Summer Tour & New Exterior Paint Colors
Today was such a beautiful day on the farm. After what seemed like two straight weeks of rain (all of which we desperately needed and are so thankful for) the sun popped out! It turned out to be a gorgeous day for photos so I thought it would be a great time to capture some updated shots of the exterior of our farmhouse.
Last fall I shared how I painted the exterior for a quick fix to get rid of the dreadful green color it was before. I liked it for a while, but the more I looked at it the more dreary it seemed. Maybe it was because it was almost winter or maybe it was just too dark. I'm thinking the later especially since my husband said it looked like a haunted house. Sheesh! I certainly didn't want that vibe, so I painted it. Again.
I went with a really soft sage green for the siding and cream for the trim. I left some of the darker brown trim from the last round of painting to add a little contrast. Now I LOVE it! It feels so happy, bright, and welcoming. When the time comes for our big exterior makeover (new siding, windows, trim, etc.) I plan to go with these same colors. That will be a while though, there are more pressing things around here that need our money right now.
One of my favorite features of the front of our house is this little curved sidewalk that leads to our front porch. When we do our big exterior makeover we are going to add a big farmhouse front porch, but in the near future I'm going to replace the wrought iron with nice wooden columns and add wooden shutters. It might be next Spring before I tackle that.
Landscaping and gardening is certainly not my strong point although I wish it was! I'm learning more and more and things are improving bit by bit. I've set a personal record for growing these ferns! I bought them in the early Spring and they have really grown since then and are looking beautiful! I've never been able to keep a fern alive in the past, so I have no clue what is going on here, I'll take it though!
I planted these evergreen shrubs in pots I found at Home Depot last fall. I love evergreens! They gave my front porch a little life all through the winter months.
No Summer front porch would be complete without a hanging basket. My kiddos got this one for me for Mother's day this year.
These vines I planted in a couple of window boxes were once full and beautiful, but one of our lovely cows decided to escape not long ago and ate them! So, they are having to start over. Luckily they grow pretty quickly. I have no clue what they are, I dug them up from the back yard.
We don't really have a back yard. Well we do, but it's more of a pasture as you can see in the above photo, and it's where many of our cows hang out. Our front yard makes up for it though and that's where our kids like to play the most.
Our kids love to swim and we love to put up a pool for them at home. The only problem is there really is no way to make them look that great. I suppose if we bought one of those fancy above ground pools and built a deck around it and all that, it would look nice, but I have no interest in doing all that! This set up works just fine.
I added a few potted plants and flowers around the outside of the pool to jazz it up a little. And yes the pool is right in our driveway. This was decided after much debate between me and my husband, and he won. I will say it's nice not to have to mow around it, and we are not killing a big spot in our yard, so it turned out to be okay, plus we have the garage handy for shade when we need it.
I found this metal tub in one of the buildings on the farm. I planted my hibiscus tree my grandmother gave me for my birthday in it. I wish it had been in bloom today for the photos because the flowers are truly beautiful!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look around. Now I better hurry and update my house tour page so no one will think we live in a haunted house! Ha!
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