Imagine my very pleasant surprise on Wednesday morning,
when I show up at our project Dutch colonial
+ see that the bad aluminum siding is “going away”!
Good riddance!
Compare + contrast:
B E F O R E
D U R I N G
So, it DOES look a little like a haunted house right now . . .
but can’t you SEE how fantastic the original siding + trim is?
The long-ago (C 30’s) carpenters who sided this house
were beyond superb craftsmen, I’d say.
Just look at the detail of the dining room bay angles!
Their precision workmanship is mind-boggling, don’t you agree?
* * * *
Meanwhile, our garden shed is now a dark-ish gray/blue.
No worries — those doors are going away.
At the Benjamin Moore store earlier in the day,
I opted to go with Blue Spruce,
one shade darker on the chart than my original choice,
Providence Blue.
YIKES.
Natch, I immediately felt a twinge of painter’s remorse**.
My original choice is at the lower right.
Blue Spruce, a shade darker,
is not shown here.
Here’s our adorable painting assistant, at the start of our project:
Our grandlad.
**At this point, I’m worrying that I didn’t go dark enough.
YIKES.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, G.O.’s (unsolicited ;-)) observation was,
“I don’t think I am going to like this!”
I smiled, knowingly . . .
. . . because, at the finishing point, guess what!
HE LOVED IT!
I LOVED IT!
Here are G.O. + our painting assistant, relaxing after their busy day:
Please pay close attention to the vintage, white trellis in this ^^ photo op,
+ envision it attached to this side of our garden shed:
I KNOW!!??
I love it!
I think we should plant a climbing Hydrangea on said-same:
As always, stay tuned!
REDBIRD 
July 12th, 2013 at 9:07 pm
The original wood siding appears to be in decent shape. Wonder why they covered it with the aluminum? Can’t account for what people choose to do, I guess.
July 12th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
I know, Dolores! When was wide, white aluminum siding in fashion, anyway? We were trying to guess the other day. There’s a movie about aluminum siding salesmen, called Tin Men, starring Richard Dreyfus + Danny DeVito (I think).
July 13th, 2013 at 7:17 pm
Remember when Archie Bunker got talked into covering his brick house with aluminum siding? Your house must have had the same salesman. I LOVE the original clapboard siding. Hooray for exposing it and for being such a good steward.
August 3rd, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Hey Rosemary!
Sorry I didn’t see this comment previously!
LOL @ Archie Bunker.
July 15th, 2013 at 10:51 pm
I heard of the movie, but never saw it. Guess I assumed it had something to do with The Wizard of Oz! A house in Shabbona had gray asphalt siding. They took it all off, and painted the wood siding that was underneath. BIG improvement! Must have been an experienced painter, as it still looks great after more than 5 years.
July 16th, 2013 at 11:13 am
I think they make paint a lot better now-a-days.