Painted Nephew
After months and months of being shrouded in mysterioso drapery, the new façade of my nephew’s house in San Francisco has emerged from the shadows. Pretty cool, huh? He purchased his home in 2005 or 6 (or 4; I forget) and last year I guess he was feeling solvent enough to attempt to return the house to the glory from which it originally sprang and/or sprung and hired a designer/architect/restorer named Skeeter to accomplish the feat. Months passed and costs accelerated which, of course, is the norm for this kind of project. Having made a huge dent in my nephew’s discretionary income, Skeeter is now gone and in a couple of weeks the painters will descend on the site and ascend the scaffolding for their shot at painterly glory and the other half of his retirement portfolio.San Francisco has a tradition of painting restorations in colorful ways and these houses have come to be known as “painted ladies.” I dunno if my nephew has the testicles to own a painted lady but it will be interesting to see the results of whatever color scheme emerges.
Update 2/16/10--Several of my uppity, but valued, readers have pointed out to me that they have no reference point to judge, or form an opinion on, the renovation. I have, therefore, attached a "before" photo.
Update 3/24/10--Painting done. Now what to do with the fence, gate, stone-finish on front stairs, and retaining wall.
posted by peebstuff | Saturday, February 13, 2010
2 Comments:
He has balls for 3 colors. I hope he goes with at least 5!
Nephew here.
Skeeter is not quite done yet. Since this picture he has finished the siding around the porch and house. Little bits of trim have been completed. He is currently finishing off the detail on the hood which will be some lovely spindles. He is also building us a brand new mahogany door from scratch!
Painters come today to continue priming and filling the 40 million nail holes. If the weather holds we hope the exterior paint will be done by the beginning of March.
The painted lady conversation has been at the forefront for some time. Skeeter, who has been doing this for 30 somethin' years and is something of a purist, is not a big fan of the Painted Lady, attributing the look to the 1960's. Apparently since there were so many abandoned ships during the gold rush (so much so that owners would sink 'em for the insurance money since they could find no crews to sail them out) there was an excess of nautical paint and, consequently, it was super cheap. Thus the great majority of houses were painted with Grey and White lead paint.
Now, I ain't gonna paint my house grey and white but the current idea is to NOT do a painted lady style and instead find a middle ground. I think the monochromatic white trim looks pretty classy and, if we go ahead and do the finish coat in a cream, plum for the siding and a sash color for the windows we can get find that balance of color and class. Plus, it's a small house. There is only so much complexity it can take without tipping over into gaudy.
Also, I don't know if any of your fair readers care, but I gave you the wrong URL for Skeeter's website. It's www.clearheart.org. His portfolio is a knockout!
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