Big brush painting

I'm spending my summer painting (doesn't that sound romantic?).  Actually it's not standing in front of an easel with a scarf wrapped jauntily around my neck and a beret on my head...it's up a ladder, wearing a paint-spattered t-shirt kind of painting....or what I refer to as "big brush painting", not nearly as glamorous as being an artist. 

When we renovated our old farmhouse 14 years ago we knew we would put cedar clapboards on the outside because we really hate vinyl siding...but now it's time to pay the piper....the entire house needs to be stained again.  Here are some before pictures:

This side of the house faces east so it gets a lot of morning sun which has caused the wood to turn a bit grey where the stain has weathered.

The south side of the house is not as bad as there are a lot trees which block the sun from fading the stain. We are re-coating with a similar but not identical color....kind of a beigish-greeny-grey.  The trim is painted ivory and I would like to paint the steel doors a bright teal colour and the screen doors a dark butter yellow.  I can't wait to post the "after" pictures but it is a slow process that will probably take us most of the summer to finish.

It is also strawberry, raspberry and cherry season...which can only mean one thing...... PIES!

Of course the weather has been super hot and sunny for two weeks now....so we've managed to squeeze in a bit of this too............