Jerusalem Jackson Greer's Blog, page 14

At the Table

 

 

There is nothing I love more than a full table. Coffee tables, card tables, picnic tables, dinner table, altar tables.  Nothing fills my heart with gladness like a table bursting at the seams.

My Nana was the same way in her heyday. She loved a full table, and our coffee table, that too-large round table above, that was hers.

Older than me, and having traveled from Texas to Arkansas when Nana and Grandaddy made the move all those years ago, this table was iconic.  For thirty-nine years my grandparents lived in the same house and for all of those years this table sat in the middle of their den. Every grandchild and most of the great-grandchildren, and countless other little children,   stood a top of it, carefully walking the circumference like a balance beam,  stepping between the edge and the groove, around and around, until some adult took notice and ended the fun.

Many a snack of vanilla wafers (my Grandaddy’s favorite) and Tang were served on that table to those same children when they were little, and later slightly more grown, we would all be scolded to use a coaster under our Dr. Pepper cans while we watched football or Family Feud with Grandaddy, or whatever Praise The Lord show my Nana had on (though generally she watched those in her bedroom.)

While occasionally things would change decor wise in my grandparents house (walls were painted, a sofa was recovered, the televisions got larger,) the coffee table never changed, was never replaced. More babies were born, more preschoolers walked its edges, more teenagers put their feet up on it, and slowly, over time, more varnish rubbed off.

When my grandfather died two autumns ago, and the decision was made to sell the house, I, the eldest grandchild (eldest by only three days, I feel compelled to mention that…)  inherited the coffee table.  If one of my uncles or my father had wanted it badly I would have happily acquiesced it, but to me, a lover of full tables, this was the one material possession I coveted most from my childhood. The table to me represented all that was good, and solid, warm, and welcoming, familiar and happy, in a childhood and family as messy and imperfect as any other.

occasionally I toy with painting the table. The stain and tone are not in my typical color pallet, But I know that if I sand it and paint it the old table will be gone. The worn places from all those little feet, from all those dirty elbows, scuffy shoes, and sweating soda cans, will disappear under a coat of paint and forgotten memories.

And I just don’t think I am ready for that just yet.

 

 

Sunday afternoon we had people over for dinner. Soul friends. The kind of friends you don’t see enough, but when you do, oh, it is so good.

I took a picture of our table and noticed how colorful it was. How all the seasons of the liturgical year were represented, and I hummed the little song we used at camp to teach the kids what each color symbolizes…

Purple and Blue for Preparation,

White is for a Celebration.

Green is for the Growing Time,

Red is for Pentecost…

And I realized that these are the very things I love about a full table.

I love the preparation, I love to set the table, plan the meal, fold the napkins, pour the wine. I love anticipating the meal, the conversation, the warmth of being together.

I love the celebration once everyone is gathered around – how good it is to be in each other’s presence, the ways we rejoice in the good and the new with each other. The toast to health, the laughter, and even the tears when things are hard. But still we celebrate – we are together, we are fed, we are together.

I love how the people around my table call me towards growth. I want to be better, kinder, smarter, funnier, gentler, wiser, because of them. I want them to be proud of me. I want to learn from them. I want to gleam whatever grains of wisdom and grace they have to give.

And Pentecost. Oh, the falling of the Holy Spirit. This perhaps is my favorite part of a full table. It is the magic sauce.

It is that thing that happens in your heart when you are surrounded by those that love. Love you. Love each other. Love Christ. Love life. Love creation. Love themselves. Love the outcast.

Where two or three or more are gathered ….

And this is the moment where the varnish begins to wear off. Here is where we will spill, and sweat, and scuff, and lean on.  This is how the nicks and grooves, and water rings emerge.  This is when the children climb on top and walk the rim, at home and secure in the knowledge that they are loved enough. And this is where I am most at home on the earth.

I am like my Nana. I love a full table. Coffee tables, card tables, picnic tables, dinner table, altar tables.  Nothing fills my heart with gladness like a table bursting at the seams – worn varnish, spilled wine, and all.

 

Filed under: Blog, Faith, Feast Tagged: entertaining, featured, My Home

The Meaning of Going Slow

 

Have you ever used a word, a common, ordinary, everyday sort of word, only to realize that this word, this most basic, seemingly average word, doesn’t mean what you think it means to someone else?

You wake up one day, and through a series of conversations and choices, you are suddenly aware that you and this other person have been using this same word as a road map for years but interrupting its meaning very differently. And the moment this awareness hits you, is the moment when you are standing on opposite sides of a pond or a street or a life. It is then that it occurs to you, that while you thought you were following the same meaning of the same word, you were really on separate paths – paths separated so narrowly, that you never even noticed, until you found yourself separated by a gulf. A gulf of assumptions and confusion and frustration, a gulf that began with a small, hairline misunderstanding of one word. One small, simple, ordinary word.

For Sweet Man and I the word was SLOW.

Slowness, Going Slow, Slowing Down.

We have tossed this word and these terms around for the past three or four years.

We have used them as we have worked to create a family motto or mission statement (though I hate that term…) We have used them as we have made choices that led us to the place we are now. We have used them to describe to each other the sort of life that we long for.  I have written about them and we have extolled them.

Living Slow is something we feel called to as a family. It is a calling rooted in our faith, and grounded in spiritual practices.

And yet.

As it turns out, we didn’t mean the same thing.

As it turns out, Slow to me and Slow to Nathan are two different speeds.

Which should be no surprise, since we are the Tortoise and the Hare.

Over the course of the late summer, as the dust began to settle from The Year of Upheaval (as it shall be known hitherforward,) we found ourselves on opposite side of the pond.

Him wondering why I was still Doing So Much and me wondering why he wasn’t Doing More Quicker to get us settled.

It turns out that for all the years we have talked about Living Slow, what Nathan heard in that term was Do Less.  But what I heard was Do It Differently.

When I dreamed of slowing down, what I dreamed of was doing life in such a way that the anxiety producing ticking time bomb inside my chest would finally move out. To me this didn’t mean doing less or doing more, it just meant doing differently. It meant doing life with more intention. With clearer vision. Without the constant nagging burden of comparisons and rat races and keeping up with whatever it was I thought I needed to keep up with.

But when Sweet Man dreamed of slowing down, he literally dreamed of things in our life slowing down externally. Less to-do list, less outside obligations, less momentum, less.

But here is the rub. I like outside obligations. And my job requires quite a few of them. Which I like. I like being a certain level of busy. I get energy from it.

And I like to-do list and I like pushing everyone hard to get things done.

Because when things get done, when list get marked off, that time-bomb that keeps pounding away in my chest shuts up, and then I can, and only then, can I breathe again.

But Nathan does not get energy from being busy and he doesn’t have a ticking-time bomb in his chest.

He gets energy for lots of wide open spaces. He gets energy from getting lost in the minutiae of one solitary project worked on here and there over several open-ended days.

 

 

So, once we realized that we were standing on the opposite sides of the pond, (this realization brought on by a certain mini-pig and a very busy August,) we came to the conclusion that there must be various speeds of Slowness.

There is Nathan Slow and there is Jerusalem Slow just to name two.  (We also suspect that there is also Wylie Slow and Miles Slow.)

And if eighteen years of marriage has taught us anything it is this:

Our relationship and our home are much happier places when we focus more on supporting each other, and less on trying to reform each other.

So, instead of trying to convert the other to our way of living slow (because frankly I would scratch my eyeballs out in boredom and he would probably rather jump off a cliff that keep my schedule, ) what we can do is support, protect, encourage, and nurture each other in our practices of Slow Living.  I can choose to do a few less things in order to give Nathan the time and space and freedom to move externally at a slower pace. He can choose to spend a weekend helping me knock-out my list in order to shut the damn time-bomb up.

I can go on a social outing alone in order to protect his need for some barn time and he can tell me to have a great time and to stay out as late as I need to, encouraging me to rest in a way that is vital to my soul-health, but counterintuitive to his.

We can both choose to be intentional to work towards finding a happy family speed of slowness, a compromise that has our families well-being at heart, instead of just our preferences.  And we can trust each other’s motives and heart, when we get a little to far down the path of our speed, to call each other back into a relationship of partnership, working to Live Slow together, instead of slowly drifting apart.

 

After all, as Kathleen Norris so wise wrote – “How radical to think that we can best know ourselves by embracing commitment, not rejecting it; by relating to others, not callously relegating them to the devilishly convenient category of “other.”

In other words, how radical would it be to discover that I can live slowly at my speed most fully, when I embrace, not reject, Nathan’s speed of slowness as valid? Now wouldn’t that just be the bees knees?

 

Filed under: Blog, Faith, Family Tagged: featured, marriage, Slow Living

Back to School Annual Retrospective (aka tear-jerker.)

 Another year began! Are you ready for the tears? Grab a hanky!









2010



2011




2012



2013



2014





2015
10th and 6th Grades




Okay, now that I am done crying we can discuss.

Here we are, another first day of school under our belts!
It was the same and it was different.
Same great kids.
But, different house, different door (oh, I miss my red door!)  different school, different grades, different shoe sizes.
These fellas just keep growing. I have a love-hate thing going with it.
I LOVE this season. The pre-teen and teen years are so far my favorites.
BUT.
Where did my babies go? Why can’t I have both?

The difference in Wylie between this year and last year is staggering.
I just can’t even.




In addition to all the other changes, the boys are also riding the school bus for the first time ever.
(A lovely part of rural life is that they have a decent school bus experience.)
The Preservation Puppies and I walked them down to their stop of the first day. Couldn’t help myself.
I did however hang behind and head for home as soon as we saw the bus coming – I didn’t want to be that mom.
You know, the weird overly-attached mom of the new kids.
So instead, I was just the weird stalker-ish trying to play it cool mom.

Can I just say how I am just so proud of these boys?
Because I am.
They are amazing.

And so far, reports from the new school are positve. Hurrah!

Peace & Love Friends,




Filed under: Blog, Family Tagged: featured, Raising Greers

Back-2-School, Digging In

Tomorrow is THE day.

The day the boys start a new school in our new town.

They will ride a school bus for the firs time, they will have the opportunity to take drama and band and shop. Opportunities that they didn’t have before.

Of course there will be new challenges as well.

New friends, new buildings, new teachers, new pecking orders, new routines.

But this is a decision that we all feel good about.

The time has come for us to Be ALL Here. For us to dig into the community in which we have been planted, and to put down new roots.

For us, last year was what they call in football, a “rebuilding year.”

We moved, we moved again. We joined a new church, I started a new job, we lived in remodeling chaos, most of our belongings were in storage, and the boys commuted to school each day, sometimes being gone up to twelve hours a day.

But now, well, now most of the big remodeling work is done. Now we are settled into the job and the church and the house.

Now it is time to settle into our community, going a little deeper in our attempt to follow one of our families values to “Dig In,” as inspired by the Rule of St. Benedict, and the vow of Stability, and this verse from Jeremiah 29: 7 “Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare.

So tomorrow we will make ourselves a little more at home here. The boys will start a new school and we will all start a new season of life, together.

 

 

Filed under: Blog, Family Tagged: featured, Raising Greers

Settling In – a #SlowHome update

Quick! Things are clean! Take a picture!

This is how I felt for the five minutes last Wednesday that my house was clean.

So I thought I would share and give a bit of a SlowHome update – how things are going here as we wrap up our HomespunSummer and get ready to start school, and how things are going with my Unpacking 2.0 project.

I mentioned before that we managed to empty our last storage unit days before we hit the one year mark of our move. Which was a HUGE relief.  All my stuff under one roof again! Hurrah!

But of course this relief and celebrating comes with a price. And that price is hours and hours of unpacking and purging and rearranging.

When we packed up and moved a year ago we were moving into a rental house. We had no idea what type or size or style of home we would be moving into permanently, so instead of purging on that end of things, we just packed it all up and moved it, lock, stock, and barrel.

So now,  twelve months later, the time has come to decide what to keep, what to give away, and what to sell.

I love this process. I hate this process.

I think we have finally settled on an arrangement for the living room. Sorta.

Settled as in the couch and coffee table will go here, but the entertainment area, well it is still up in the air. Right now we have the hutch and the chest taking the place of the work bench we had been using.

Sweet Man likes this arrangement.  I am not 100% sold (I worry that it looks too cottage and not enough farmhouse, but I tend to over think these things,) but for now it stands. The only other place these pieces could work is the in the guest room, and that room is current our main storage room, soooo for now these will stay here.

We moved the two white chairs to the no-mans-land between the living and dining area which created a nice little sitting area by the chalkboard. Now I can sit and watch Sweet Man cook me steak while I enjoy a nice Pinot Noir. Why didn’t I think of this arrangement, months ago?

And finally we hung the chalkboard addiction collection down the hallway. When Wylie, fresh home from camp saw this, he said “Wow! This looks like a real house! There are things on the walls!”  Who knew he was even paying attention?

The big chalkboard will be where I post our weekly schedule and daily chore list, right where everyone will see it each morning and evening.

The smaller ones boards feature a variety of family mottos etc. I am thinking I can change them up seasonally – Christmas hymn lyrics in December, love notes in February, favorite movie quotes in the summer…

There are still SO many boxes to unpack (way too many that are labeled “misc.” and frighten me with what they may contain,) and looking at the hallway I see all the remodeling projects still to finish – baseboards, light fixtures, painted door jams, and new doors.

But these changes, despite how many other things crowd my to-do list, these represent progress.

And this is the point of living slow. When we go slow we are taking them time to cultivating on the inside of our home what matters, and leaving all the comparisons of the world outside. When we live SlowHome intentionally we find ourselves becoming slowly grafted to both our physical surroundings and each other.

So, we are making progress in our settling in. Slowly, but surely, one box, one decision, one change, at a time, And because of this, Preservation Acres is becoming our home and not just our house.

Filed under: Blog, Fluff Tagged: featured, My Home

Summer Farmhouse Breakfast Sandwich

I have a theory. This theory is that the messier a sandwich is, the better it is.

My Summer Farmhouse Breakfast Sandwich proves this point exquisitely.

So what makes it a summer sandwich? Fresh basil and fresh tomatoes.

What makes it farmhouse? Farm-fresh eggs.

What makes it amazing? The brie cheese.

SUMMER FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST SANDWICH

Serves 1 *  Prep Time – 10 min

ingredients

1 Farm-Fresh Egg

2 Tomato Slices or a handful of Cherry Tomatoes sliced

4- 6 Fresh Basil Leaves

Brie Cheese

2 Slices of Light Rye Bread

Butter

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Toast your bread, the lightly butter one side of each piece
Slice tomatoes, wash basil leaves, and slice brie (thin slices, enough to cover one piece of bread.)
Place first piece of toast on plate, butter side-up. Top with brie, then basil, then tomatoes. Set aside.
Fry egg over-easy to over-medium.
Place fried egg on sandwich stack.
Salt and pepper to taste
Top with second piece of bread, and press down untill egg begins to run.
Cut in half, and enjoy!
(And keep lots of napkins on hand!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Blog, Feast Tagged: Cooking, featured

Manna Falling…

Wylie and I on the occassion of his 15th birthday. I was picking him up from his week as a counselor-in-training at camp. He served at the camp for adults with special needs. This boy found all sorts of manna there…

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Do not work for the food that perishes” Jesus says.

“Then what should we work for?” the crowd asks.

For the past six years my kids attended a year-round school. This meant that their summer break was only six weeks long. To some – especially those under the age of 18 – that might seem like a short summer break. For us, the break was perfect, because for five of those six years I worked at the boy’s school, and we were able to share our summer breaks together.

This summer, however, has been slightly different.

In just a few short weeks, my boys will start their new school, in our new town, which means that, this summer, for the first time in their memory, they have been experiencing a typical summer break. It is also the first time in their lifetime that I have worked full-time throughout the summer months.

Lord, have mercy on us all.

To say that we were unprepared for this new adventure would be an understatement. This summer has been – and continues to be – challenging for us, as we navigate this unfamiliar terrain.

There have been days when I have felt a bit like Jesus in Capernaum.

Days when I look at my boys and asked, “Why are you still here? Why are you not at school yet? And why are you still asking for food? Didn’t I just feed you? Go play!”

This brings me to the one particular challenge that I really did not anticipate this summer: the challenge of hunger.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING 

about video games, summer boardom, food that parishes, and manna

 

Filed under: Blog, Faith Tagged: featured, Raising Greers

Messy House, Real Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer y’all.

Summer has kicked my tail.

Registering both boys for new schools, juggling work while the boys are on break, raising a baby pig, trying to work on the house, mowing eight acres, destructo-puppies, planning my sisters upcoming wedding (happening here at the farm…,) publishing an eBook… it has all taken a toll.

And the state of my house is proof.

But I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

It is called the first day of school.

And getting doors back on all the closets (even if they are not painted. Some things you have to let go of for a season.)

And deciding how the living room is going to be arranged once and for all.

I sometimes forget how long it took to be settled in our other homes and I beat myself up for not being further along in this house.

So not only do I have to remind myself not to compare my house to the ones I see on other blogs, I also have to remember not to compare my current home – or self – to my previous homes and self. This is a new season, with a new rhythm. A new season with different challenges and different blessings.  Reminding myself of this helps.

 

 

In other news, It only took a year, but both of our storage units have been emptied! Hurrah!

This is both a huge relief all my stuff! – and overwhelming – why do we have all this stuff??

My goal is to unpack a box day. I think I can manage this much on top of everything else. Maybe.

So there you have it my friends – a little reality check for this Monday.

Let’s try to not bite off more than we can chew this week, okay?

Much Love!

 

Filed under: Blog, Fluff Tagged: featured, My Home

How Magic Springs Made a Theme-Park Lover Out of Me

Disclaimer: The FCC requires me to tell you that I was provided free tickets and lunch at Magic Springs Theme Park.  All opinions are my own and I only promote products and activities that I love. Okay, now that I have done that, let’s get to the fun part, shall we?

Theme Parks.

So. Not. My. Thing.

My husbands thing? Yes.

My kids thing? Absolutely.

Mine? No, thank you.

This was my staunch stance until last summer when we took our boys to Magic Springs Theme Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. So, why would I, a self-proclaimed theme-park hater, volunteer to spend a whole day at a park in the most brutal part of an Arkansas summer?

Love. And desperation.

Last year Wylie’s birthday fell smack in the middle of our big move and the intense crazy that moving brought with it. Feeling more than a little momma-guilt about so many things (moving on his birthday, moving him away from friends, school, church…) and a whole lot of desperation in how we could celebrate Wylie’s big day, I offered to do the unthinkable. I offered to take him and a friend to a nearby theme & water park for the whole day.

And you know what? It wasn’t awful. It was even dare I say – delightful.

This year, as little brother Miles’ birthday approached, his choice for celebration became clear. He wanted a turn to take a friend to Magic Springs.   And so this is how I found myself, once again, at a theme park on a scorching hot Arkansas summer day. And just like last year – maybe even more – I had a delightful time thanks to all the lessons I learned from last year’s trip, plus a few new ones!

Here they are in no particular order:

 

 

1. Choose a Safe Park and Take Teens and Tweens 

Magic Springs has a section of rides and water features for littles if you are the park/zoo/kid museum type of mom. But I was not that mom when my kids were little. But now that they are big and can work the buddy system, I am all about going to public amusement venues. Having big kids was a huge game changer for me. Magic Springs in particular is great for taking Tweens and Teens because it is on the small side, easy to navigate, and covered up with easy-to-identify staff.  During our day we worked the buddy system rule like crazy with the one adage that you had to check in with an adult once an hour. Because of the parks size this was easy to do without the boys feeling as if they had trek way out of their way to reach me.

Tip 2: Find a Shady Home base (with water if possible.)

At Magic Springs my place is Splash Island. Splash Island is this giant water covered playground where, you guessed it, you can get splashed anytime you want.  I discovered this gem last year and it was a no-brainer that this is where I would end up again this year. In addition to the HUGE umbrellas and the frequent splashing (whenever I got to hot I would go and stand under a fountain until I cooled down, genius!) Splash Island is in the middle of the park, separate from the water park, so it makes it extremely convenient as our meeting spot.

I did a lot of reading and a little napping right here – a much needed break for this momma.

Every theme park south of the Mason-Dixon line should have one of these beauties.

Tip 3: Pack Wisely and Go During the Week

Good books, towels, water, a hat, sunblock, phone charger… Treat this trip like the beach.  And if possible go during the week, not the weekend. We went on a Monday and we never had to fight for lounge chairs and the boys never complained about long lines for the rides.  Last year we went on a Saturday, and while it was crazytown crowded, we all enjoyed the laid-back feel of the weekday crowd much more.

Also make sure your budget includes enough to rent a locker. You never know, you might just decide to partake in some of the less-thrilling rides…

 

Tip 4: Find One Ride You Like

Just one. Even if it is a kiddie ride. Even if you just ride it once. Find one thing that gets you out of your lounge chair for at least half an hour. And go by yourself if no one will ride with you. There is something extra-lovely about going solo at a theme park, a sort of childlike freedom you can’t find in day-to-day life. (This is why you need that locker.)

My favorite rides at Magic Springs are the Lazy River (pictured here) and the carousel (I always imagine I am Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins… Can’t help it.)

 

 

Tip 5: Eat Good Food – In air conditioning if possible.

Last year we made the mistake of ordering from one of the kiosk and eating outdoors. The food was decent but we were hot and sweaty and rushed. This year we went another direction and ate at Smoke on the Water, an air-conditioned restaurant on the parks premises. We chowed down on bar-b-que pork sandwiches, beef brisket (the best of all the options,) home-cut french fries, coleslaw, and garlic fries (another great hit.) Eating indoors gave everyone a chance to cool down, go slow (preventing future upset stomachs,) and our meal was a bit more balanced.  Plus the birthday boy LOVES his BBQ so it was the perfect meal for us.

 

Tip 6: Start small and local –

Magic Springs has been around since I was a kid and while they have expanded they have never lost that small-park and local feel. Arkansas is known as the “Natural State,” and one of the most beautiful aspects of our state are our trees. Magic Springs has done a great job of using this to its benefit. Almost all the sidewalks are lined with spacious tree canopies and coverage. Even in the water park there are trees shading chairs and eating areas and parts of the Lazy River.  I really love that the park is not one huge concrete jungle, but instead reflects the state that I love.

 

 

 

 

And that is how Magic Springs made me, a self-confessed theme-park party pooper, a theme-park lover. Or at the very least they made a Magic Springs lover out of me. I can’t promise anything about any of those other parks out there…

What about you – theme park hater or fan?

PS- If you are planning to go to Magic Springs make sure to nab some coupons or buy tickets online at least the day before. Trust me. We made this mistake last year. The best deal is online ahead of time.  ;)

XO

 

Filed under: Blog, Family Tagged: featured, Motherhood, Raising Greers, Travels

Playing with Exterior Color

 

I discovered a fun little app the other day.

The Sherwin-Williams Paint Visualizer.

A perfect tool to help me distract myself from writing deadlines and laundry and the crazy heat outside.

This is what our house looked like when we bought it. My favorite thing is the deck off to the side. It is the best feature of the exterior. The second best feature is the front porch which has siding on the walls, ceiling, and on the overhang trim. Of course you can’t really see the porch because of the overgrown bushes, but in time those will all come out and wewill build wide steps leading down to the lawn. It will be lovely. Someday. #SlowHome, remember?

If you are suprised that this is what the exterior of my house looks like, you are not alone. I am too.

This style of home is not the kind I would have picked out of a magazine.  It is no secret that I am more of a farmhouse and cottage kind of gal, but still, I fell in love with this funny mid-century house and its adorable Fisher-Price-esque deck. In fact that is how I describe the house – it looks like something Fisher-Price would have made. And I am a huge Fisher-Price fan.

But still, despite the deck and the front porch, the exterior needs some spunk.

Which is where the Paint Visualizer comes in handy.

Before I got started I did some digging on Pinterest for inspiration.  What would look good with red brick, but still be fun and colorful? So I searched

“red brick painted siding.”

The first image that really grabbed my attention was this one from Young House Love. I love the contrast of the gray and the brick and the happy yellow along with all the white trim.

This was the second image I found (from I Should Be Mopping The Floor) that I saved. Not so much for the color section, but for the difference it made for the space to even have a little color.  The all white in the Before pic is lovely for a cottage or traditional farmhouse look, but maybe not the way to go for a Fisher-Price house.

Also I loved the painted ceiling (haint blue of course) and the painted concrete floor. Two additional things I plan to do on our porch as well.

After I found my inspiration pics, I headed over to the Paint Visualizer and began to play.  The first thing I did was change our roof color to green (which it actually is, the brown roof was what it was before we purchased the house.) I am not sure when or if we will ever change the brick color. That is a big job that I do not foresee being high on our priority list for at least a decade, so I just tried to enhance what we already have, leaving the brick color as-is.

Then I added thick white moldings around the windows (which Sweet Man will build a lot better than I drew with my mouse…) painted the siding and choose a door color. First I went with yellow.

 

Then red (a nod to our cottage in town.)

Here it is with gray siding and a blue door. Slightly more tame than the first two.

I have no idea which color combo I will go with in the end, but I do think it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of these three.

Painting the porch and the door is something I could do myself over the course of two weekends once the weather cools. Sweet Man will build the window trim eventually – maybe one winter when there isn’t as much to be done outdoors and the sun sets early (remember we are doing this all #SlowHome speed) – and I am hoping we can chop down the hedges this fall. In fact, I probably won’t paint until I get those hedges out-of-the-way and I really see what I am dealing with. Who knows what sort of inspiration might strike when I can actually SEE the front porch!

Until then I will keep playing with the visualizer app when I need a well-earned break from adulting.

Happy Weekend friends!

 

 

 

Filed under: Blog, Farm, Fluff Tagged: featured, Preservation Acres