Random 5 for March 24, 2024 – Colors, projects, names, ants, weather

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The gray is a little darker than it looks here. It’s also faded unevenly which you can’t see. The garage doors match but show up more blue. 

Fifty shades of gray – Seriously, there are more than fifty shades of gray. We are the end unit of a triplex. The building is sided with brick and a cement board that requires painting every ten years. The paint has been wearing off in spots so it’s time. I was hoping to put it off to next year. My neighbor on the other end had different thoughts so we (the center resident decided not to do it) are painting it this year. The house is a lightish brick with gray siding. The existing gray is faded. On different surfaces the color is different depending on how much sun it gets. It defies being matched. The neighbor told me to pick out a color. We are using a painter that has done a lot of work in the neighborhood. I gave him my thoughts (I wanted a gray with blue in it) and the neighbor gave some thoughts too. He came up with a mid-blue-gray color that we are both happy with and it didn’t take any work on my part. (Yay!) He’s painting our units in May just before our bathroom project is scheduled to start. I better stock up on crazy pills!

Speaking of projects – There are also 50 shades of beige, cream, off-white, whatever you want to call it. We are selecting colors for our bathroom project. Most of it will be light colored warm neutral. I’m always amazed at how many “off-whites” there are. White is white, right? Wrong!

Speaking of colors – Our siding color is called “Downing Slate” from the Victorian collection. Not as much fun as “I’m not a waitress” nail polish or “Bahama Mama” lipstick. I want to get a job naming colors. I have a few ideas. “Tuckus Pink” is one that comes to mind along with “Cat Beans.” If you have any suggestions, add them in the comments.

Guests galore! – In addition to a people house guest, we have another influx of guests – the six-legged variety with antennas. Ants came in singles and couples and in no one particular place. One crawled on my Kindle as I was reading. One walked across my arm as I was brushing my teeth. Three found a yummy sticky spot on the counter and got stuck on it. I’ve had ants before, but they were clustered in an area like the cat food dishes or the sink. This year it’s different. They are everywhere and I’m not sure how to treat them. I’ve never had this kind of invasion. They are in places with no food or water. I don’t know what’s attracting them.

Goodbye March – I’ll be glad to see you go. Wonky weather, ants, house projects. It’s been hectic. Last night we had high winds. It’s been very cold after a nice touch of spring last week. My poor magnolia tree is not happy. Some of the buds have been trashed. Mother Nature is whipping us around. Again.

So how was your week?

 

70 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 24, 2024 – Colors, projects, names, ants, weather”

  2. Oh my gosh – you are not kidding with picking paint. It’s exhausting! Naming colors would be fun though 🙂 I hope your ant invasion can be turned back – that is just icky to deal with. Sounds like your house is going to be almost brand new by the end of spring!

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  4. I was surprised that the association didn’t take care of the colors and painting the outside of the units. Although, maybe you don’t have an HOA. Kind of early for those ants. We have this plug-in device that makes a sound (unheard to human ears) that is supposed to keep away rodents and some insects. Don’t know if it works on ants. We still get an occasional one, but not a lot. Instead, we get those earwigs every year. Ack. They are gross and disgusting.

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    • We have an HOA but it’s not a condo. We own the townhouses so we have to do all the maintenance. They have some guidelines but are flexible with color as long as all the units are the same. Earwigs, yuk!

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      • I guess it depends on the Association. My mom owned her townhouse, but the HOA was responsible for all outside maintenance, yards, landscaping, outdoor painting and roofs. All indoor was hers, plumbing, exterminators (when needed), painting and other indoor upkeep.

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        • We have those locally too but call them condominiums. It’s a different set up. Our development is mostly big homes with this small enclave of about 40 town homes. There is a lot of woods around owned by the HOA which they take care of. Mostly they make sure that the outsides of the homes are kept respectable. The last thing they cited was a neighbor who kept a bunch of old windows in the front of their home for weeks. Another had very bright flashing lights (not Christmas twinkles) all over their house. No blow up ornaments or swing sets. We have not found them demanding or difficult.

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  5. Every summer, I seem to have a problem with ants, which appear out of nowhere! On my kitchen counter! Seriously, I can be staring at the counter, there’s nothing there – and then there is! My cleaning lady discovered a gel called FIX (no idea where it’s manufactured, or if it’s on sale in your neck of the woods), which comes in tubes about the size of a small tube of glue. She put a few dots along all the cracks between the floor and the wall, and the cracks between the counter and the wall – et voilà! No more ants – at least for a few months. I do feel a bit guilty though – ants are such fascinating creatures.
    It’s true. Not only are there 50 shades of grey, there are hundreds of shades of white and of beige! And even of black! When I moved into my apartment, I completely re-did both bathrooms, and beige-brown was the base colour for both. In my previous apartment, it was grey and white. I find the beige-brown combination is warmer and less clinical.

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    • I never heard of that gel. I’ll have to look it up. I’m a fan of the warmer shades. The grays are cool and a bit “clinical.” So many of the choices were from the “gray wave” that came through a few years back. We’ve been told that it’s going out but there is still a lot of gray out there. We have no choice with the outside of the house. All the connected units have to be the same color. The best I could do was use a blue-gray which is a nicer shade than straight gray.

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  7. I like the colors of your house. The lightish colored brick sets is good with the bluish gray. If there are 50-plus shades of gray, there must be 150 shades of brown. At least. I started off thinking I could find a brown-ish shade I liked. Finally I gave up and went with blue.

    I’m surprised to hear you have ants everywhere. We used to have tiny ants in the shower in the Philippines. For some reason, I haven’t had any ants here.

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    • You are lucky. They are annoying and have been showing up at different places. We finally sprayed under the kitchen sink last night as there was a big invasion while I was making dinner. So far none this morning but they are not easily distracted or killed.

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  8. I was sprayed downstairs, garage and house perimeter for years for spiders and centipedes, then stopped when I got a laptop and no longer used the desktop downstairs. The pest control service used a strong spray as I still will see dead bugs on the tiles in the laundry room. But there were never ants upstairs … the last five to six year, they start coming in late April, one or two, then in abundance and only on one side of the house, the rooms I use the most (kitchen where I have my laptop and sit eight or nine hours daily, my bedroom and the bathroom. Nothing works. I feel invaded and like you, it’s that creepy feeling something is scaling your arm. I don’t fear them like spiders or centipedes, but I won’t leave the room if I have food or drink out – ugh.

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      • Last year I called Trugreen as they had a pest service for the perimeter only. I wasn’t keen on getting sprayed inside again. This was a pest control service they added during the early part of the pandemic. The first spray of four per year was 1/2 off, so I scheduled it in February. I kept waiting for them to call and schedule me (which was supposed to happen in March), so I finally called – they said “hold tight – we didn’t forget you.” But I’d already agreed to the sprays and had to pay in advance. Trugreen for lawns has been around forever. So I Googled for reviews on this company. I am usually more diligent, but Trugreen has been around for years and I often see their tracks around here. I found a consumer website where people go to post reviews on everything. Bad reviews! A lot of people said they were home and the truck pulled up in front, guy stayed in the truck, then 10 minutes later put the hang tag on the door they had been buy. There were many complaints like this for fertilizing and pest control. So I told them I changed my mind about applying pesticide and got a refund. The salesperson said the pesticide application would cause a rush of spiders and centipedes to come in from outside … didn’t like that aspect of the ordeal either.

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  9. I’m with you-there are way too many shade of grey but white is even worse! When I sold paint at hardware story 87 years ago, I had someone who came in and after spending ungodly amount of time with said customer, I was exasperated. She asked me a jillion questions about this shade and that shade and finally asked what’s the difference between shade X and shade Y. At the end of my patience rope, I finally responded…about $17 a gallon.

    Sorry about the 6 legged guests. I sprinkle cinnamon at doorways but not sure how’d effective it’d be with a large batch. Good luck.

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    • My brother uses cinnamon too but they are at so many different places that it would be a lot of cinnamon! Blue colors are tough too. Is there green in it or not? My family room has a blue wall and I bought at least 3 little samples before I settled on something. The amount of green in a blue color can throw off the color if you are trying to blend with something else. I have always thought at greens are easier especially sage greens. More forgiving when working with other patterns.

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  12. We have had wonky weather, too, and I find myself hoping for some consistency. I have had those ant invasions in the past, but it’s been a while (knock on wood!). It’s really hard when you can’t locate what’s attracting them. I feel for you!

    Your colors are beautiful, Kate. I don’t envy you all the decision making, however. It seems to me that you do have a very good eye, though. Lovely home!

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  14. We have ants every year and have no idea where they’re coming in. We have tried sprays and those ant trap things, but the powder always seems to work, although unsightly. We puff it under the kitchen floor cupboards and hoover up the corpses.
    Like the colour. We are planning to paint the hall again this year. Not my favourite pastime, but Hubby has the urge.

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    • You have painted that since you moved there, didn’t you? We did ant traps at the old house but I’m never sure if they work or the “season” ends when the summer comes.

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      • We’ve gone right through the house since we’ve been here, but the hall takes a hammering as we only have the one way in and out, and having Maya, well. she shakes herself on a wet day and everybody gets some.
        The ants are a pest though. We had them in the cottage too and they were coming in through the extension cavity walls. We were recommended a spray which was brilliant and have always got some to hand, but it doesn’t seem to work as well here.

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  15. We haven’t had ants in the house for a long time… but we did get termites recently that required hiring an extermination service. It wasn’t cheap but at least nothing will be munching on our house’s wood framing… for a while, anyway.

    You definitely should get a job coming up with names for colors.

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  17. It’s a little early for painting here due to the schizophrenic weather. I hope you can squeeze it in between snow or rain storms. We’re back to snow, here.

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  18. Every couple of years based upon what is going on outside, I get a few ants. One is more than enough for me. I use ant traps which usually do the trick or I can verify that a little Windex sprayed on a counter will kill them dead. Of course, you do have to wipe that up. 🙂 Good luck with the paint colors.

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    • Windex or any spray cleaner will kill them. I have a thyme based spray that will keep them at bay for at least a day but not much longer. We had a few last year but nothing like this.

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  19. The inside of our home is gray, light gray… Drift of Mist, SW. It has some kind of red thing going on if it is a small room and the light is right. I love a freshly painted exterior! I’d have it painted every two years if I could! We have painted the front three times in the last 5 years. We aren’t talking about a lot to paint, it’s all windows and a double front door.
    No ants yet this year… fingers crossed for a continuation of their no show.

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  21. We have had a mild winter but I am ready for spring to take hold. It’s starting to show off but still need a sweater for my walk in the morning. Won’t be long and I will be complaining about the humidity.😼

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  22. I am gratefully lucky that I have never had to deal with ants in the almost 8 years I have lived here. Had several water bugs during my first yea, but since I learned that water bugs are from the same family of roaches, I treated for roaches and have seen only 2 (separate occasions) in the past 2 years.

    I rent an apartment in a building that was originally a single home and is over 200 years old. The building is all brick. I don’t have issues with anything that is out-of-doors.

    My furnace stopped working a week ago Friday. It runs on natural gas, as does my hot water heater. It took 4 days to determine that what my landlord described a dinosaur-aged unit and I will be without heat or hot water until a new unit is ordered, shipped and put on the list for installation. I broke down on Thursday and bought two small “personal space” heaters and while they don’t warm much space beyond them, even though they have a fan. I take sponge bath in the kitchen where I need to have access to the stove in order to heat water. Fortunately, I don’t have to go anywhere until this coming Thursday, so I’m the only one bothered with being a bit stinky.

    I know you can relate because of your own heating issue. When everything is all fixed and working again, I am going to ask my landlord for $10 a day to compensate my inconvenience, the cost of the heaters and what I know will raise my electric bill (electric is more expensive than gas).

    I’m at the point now where I want to build a fort inside and hide there until this problem goes away. Let me know if I need to make it bigger so you can come visit to get away from those obnoxious ants!

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    • That sounds like a nightmare! At least we had heat and water. The heat wasn’t as “warm” as our heat pump but we survived. Lucky you for no ants. We had ants at our last house too but they were mostly around the cat dishes. I did creative things to avoid them along with some sprays.

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  23. Fortunately the spray my husband uses to spray the perimeter of the house at the foundation has kept ants out for the past five or six years……but prior to that we were invaded every Spring. Ants are disconcerting but not nearly as disconcerting as termites would be!  I think naming colors for paints, etc. WOULD be a lot of fun……the first thing that came to mind when you asked for other ideas was (I know this is weird so forgive me) was “Barf Brown”……LOL Happily we have siding and stone so no painting on exterior required but we DO have to have the house “cleaned” every other year because of the algae that grows on the shady side of the house. Yuck. It’s always something isn’t it. 

    Hugs, Pam

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    • What spray does he use? Looking for recommendations. When I was coming up with color ideas I tried to come up with a barf one too. Gracie’s barf is either a hairball or rotisserie chicken beige! I’d love to change to vinyl siding but can’t for a couple of reasons. Always something.

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      • He uses Spectracide Home Defense……it has a sprayer on a small hose and he just sprays it around the foundation and after the first year of ants inside our house he began using it and we’ve never seen one inside again. There are a lot of good sprays out there (fortunately) but we’ve stuck with this one which works for us. Good luck!!!

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        • Sounds good. I’ve seen it locally. They are early this year. So annoying. I have to pick up the cat food dishes right away (which doesn’t make the cats happy!).

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  24. The ants are the same way here–scouts everywhere! Crawling across my iPad, on the compost pail, on the rug in the living room, the bathroom floor, you name it. We live in fear of them finding the cat food. When we did kitchen repairs, we discovered fifty shades of bright white–but none of them “Blinded By the White.” What a missed opportunity.

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    • Glad to know someone else has discerning ants. I drive my husband crazy with colors because I can see the background color or undertone. He only sees the main color. I like your suggestion!

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  26. Bring in an exterminator to spay outside for the ants. One climbing up your arm while you brushed your teeth – yuck!!! If you got all the rain we got on Saturday that may be what sent them inside. That happens to us as well. Apparently ants prefer drying places to hang. Good luck with the paint colors – so hard choosing them. We did that for the bathroom renovation, and we’ll have the kitchen one coming up in June now (after they told us they were thinking April or May…sigh). Not looking forward to that. Getting a neutral that matches the cupboards, the granite, the floor….ugh.

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    • I am at the exterminator stage. Dan sprayed outside about 3 weeks ago and it promptly rained! The tide on colors is turning away from grays to warmer shades but there is still a lot of gray in the creams. We have picked everything except the tile. The original tile we picked is just a shade too dark for the shower. Our bathroom doesn’t have a window so I want to keep it light.

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      • For places like under your sink where the cats can’t get, try Raid Ant Gel. You put some down and every ant in the colony comes to eat (and you need to let them for a few hours or so) but they take it back to the nest and share it with everyone and ants disappear. We’ve been using this for years in places that are protected from the cats and it is amazing. You just have to put up with the ant convention for a day or less so everyone gets plenty to eat and share.

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        • Someone else suggested a gel and we may try that. The frustrating thing is that there are maybe 2 on the desk, one on the kitchen island and most on the granite counters which have a black veining. I have to stare to see if the granite pattern is moving! 🙂 There are a very few at other spots. Nailing down the point of entrance is tough but I’m going with the kitchen which is technically second story because our basement is a walk-out.

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