The Historic District

Sounds like a good fellow to get to know Manalto. Your home would look great with the exposed eves. I would expect that original paint scheme for those eaves would ?be a classic Craftsman era earth tones.

I thought about that, but earth tones are too dark for hot, humid Alabama. We must adapt!

Manalto wrote:I don't care how fastidious someone is, wall to wall carpet is a bad idea

Amen!

Back on Wavyglass I posted about my experience renovating a friend's new old place that had carpet in most rooms. Some was just thrown down but in one room it was glued everywhere - and carpet adhesive is just about the worst stuff I've ever encountered! A huge electric scraper is about the only tool to remove glued carpet. In our case the carpet was over chipboard screwed into the original floor and we ended up breaking the chipboard with two prybars and a 6-foot length of 3/4" gas pipe, cutting the carpet along the breaks. It was red and orange 70s carpet soaked with cat pee!

The original floor was beyond saving too though, heavy inverted cupping, 1 1/2" holes drilled into it and huge gaps. I'm not sure how old it was because the whole place was just so utterly weird. Almost all the doors looked like later replacements but had pre-WWI hinges. Hinges that didn't match the plainer ones on the original front door. The wood floors were also close to 1" lower than the terrazzo floors in the kitchen and bathroom, none of which looked even remotely original. My best guess is that the house had a bomb hit and the top floor was at least partially rebuilt with whatever was at hand in the late 40s.

I'm wrapping things up here and getting ready to return to Connecticut. There is still a little bit of painting to do on the back of the house, but since the front is as done as it's going to be for a while, I figured I'd change my avatar. Here's the image larger:

319 Painting July 2017 by James McInnis, on Flickr

The olive of the front door and skirt board will also be on the windows, which I will focus on during my next visit. Windows and landscaping, since December is the time to plant in this neck of the woods. The olive color has gotten mixed reviews from neighbors and passers-by. Your thoughts are welcome!

Manalto wrote:. The olive color has gotten mixed reviews from neighbors and passers-by. Your thoughts are welcome!

I like the olive very much. I think once you get it on the windows it will have more balance and folks will be less concerned.

Thanks, Devyn. The color applied looks more saturated than the chip, so I was a bit shocked at first - it's growing on me. I have to remember that we naturally direct our attention more generally; we don't stare at a front door (unless we just got finished painting it). One color "rule" I came across was that, in houses with strong architectural interest, the colors should be subtle, and in houses with simple architecture, color should play a more dominant role. It makes sense to me - something has to do the work. I'd say my place falls into the latter category, so I chose a green with some presence, a color which, as I understand, was a big Arts & Crafts favorite.

If you like it, it doesn't matter. For my part, I like it with the cream color on the bottom, but it seems a little jarring with the top color, which seems to have a pinkish tint that doesn't quite jibe with the olive. You might try going ahead and trying it on one of the upper windows to see how it looks against that paint color before you commit to it.

The house looks nice as a whole, and you should feel good about what you've been able to accomplish in a few short weeks. I'm sure your neighbors are appreciative. When will you be able to get back down?

Good suggestion; not until December.

What you're seeing as pink may be the sunset tint. In some light, the 'Riviera Beach' stucco is decidedly 'Band-Aid Brown' - but that changes according to the sky and time of day.

I went back to look at the similar picture on the first post of this thread, and the sheer amount of work you've done really stands out. Despite the rain, I think your visit should make a strong good impression on the neighbors.

I think the olive may only be jarring because it's so close to the base plantings which are a different hue that is closer to the old color, and is visually more limited to the overall balance due to time constraints. I agree with Devyn that when you get a chance to further the detail painting, it will help overall. I also think when you get used to a shade somewhere, if you change it just a bit, sometimes it takes a while to un-see what you were used to before.

I forget what post it was where we were talking about color, but one of the big names in the Arts n' Crafts movement wrote an entire piece just on the virtues of green for the movement. I think you made a spot on choice. You also don't know yet how the color might mellow after the southern sun has had a chance to work on it. It might be just enough to put it more towards where you thought it would be.

Well done.

Lily left the valley wrote:I forget what post it was where we were talking about color, but one of the big names in the Arts n' Crafts movement wrote an entire piece just on the virtues of green for the movement. I think you made a spot on choice. You also don't know yet how the color might mellow after the southern sun has had a chance to work on it. It might be just enough to put it more towards where you thought it would be.

Well done.

Thank you for that. By casual observation I've noticed that, when exposed to strong sun, greens (and blues, as well) tend to develop a 'frosted' look (there's probably a word for it; in horticulture, we call that a 'bloom' - that frosty coating that you find on grapes and plums, for example) over time. I happen to like this effect, and it will certainly mellow the color's appearance.

"I love it!" a neighbor walking her dog by the house said, and then added with a wry smile, "Watch - you're going to start to see other houses painting their doors that color." That's Southern charm.