John 19:30

It is finished.

After nine weeks, our exterior paint job is completely done. We couldn't be happier. And not just because it's finally all over, but because we really like the way it turned out. There were some tense moments when we weren't sure of our color choices, but it came out just right.

Every single bit of the house got painted. Even the white parts are now a different color of white. Just as important, it's new white paint, not the old stuff that was flaking off before. I think the final tally is seven colors: white, tan, blue, red, brown, gold, and sky blue over the two entryways. That's an improvement over the monochrome finish we had before. Bonus points if you can spot all seven colors in the photos.

By sheer coincidence, Jon the painter just met Robert, the restaurateur who lived in the house before us -- because  he's about to paint Robert's new place. Chef Robert admitted that the all-white paint was a bit of a rush job: his dishwasher did it with a spray gun, and got paint on eight parked cars in the process. And that's why he's a dishwasher, not a housepainter.

I think the house looks nicer than it has in a long time. Maybe even nicer than it's ever been in the past 120 years. I like to think Doctor Hart (all three generations of them) would have liked it, too.