Monday, January 28, 2013

New House Colors

When we bought our house a year and a month ago we wanted to work on the roof and repaint. We had someone else do the Danosa roof shortly after moving in but the painting I just put off. I painted inside because it was doable but outside required pressure washing, some minimal scraping, deciding on colors and then balancing on ladders and I wasn't up for it until now. After a few trial sized paint colors that didn't work we decided on a nature-inspired (if you live in the souped-up color land of PR) Bird of Paradise colors! Jeff pressure washed and scraped and for the past what-seems-like-forever I have been painting. The wall itself is a lot of surface area and picking a color proved tricky. We tried a light orange and in the bright light it just looked like yellow. On the front of the house the light orange  looked exactly like the inside of the porch green. We get a lot of bright light! In the afternoon the shadow from the overhang makes the house front look like it is two different colors of orange - very interesting.
There is still a little white I need to paint under the stairs. I need to do a little more of the iron and am a third of the way done with the ballasters. The white metal gates need painting and so does the cistern. I probably have 3 partial days of work left but can take my time. The wall looked ugly, like a giant cement wall. Now the color and the plants make it disappear.
The front was boring. Now I have heliconias, an Ylang ylang and gingers in a curved bed along the fence that now has privacy screening. No neighbors, but a weedy field isn't what I want to see. The view from the porch is now much more soothing on the eyes. The front was a boring block of lawn and wall but is now a planted garden with butterflies and birds and snoozing cats. The house colors are like the birds of paradise and gerber a daisies I have planted.


The back had a deck that floated like an alien thing in the back. Now it has a nice cover, the paint helps it merge with the landscape and plantings are growing up nicely to conceal underneath. I think it turned out really nice. We thought about barf colors but just had to do our tropical style since this is the tropics. Everything is growing up nicely and I'm not done landscaping yet. I'll have to post some before and afters of the yard once the painting is truly done.

11 comments:

Britton said...

Wow, looks fantastic. Buen trabajo!

Anonymous said...

Maravillosa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike said...

You've done a fantastic job on the house and yard. I totally approve of those colors (though I can't imagine them on any house in Seattle!). The cats seem to like it, too.

Miri said...

Looks fantastic! LOVE how the colors play off of your landscaping in the front of the house. We're also repainting so I have great appreciation for what a fab job you've done (and how your fingers must ACHE!).

Fran and Steve said...

Katrina, your house looks like an artisticly carved canteloupe, and I mean that in the BEST possible way. It looks gorgeous. What looked like "poison arrows" (in feng shui) are now invisible, thanks to the colors and fabulous landscaping! -- Fran

Jeff and Katrina Kruse said...

Miri - yes, the fingers ache. Home Depot has $3 samples so you can test out colors. Fran - a caneloupe...that's hysterical and true! For Halloween maybe we can put thrift store dolls heads on the points and go with a Papua New Guinea theme. Freak out the neighbors! I'm acutally thinking of planting some kind of vine on the outside to train up... katrina

Linda said...

Katrina, I think I need you to come to our house in Rincon and decide the colors we should paint our house! I LOVE it and I love your garden.

Jeff and Katrina Kruse said...

Linda - I love visiting people's gardens and houses and you are always welcome to come up here to take a look at things (could do the Friday San Sebastian pulgero/market as well).

Anonymous said...

What a great color combo. In such a short time a complete transformation. Really beautiful. Thanks for the inspiring pictures.
Wil

James Johnson said...

Your home looks amazing with the new colors and all the work you've done.Beautiful! Do you have any plans to do solar power with this place?

Jim said...

Love the pastels and contrast. Really impressive. Looking forward to the next the way things are.