Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Decorator's Challenge


Here's a challenge. We're pretty sure we'll paint the facade and the shutters at some point to brighten it up. The question is, what colors?
Any color scheme has to be approved by the mayor of Leran. Any color scheme has to, most likely, fit with the other houses in the neighborhood. So, can you e-mail us pictures or send some pictures torn from magazines by regular mail and indicate what we should do? Or send us names of Benjamin Moore paint chips, like Jamaica Rust, or Icelandic mauve, or Old Faithful Steam (I made those names up). Try to imagine this picture with a bright blue sky, or not.
Alan and Eileen's house right down the street is a creamy white with blue trim and shutters and it's probably the brightest thing on the street. There's not a lot of color on Rue du Four. Right across the street is a house whose color is not in my memory bank but has British Racing Green shutters. There may be some bright rasberry shutters somewhere in town as we recall, and the house pictured a few posts back with the blue shutters is not too far away. The winner gets an all-expenses-paid trip from Toulouse or Carcassone to help us paint the first brushstrokes.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm picturing a warm creamy yellow, intensity to be determined by the mayor of Leran! I'm still thinking on the shutter colors though, I'll let you know what I think of... :)

Anonymous said...

Luke agrees with Anna about a pale "buttercream" yellow for the exterior paint. One of the prettiest houses in Houston that I used to admire all the time (it was a French Provincial with a mansard roof, oddly enough!)was a very pale buttery yellow with green shutters (a forest green just a little bluer than than the racing green on cars) and a white liner color on the window frames next to the shutters. The roof was also a verigated green that had a bit of pale color to make it a few shades lighter than the shutters (I don't know if you're doing anything with the roof?). On dark rainy days the house still looks "light" and on sunny days the house positively "glows"! You can also substitute a very pale peach, very pale icy blue or very pale pink for the yellow and still use the green shutters. Can you tell...I LOVE green shutters. Even white looks great with green shutters! Have I helped...or made it worse? Shall I send you some paint chips?

Unknown said...

unh unhh. No buttercream. Youll regret it in the future. Its like avocado green in the 70's. Seemed like such a good idea. What you wont regret is a beautiful robins egg or brighter blue. I have sent you a picture from an intersection near Vaison of two very cool little wine towns with blue shutters. Its very pretty.
The sign posts were kind of like the corner of college and weed streets in ohio or somewhere if you have seen that picture.

Unknown said...

unh unhh. No buttercream. Youll regret it in the future. Its like avocado green in the 70's. Seemed like such a good idea. What you wont regret is a beautiful robins egg or brighter blue. I have sent you a picture from an intersection near Vaison of two very cool little wine towns with blue shutters. Its very pretty.
The sign posts were kind of like the corner of college and weed streets in ohio or somewhere if you have seen that picture.

Anonymous said...

Buttercream yellow = avacado green? Really? I'm still not seeing it, but blue would probably be pretty too. To me, it is a little bit more adventurous, whether that is a pro or con is a personal opinion. :)