Whoever last sided/painted our house picked a combination of gunmetal grey and black. The grey (siding) part was battered and showing its age, so we (gulp!) bit the bullet to have it replaced. Vetting the new siding color probably pales in comparison to, say, electing a new Pope. Or a Venetian Doge. Or the latest American Idol.
Probably.
But that was only the first part. Black and creamy yellow don't play all that well together. So in this afternoon's full daylight, I hung a handful of sample cards at intervals along the front, and Dennis and I played out the usual domestic schtick. Our finalists were:
- "Congo," a darker green, was selected for its sharper contrast against the yellow.
- "Royal Forest," its softer green and muted grey notes guaranteed to lighten the whole front of the house.
- "Chipotle Paste," almost a burgandy, promised to hold its own against the wide swaths of yellow--and then some.
- "Royal Liqueur," with its brandy-eque richness, played up the creaminess of the yellow while simultaneously cozying up to it in a way the other three didn't.
[Insert wry expression] Blech. I dislike choosing colors almost as much as I dislike painting. But Dennis once wished that Garanimals would make clothes for engineers, just he didn't have to figure that kind of thing out on his own. So I figure I'd better step up.
Even considering factors like curb appeal (for when we eventually sell) didn't narrow down the list. "Any one of them would work," said Dennis. "Well," I observed, "it basically boils down to: Do you want to blend in or do you want to stand out? It's just like life." A second later I thought, "Y'know, that applies to business too."
An hour or so on--impatiently waiting for paint samples to dry--I haven't revised that thought. I don't think that there's anything wrong with either choice: It's just the eternal weighing of risk versus return, with elements of style, taste and temperament also thrown into the scales. So I wouldn't presume to favor one over the other. I just know that you can't ever have both at once.
