And they're all made out of ticky-tacky

We are having a minor face lift done to the house (at a major expense), which includes a new garage door, new front door, new paint and some general aesthetic touches so that we can migrate away from the ticky-tacky look of a house that was built in the late 50s and whose exterior hasn't really been upgraded since then.

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one...

Our ticky-tacky box was yellow. No joke. Only difference is that it's not built on a hillside.

Apparently selecting green, pink, blue, and yellow was the safe bet back in the day, because when you fast-forward to 2008 and have to choose a color, the possibilities are endless. And confusing. And frustrating. "this has too much red in it." "that one is too light." "too dark." "too much green." And on and on it goes.

A mere 18 cans of trial paint later and today the first coat is going up.

We were looking for a somewhat neutral, beige-y, earth tone, brown "but not brown" color that we hoped would give us the quasi essence of a Craftsman style house. Mind you, when you live in a ticky-tacky house made of stucco whose floor plan was clearly taken straight from the Sears-Roebuck catalog of 1958, going Craftsman simply by changing the color is a monumental (and, really, unattainable) task. But, humor me here. We don't have $2M to buy or build our Craftsman dream house, so paint it is.

Did I mention that the first coat is going up today? It's exciting, yes, but also slightly unnerving. I had closed the blinds in a futile attempt to shield the dog from the "bad men working on the house" (in his mind, not mine), and am trying to keep the psychotic furry one from losing yet another screw in his head (please don't eat any more rocks...). But I have just realized that the doors and windows are covered on the outside by tarps and plastic, too. And I feel like I've been quarantined after being exposed to radiation. And it's really hot in here now. And I'm starting to feel claustrophobic.

Lordy, I hope paint color #18 was the right choice. I hope our beige-y, neutral, brown "but not brown" color has miraculously made our house look like a large, rambling Craftsman dream home. Even though it will always be 1,200 sq ft of 1950s Sears-Roebuck ticky-tacky.