Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Garage & Potting Shed

There's been so much going on I have hardly had time to stop and write about it!  We're having our barn repaired this month but that's a story for another day.  They say the most expensive four words in renovating are: WHILE WE'RE AT IT... and that's what happened.  We had to rent a man-lift for the barn repair and it was a great opportunity to use it to paint the upper story of the garage.  After the men left for the day they would park it right in front of the garage and up and down I went on the man-lift 54 feet in the air.  It was pretty nerve wracking at first but I actually got quite comfortable up there.  In any case I was able to paint the garage without having to climb a ladder. I had some help from our friend Dan - it helped that he is already really tall and the ladder just extended his reach. (thanks Dan!)



The garage had not been painted in many years - probably about 20 from what we can piece together so the paint/stain was very faded and the wood was very dry.  It took twice as much stain as we thought it would.  The plan was to paint it slate grey but slate grey on the paint chip and slate grey in real life were two different things - there is no getting around that the garage is now BLUE.  I was trying to get away from blue but after we had already purchased the stain - blue it would remain.  I actually really like it.


Of course I had to paint SOME part of it RED.  Since I wanted to paint the whole garage red (but was overruled) I chose to do the doors.  I feel like a very patriotic American - except I'm not American.  As one thing leads to another the whole farm will eventually be painted red, white and blue.  I am still holding out for a red house - we'll see!


This little red door leads to my potting shed - now I will have to actually clean it up and "pot" something in it!  


As I was painting the potting shed door I spent some time thinking about all the people who had painted it before me.  The door is original to the farm from what I can tell  meaning that it was nearing it's 150th birthday.  It's been painted and re-painted many times - but this coat was it's first in RED.  It was a humbling thought that I was adding to the history of this door.  I wonder if someone will paint it many years from now and wonder who it was that loved RED so much!  It has many latches and old hooks and since at one time it was used as a chicken coop it has a chicken flap at the bottom.  The nesting boxes inside are still there and haven't been used for chickens in more than 25 years but there is still straw in each box.  The last batch of kittens was born in one of them a few weeks ago.

 I'm sure an analogy could be made about how our lives can look good on the outside but be terribly messy on the inside (notice I didn't take any pictures inside!)  This garage has a story all it's own related to our move here to add to it's already long history and I am so glad we could get to painting and fixing it up first - that just seems perfectly appropriate.  

10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful barn, I love the colour!!! x

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  2. Love the colour combo :) What is the name of the red you used?
    Jacquie

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    1. Thanks Cranberry - hmmmm...is your name an indication of another lover of red?? :) The color is Tuscan Russet by Behr. I used their new Marquee paint as it is supposed to resist fading - red being the color of the spectrum that fades the worst.

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    2. Yes I've been known to paint a few things red in my time..Thanks for letting me know it looks wonderful. Now to find my own Dan lol

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    3. I can let you borrow him Jacquie - I'm done painting for awhile :) (I think)

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  3. I just found your blog and am really enjoying it. I live in the country and am contemplating chickens and some goats (I heard they eat poison ivy!). I'm not a great gardener but am trying to improve and want to make my nearly 12 acres work for me. Looking forward to reading your past posts!

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    1. Hi RaineyDewey - welcome to the blog :) So glad you're reading along. Pass along any questions and I'll see what I can do!

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  4. I wanted a red shed at the new house (and I really wanted to paint the dining room red too). Hubby wouldn't go for it, but I am getting the front and back door painted a happy red, and I did get red trim on the new shed.

    Love the way the finished product turned out.

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    1. For now the doors on the house will be red and the shutters will be the matching blue from the garage but SOMEDAY...I will have a red house.

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