The siding is done!

This week, the weather was very cooperative, and the siding is now finished! It's weird how after looking at the pictures in the book for so long it just looks so familiar to us now that it's here in the flesh, so to speak. I just love it.

Yesterday, we tested out some paint from Home Depot, Behr ultra premium plus, in ultra pure white. After letting one coat dry, it did look great, and there was just a miniscule difference after two coats. While I can't say this is always the case, we've been very fortunate for find someone in the paint dept. at our local Home Depot who really does know paint and has offered us a lot of helpful information. One thing she pointed out is that we need to wait until after Easter to paint so that the pollen won't be such an issue. It's hard to wait, but there are plenty of other things we can get to work on in the meantime. Speaking of paint, Behr has a really neat virtual painting center that you can upload your own pictures to and try out different paint colors on. Go to Behr.com and then go to the explore color tab and click on launch ColorSmart. Of course, the screen skews it some, but it was nice for getting ideas. We have just about decided for sure on white with a barn red door. At some point, we want to do phase 2 and add a big porch, and in my mind I can just see an old fashioned white farmhouse.

This tree stands in our front yard. I'm trying to get photos of it in all four seasons to have as a framed set in the house.

More siding!

The siding is about at the halfway point.

It just takes time to measure everything just right and get it nailed up. But it's turning out really well, I think. It's good to get to help with this part, too. My husband was able to talk with someone knowledgeable about painting issues, and she suggested waiting till after Easter to paint to avoid pollen situations. She said if we paint over the pollen, we could end up with mold, and pollen in the air could catch in the wet paint, too. That gives us a nice cushion for finishing the siding, but I know my husband wants to be done with it way before then. We're planning to paint it white with barn red doors. I don't want shutters, as I have come to think the beauty of this style is the symmetry and simplicity, and I think excessive trim can take away from that in this case.

Don't look closely at how much work I need to do in my flower beds--next week is spring break, and that's one of my big projects--but I like how the pictures of our construction are dated by the trees and plants around the house. The photo on the left is my first iris of the season, and in the one on the right, you can see the buds on the tree limb.

Here you can see the west side finished. My dad was able to come a couple of days that week, and he helped a ton.

This week, we sure learned the importance of helpful customer service. We'd ordered our next batch of stainless siding nails, but I (yes, I am claiming responsibility for this one) somehow put the wrong shipping address. When we realized our error, it was too late to change the order. Everything worked out, though, thanks to a seller who was easily available by phone to get us a tracking number and a post office that was willing to locate and hold our box for us till I could get up there. I did get tickled at the postal worker who brought out the box. She didn't know what was in it, and to her it just sounded like something in a lot of pieces. I assured her it was fine. Since we can't find these nails near here, and our first order was almost gone, getting these nails was a big deal.

So, that's where we're at, and I think next up after the exterior we'll start working on the masonry heater inside.