The color of dark chocolate

The house has been painted and it is the color of chocolate.  This is lovely on so many levels. 

Notice, please, that I did not say, "we painted the house."  Because, strictly speaking, that is not true.  We did not do it ourselves and, honestly, that's one of the nicest things about it!  We actually hired out a task that, technically, we could have done.  This could get addictive.

I knew I wanted a nice rich, dark shade of brown.  Not a red brown but a grayish brown that wouldn't clash with our slightly gray-blue roof.  Something that would match the dark splotches in the tan brick on the east side of the house. We tried a few shades that we picked up at a home improvement store that all looked promising.  The shade we chose is called dark cavern. 

The painters spent most of their time prepping (which is good because the house was in tough shape) but they also managed to put about three coats of paint over the tinted primer (it's a long story how we ended up with that many coats), and it looks great.  Plus, the house will never need to be painted again in my lifetime.  (I'm only half kidding.)

We now have our work cut out for us to finish landscaping the front yard before it turns into a mud pit this winter.  Hopefully, by this time next week I'll be posting pictures of Phase I of the front yard for you to admire.

My vision is that within a couple years the plants will grow in nicely in front of the light-colored brick and compliment the rich hue of the house.  I have lots of dark-leaved and fall-color plants -- a couple Diablo nine barks, Japanese maples, oak-leaf hydrangeas, a chartreuse smoke tree, and well -- you'll see it when it's done.

One thing at a time.