I'm still not telling you what color the front door will be.
Because I'm getting enough arguments from my family.  Just kidding.  Kind of.


Link Parties!
White Wednesday, at Faded Charm blog ... click here!
Outdoor Wednesday, at A Southern Daydreamer ... click here!


Go visit, have fun, check That Old House tomorrow for more painting progress,
which now that I think about it is probably as interesting to my blogger friends as watching grass grow.
Thanks for visiting!  -- Cass

Microdermabrasion for That Old House

Okay -- I am not sure I spelled that right.

But our old house is getting a major beauty treatment this week,

as a painting crew scrambles all over her, 

scraping, sanding, repairing.  Dermabrasion.

 Yeah, they had to stand on the conservatory roof to do this section.

I was nervous; I don't think the painters were.

Finally - priming!

 We can get an idea of how the white paint will look

by just checking out the primer.

Storm windows used to be made of wood, and attached to your house with little wing nut thingies
or even small wood turnings.  Back in the old days.  Not surprisingly, we still have them on some of our windows.. 

 And guess what?  They used to be painted dark green.

Howard and I finally made our decisions on which old shutters will be rehabilitated, and which will be permanently retired.

We are only restoring 6 pairs of shutters, and eventually -- when our bank account recovers

from the home projects and The Wedding -- we will get replacement shutters made to match the originals

for the other windows.

Here are some of the shutters that didn't make the cut. 

Let's take a closer look at the ends of these 3 shutters.

They are, from top to bottom. . . Shutter #27, Shutter #24, and its twin, Other Shutter #24.

We know this because many decades ago, the carpenter who fashioned them marked each shutter with a Roman numeral,

and its opposite side shutter with the same, so they'd always stay together on the window they were made to fit.

How romantic.

Why would a 19th century carpenter use Roman numerals?  Especially for a Greek Revival house?  :-P

Well -- it's the straight lines.  Roman numerals are easily made with just quick taps of a chisel.  Practical, no?

*********************************************************

It pains us to ditch any of the shutters, and I wish we could restore each one, but some are just too far gone.

Others are in restorable shape, but only 1/2 of a pair is fixable,

or maybe only two windows along a stretch of 5.  We think that it's best then to replace with made-to-match new.

We are concentrating on restoring and keeping some of the first floor shutters, the ones

seen up-close-and-personal, and only replacing 2nd and 3rd floor window shutters.

That's the plan, anyway.  I am not sure what we will do with the shutters we don't put back on That Old House.

Christmas card holders?  Funky wall art?  Garden sculpture?  I know I can't throw them out.

 And just to have something prettier to look at this morning . . . .

The upper border's daylilies are beginning to kick into gear.  They should be in full swing by The Wedding.

Howard and I walked around the house this morning before 7, coffee in hand, before the chaos of the painters began.

It was so peaceful, clear and cool.  But the piles of rejected shutters made us sad.

However, despite our compromises with the shutters, and our knowing that no solution is perfect,

we do feel good about restoring That Old House to her original color scheme

from so long ago . . . pure white and deepest green.

But wait till you see the front door.  -- Cass

P.S.  Happy 36th Anniversary to my sister Peggy and her Bill.

I remember your wedding . . . I think I was the flower girl . . . .

Link parties today!

Three or More Tuesday at The Gypsys' Corner ... click here!

At Sugar Bee, it's Take-A-Look Tuesday ...  Click here!

At A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, it's 2nd Time Around Tuesday.  Click and go here!

Primer, Grout, and Draperies OUT

We're busy here at That Old House.
It is just 12 days until our daughter's wedding.
The reception won't be here at the house, but the After Party will be.

It's best bib and tucker time.

Although if you looked at the house today,

you might think otherwise:

That's Danny, painter extraordinaire, starting to prime the old clapboards.

(Me 'n Danny, we love that oily smell.)

He was kneeling in the grass; he may have been praying.

This is one big project to finish in a week, even with a crew of four.

It took one or two workers 3 days to scrape loose paint off the house, and they're still doing that on the other side.

Please ignore the painters' schmutz on the translucent ceiling, and MY mess on the table -- it's all mess around here this week!

Luckily, no one expects 182-year old siding to be perfectly smooth.  Certainly not me.  (I?)

Inside the house, it's my show.

Howard took down the dining room draperies for me last night; I'll turn their fabric into seat covers

for our oddball collection of dining room chairs, and hang something new at the windows in the next day or so.

It's funny, but the room seems smaller without the drapery panels.

Why is that?

You can spy ladders and paint cans and painter stuff out on the grass of the side yard.

*********************************

"Hey, Hon, you want some chocolate mousse?"

 Well who knew -- certainly not I -- that dirt-colored tile grout looks unnervingly like chocolate mousse?
Lesson learned -- don't grout while hungry.

And there you have it, in one concise collage, my grouting of the kitchen sink backsplash.

Now I only have to install it, and run a bit of thin molding along the bottom, and . . . .

I'll get back to you.  -- Cass

Link Parties!

At The House In The Roses, it's Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click thee here!

At Mary's Little Red House, it's Mosaic Monday.  Clicken Sie hier!

And at Between Naps On The Porch, check out Metamorphosis Monday.  Clickst du hier!

Fresh Fruit, Wilting Flowers, and a Johnson Bros. Reunion

They are wilting, the flowers that were used
on Sunday at Alida's bridal shower.

But look at those colors -- how the roses are tinged with the color of the alstroemeria, and how they carry

the gold of the roses in their centers.  Can you believe Anne and I picked up these flowers at the local A & P

on our way to the church where the shower was held?  Were we lucky ducks to find them, or what?

Nice colors.

I think I see those colors somewhere else:

Why bless my soul, what is this?

Has the mother-of-the-bride,

who says she is all busy-busy-busy with Wedding folderol,

been cruising Craigslist again?

It's True Confessions Time.

  Evidence:  8 luncheon plates, stacked on the kitchen counter and looking for shelf space.

8 soups, 8 dinner plates, just chillin' on the dining room sideboard.

8 cups and saucers, 2 mugs, a serving plate, and (not shown) a vegetable bowl, also chillin.'

Who are these mysterious strangers to That Old House?

They come from a good family.

So yes, I confess.

I did indeed cruise Craigslist last week.

And for twenty bucks, I snagged a complete service for 8 in Johnson Bros. Fresh Fruit pattern.

Not vintage, but made in England and not China, where Johnson Bros. china has been made since 2003.

It is complete down to little fruit dishes, bread plates, and a sugar, creamer, and teapot

(which does have a top, but it's not unpacked yet).  All in perfect condition.

No, I didn't need more dishes.  But when do we ever?

And 7-piece service for 8, with extras, for $20, in a happy summery pattern --

I ask you -- what would you have done?

I just hate to see homeless tableware go begging.  And I do love the colors!

Update!
Lori of My Heart With Pleasure Fills blog spotted these dishes as Johnson Bros. by the octagonal shape;
she got Johnson Bros. Heritage White pattern -- same shape, same beaded edge -- when she got married.
You can see the creamer from that set in action as a flower vase at a bridal shower Lori hosted, click here.

I almost chose the Heritage White china when I got married, but I opted instead for Johnson Bros. Colonial pattern --
a very plain white rimmed plate with beautifully shaped cups and accessory pieces.

Image from Replacements.com

My wise mother made me get service for 16!

 Nearly all gone now, after almost 33 years, but I still love that old pattern,
and I think its sugar bowl is complete perfection.

Replacements.com -- cause I'm too lazy to go take a pic of my own sugar bowl.

How many of you began married life with the
Johnson Brothers along for the ride?

***********************************************************

It's Friday!  Two weeks from tomorrow is The Day . . .  and I am still making lists

and checking them twice, hoping not to leave out any vital parts for Alida's wedding day.

But really, what are the vital parts?

Bride, groom, pastor, party.

We've got it covered. -- Cass

Links!

It's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.  Click here.

At French Country Cottage, Feathered Nest Friday is in full swing. Click here!

It's Home Sweet Home time at The Charm of Home.  Click!!!