Hey folks! It has been quite awhile since our last chat.  In fact, I thought of choosing “Been A Long Time” by Led  Zeppelin” instead of “Colour My World” by Chicago for today’s post title. 🙂 But, I digress…  Let’s get you updated. There’s so much news to share!

As indicated by the title, color continues to play a huge role in the progress at 10 Sutherland Avenue. After working with the designer at Sherwin Williams on the interior colors, I felt confident enough to work on the exterior colors on my own.

I knew from the beginning what color family I wanted. It was just a matter of picking the right shade. We thought it might be helpful to look at actual houses rather than 100s of paint chips. So David and I spent last Sunday afternoon riding up and down the streets south of Broad looking for houses that struck our fancy. We picked out 4 that we liked in the teal/blue/green family.

I took a shot at going to the door to ask the homeowners for information about the colors. I was fortunate enough to find 2 of them at home. Both invited me in for a chat as they located the color information. Come to think of it,  I would have done the same. I think I would have felt it quite the compliment.

For the remaining 2 colors I contacted the Charleston Board of Architectural Review who gladly provided me with the color information.

After putting the samples up on the exterior we asked opinions of passers-by and slept on it a few days.

We then narrowed it down to the 2 colors on the left of the above photo. We re-applied on a larger space and again gave them full consideration.

Finally, the verdict was in! The darker color (bottom) was the winner. Sutherly’s new color palette will be Sherwin Williams Greek Isle for her body (dress), Balsa White for her trim (jewelry), a silver metal roof (her hat) and a color in the watermelon/coral family for the front door (lipstick). There ya have it! The paint is ordered. It’s a done deal.

Ahhh, but there is so much more… Wait until you see what’s going on inside! There are folks literally running over one another. HVAC guys, plumbers, framers, electricians, even the cabinet guy made an appearance this week. Take a look at some pictures I took for your viewing pleasure.

David can’t wait to take a shower!!!

Here’s a good one for you. Check out this door. Isn’t it cool? Marc, our contractor, offered it to us. He thought I’d like it and he was correct! It came out of a house on Moultrie St. a block away, nearer Hampton Park. It will go in the master bathroom and serve as the door to the walk-in closet. That thing weighs a ton!

Remember the kitchen stairs that we are preserving? They won’t be for use but kept as an architectural feature. We are going to have shelves and drawers made to go underneath. This week they pulled down the beadboard in preparation. Look what they found! We couldn’t figure out how they got all that insulation in there in the first place.

I have another door story for you. The door below was being used on an interior storage room when we bought the house. Our contractor thinks it was the original front door. Probably the reason for swapping it out to a solid front door was for security as the neighborhood has met with some challenges in the past. His handy craftsmen are going to refurbish this door which will be our powder room door. Don’t worry. It will have frosted glass! And why stop there, right? They will also replicate the old door to make a brand new front door just like the old one! How cool is that?

Here is another piece of craftsmanship being demonstrated on the re-creation of the front porch pillars. They are being replicated to match the originals. There was even a photograph of the house taken in the 40’s on site to reference. Next time I’ll have a photo of the completed project. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

Some of the highlights of the schedule for the next couple of weeks include exterior painting, roofing and sheet rock. We are really making up for lost time. The tasks at hand for David and me are lighting and tile selection.

Decisions, decisions, decisions have been coming at us with rapid fire. We are told that this is normal for this phase of the renovation and we should be rounding the bend on multiple decisions soon. I can’t say that I won’t welcome that. I know David will. For those of you who know us, I’m the more laid back one and David is our detail man. I think this is a little harder on him than me. As our granddaughter Hannah used to say, “We be alright.”

I guess that about wraps it up for this go around. Please feel free to ask questions or share comments. I’d love to hear from you. If you’re in the neighborhood and you see a white Mini Cooper or a Navy Hyundai out front, feel free to stop in for a tour.

Take care y’all. I’ll be back soon with all that’s new on the rebirth of our Charleston home

Note: I don’t know if any of you have noticed that each post is a title of a song and that I include a video of that song at the end of each post. Today I had a hard time choosing which song to use. Then I thought, “Hey, this is my blog. I make the rules!” So today, if you are so inclined, enjoy 2 great classics that have coloured my world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f26Gf7ksNvE