Operation Courtyard Part 2
Since we converted an existing building into a guest house we didn’t have a choice about the location. The former greenhouse was never expected to be front and center. It was designed for utility, not beauty.
Once we turned her into a super cute cottage with a sweet little front porch complete with swing, I could see we needed to improve the view.
First I addressed to blank wall that anyone sitting on the swing is looking at with a barn quilt. You can read about the quilt here.
And that helped but the biggest issues were the two metal buildings that set the boundaries for what I think of as the front yard for Sand Creek Cottage.
They weren’t giving me the cozy cottage vibe. They were eyesores that needed to be addressed. So I pulled out the secret weapon, paint.
First thing Mr. Math power washed them both to get the surfaces ready for paint. Both buildings had been painted before and I was fairly sure the smaller building we use as a tool shed had been spray painted, so it got primed first then painted with leftover trim paint we used on the cottage and our house. It is Behr Dove.
Mr. Math cut out a circle from a leftover Hardie panel scrap for me and I turned it into a sign using the main color of the cottage (Behr True Taupewood), barn quilt paint (they were mistint samples) and some black exterior paint I bout for $9.00 at Home Depot. You can read about Operation Courtyard Part 1 here.
The little building looked so much better and I could see the potential for the bigger wall but I didn’t want a solid color, I wanted something that would help us forget that the shop was blocking the view. I immediately thought of a mural. I fell in love with giant wall art in Laurel Mississippi. But they are everywhere now.
I knew I wanted something nature inspired, with no words so I started looking online for ideas.
I found this peel and stick mural that I used for inspiration.
I liked the trees, and the way the colors went from dark at the bottom to light at the top. I wanted my “forest” to look more like our pine trees and I always have enjoyed watching the way the planted trees grow back after timber is cut from a property. The first few years the property looks terrible then all of a sudden the trees start shooting up and you can see that the forest of trees as you drive by. It seems so hopeful.
I picked up the paint for the wall at Lowe’s and Home Depot in their oops section and a gallon of Forest Green from our local ReStore for $16.00. All together I used one gallon of the upper lighter color, one quart of an olive-ish color, and the black paint. The total for the paint came to $47.00. I used the lighter color straight from the can to paint the upper half of the wall with a paint sprayer- Mr. Math had to teach me how to spray large areas.
The top level of trees was one part olive paint and three parts the light color. The next level of trees was one part forest green and two parts of the light color. The third level of trees and the bottom third of the wall was straight forest green. Finally the darkest color is three parts forest green and on part black.
I considered drawing the picture off then projecting it on the wall but honestly that just isn’t me. Trees are imperfect and I decided to just roll with it. I just took off with a paint brush and just hoped for the best. It is only paint. If I hated it, I could always paint over it. I did have to keep telling myself that a lot. Our unofficial motto is “We don’t do easy at our house” and this project was no exception it was over 100 degrees every day I worked on it so it was 6:00 in the morning until 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. until it was too dark to see.
Mr. Math suggested I add in some lighter spots to look like light coming through the trees. It was a great suggestion.
I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Thank you for following along with our journey.
Blessings,
Karen
