pink street

So today, for DIY Thursday, I thought I might unveil an exciting home project we're about to embark upon, although I guess I can't technically classify it as DIY, because we're not actually going to do it ourselves. Anyway, we're going to have our house painted!

I've wanted to do this for a really long time; fix up the outside, make it reflect us a little more. So understandably, a lot of thought has gone into the paint colors, and I think I've decided upon a color scheme that seems a little risky, given the typical tame and neutral regional choices. So tell me what you think.

This is a Martha Stewart signature color called Vintage Map, which is the perfect shade of light aqua, in between blue and green. Almost every room in our house incorporates some little bit of aqua or light blue, and given that our house was built in the early 50's, I really think that it fits well with the overall style of the house as well as with our personal decorating tastes. And when this idea first occurred to me, I very nearly rejected it as being a little too crazy, but I love this color so much that I've determined to make it work. I'm thinking this color or one very similar for the greater part of the outside, white for the trim and the front gable of the house, and dark brown board and batten shutters, which we will actually make ourselves. Like these:

And of course, our red front door will tie in with the red climbing roses I plan to plant on the front wall and the red geraniums or other flowers I'll put in the flower box under the big window on the front. All of this is happening in July, and we have a lot of work to do before the house is ready to be painted: trees to trim, ivy to strip off, and a metal "cage" on the front porch to remove. I'm so excited! I'll take my own Before and After shots and show you the transformation in a couple of months. In the meantime, let me know what you think of my projected color choices!