I don't know if you can exactly call it smokey eggplant, but I do know that of the ten or so samples that I tried, none of them was quite right. I'm THAT picky. So I took the two closest, which each lacked a bit of the other, and made my own mixture, with just a dash of a third color. Then I tried it on the house, and once satisfied, painted a swatch of cardboard to take to Home Depot for matching. While I was there, I tried to find a matching sample, but couldn't. Not sure what this says about my control issues. But I'm incredibly happy with the outcome.
(Disclaimer: monitor colors may vary. Sigh.)
But I should go back a bit.
North Carolina has been really lovely this fall. Now that I've intentionally backed off my workload a bit, due to back problems, we've been taking some more time to enjoy it. We went to the state fair with my parents, sister, and bro-in-law, for a little local flavor, fried foods, and wild rides.
(Perfect score!)
And we had a great Halloween right here in own own neighborhood. It was great to see a gaggle of kids and adults come together for trick-or-treating for probably the first time in many years, since the neighborhood has been getting safer. A lot of work was put into making it a great night. Matt and I spent the day going door-to-door with neighbors Natalie, her baby Madeline, and Leslie, handing out balloons for participating houses, and making sure everyone knew about the festivities and had candy to give out. We barely had time to get dressed ourselves, but threw together some makeshift costumes.
After that, we spent a long weekend in Portland, OR, with one of my best friends, Meredith.
Portland, as we knew it would, gave us a great sense of several elements that Durham is missing, but could, with a lot of effort and investment, someday have. It will never be as big and urban as Portland... but it gave me a lot of hope for the direction Durham is going in - denser, more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, more progressive and tightly-knit.
When we got back, we collected Cleveland from the farm. He loves being out there with my parents and has lots of room to run around... but he's always especially cuddly when he comes back.
India has started her landscaping project on our front yard. It will take a while for the plants to reach their mature size, but I'm in love with the plan she did, and it's so nice to have a softer, more organic look to our wonky hill. These pictures are from before they actually went in the ground.
We've been steadily organizing the inside of the house, too, trying to figure out where everything wants to go, and how to keep it that way. I'm loving the winter light that's starting to pour in the kitchen windows.
And, finally, the house painting, which commenced Nov. 14. We hired Jose Vera, who's done some excellent work for my parents, as well as James. Jose works with his two sons, and they've all been doing an awesome job.
(The above photo gives a nice view of some of India's landscaping.)
These photos, of course, are already out of date, as the team is outside now, working away. Another post is in order as soon as the trim is finished.
UPDATE: Here are some end-of-day photos of the house. All that's left is some touch-ups on the cream color, and then the red accents. Can't wait to see that pop of color!
