Paint

It's annoyed me for some time, the way the garden shed looks. The brown flanks faded, the equally tired red on the doors (which still puzzles me - was that a paint mismatch?) and the unattractive slate blue trim we are slowly eradicating from the house as well.  Add to that the decorative crossbucks on the doors pulling off or bits fallen away, and it was a sad but functional little shed that needed some love.

I told Himself one day, "Fix the trim on the shed doors and I'll paint it."  "Really?"  "Sure", and he and The Boy got to work on it not long after.

One of my trips to Lowe's I picked up brown paint. Himself, when asked to do the same, was daunted by the prospect. "I'm no good at picking colors."  "It's brown. Just...pick a brown."  "No, no", he avers, "You're better at the colors."

So I chose a shade called Labrador, like a dark rich chocolate.  We had white for the trim, and I added a thickly napped roller for the textured side walls, brushes for the trim. And I waited.

Of course, with a project ready to embark upon, my fingers itched and the weather did not cooperate. Until one day, it did. And off I went to the shed, paint and pan and roller and step stool and brushes in hand.  I worked east to north to west to south - sunwise - painting the body of the shed until I reached the fussy bits between the door trim. 

The trim came next, working sunwise again, but the evening snuck up before I could get all the way around again, and my work was ended for that day. The next fine Fall day saw the trim finished, a second coat put on (that slate blue resists to the last), and all but the two topmost boards on each gable end completed.

This is how she stood for some small time, until Himself set up a ladder like a little scaffold just tall enough for me to reach the last boards, and the shed was done. It looks fresher, not so tired, and I look out of my office window and think, "Some of that trim will need another coat come Spring..."

Alone in the back, the sounds of the squirrels foraging in the leaves or leaping from branch to trunk, the steady repetitious motion of the roller or brush...this is zen. I don't mind painting, not at all, but I'm not allowed to paint inside - I'm much too messy at it.  But if you've a shed or a barn needs painting...well, then, I'm your girl.