I am a wife, a mother, an auntie and a friend. I love thrifting, garage sales, re-purposing, creating, painting, anything that makes our little rental home more welcoming, comfortable and cozy. I have discovered the "art" of amateur photography & I love the idea of capturing the beauty in the ordinary everyday things that surround us. Blogging is a wonderful way to make new friends and share with people who have the same interests. My personal taste in decorating leans towards "casual cottage/coastal decor". I now have a small shop on etsy, called "SandySeashore" where you'll find some of my vintage finds, my photography and some handmade things. I hope you take the time to check it out! Thanks for droppin' in!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

A total Makoever - I've gone GRAY!!!

Hey there! How y'all doing? I hope the grayer days of fall haven't got you down! Gray is the main theme of today's post! As I've mentioned before, we rent a small townhouse that we've pretty much done what we wanted with as far as decorating the interior. However, we are not permitted to personalize the outside with paint, I mean really, could you imagine in a townhouse complex this size (about 80 townhouses) what that would look like?! UGH!  Having said that, the management has not had the budget to paint these places for years. There's always something else that's more pressing, roofs, windows, fences....there has been no money for cosmetics.

Until now! For the first time since we've lived here (almost 17 years) they've painted our homes! Ya!


When I first heard of the color choice, I was a bit disappointed, GRAY!? Please! We live in the Lower Mainland, we get rain pretty much all winter. Gray is pretty much our theme color already! UGH! Then, when they first started painting a few of the houses, I felt even worse! Dark gray!...You see I've never really been a fan of gray to begin with.....hm mm.


Well guess what? I've changed my mind! I really like it! I won't say "LOVE", cause I mean, c'mon, it is still gray, but it's growing on me!....


As I mentioned, not only have these places not been painted, but they've been through a few fixes here and there. When the windows were replaced, we ended up with different stucco (cement) around them. Then, other repairs were made to the stucco by a different company, in different spots. Needless to say, leaving the homes looking pretty patchy and ugly.


Here are the before shots:

 Now, let's see some before & after shots, together...

 WOW! How's that for change?
Wanna see more?..
Huh, I noticed the ground could use a power wash....Don, can I borrow your Powerwasher? PLEASE?
 Please ignore that for now. If you stand in one spot long enough in BC, moss grows on ya. LOL
What's that? You'd like to see more?! OH, okay.

 I'm thinking gray is pretty nice. Yeah, I like it!
  MORE? okay, a few more! lol
I really like it.
Gotta love the $1 mailbox! 
So, What do YOU think? An improvement?
Like I said, I'm growing to like it more and more.
It looks neat and clean. THAT makes me happy!

Would I have preferred it if we, as residents had some input into the choices of colors before the fact? Absolutely. Having said that, I realize that with such a large number of residents to deal with, that would be horrendous. I personally would have chosen a bit of a lighter shade of gray. A few different color options for the front doors would have been a really nice way for the residents to have some input and personalize their own unit. Red, Navy, White & Black? Sorry, mine would have to be 
something in this family...

Not the CAR! The color!!! lol
  (although, I wouldn't be upset to be driving around in that!)
This will give you a better idea of what I mean:



With the darker gray, I prefer the lighter shades of turquoise, but the darker teal shades would look pretty good too. 
Now, if I could just talk the Management into letting me do it!

Oh, well, all in all, I'm not complaining, actually, I'm very happy with the outcome.
It feels fresh and newer. I'm very thankful for the change. ;)

Remember, 
Home is where you make it.
We're happy in ours! 


I hope you enjoyed this post, see you next time!

 

2 comments:

  1. Wow!!It looks fantastic, the porthole fits in like it's made for that spot....I love the look. And you, xoxo

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  2. I really love it but you know me, I love gray! :) Your front porch looks so cute, love porthole and bench. Girl you gotz all kind of charm going on here! :)
    xoxox

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