How To Paint a Toolshed

After Saturday's lengthy expedition, I decided Sunday should be a day for relaxing.  Ah, but I'm sure you know by now that I am constitutionally unsuited for relaxation if it is sunny and warm outside (which it was!).

So instead, I weeded the entire back garden (approximately 2000sf), and watered the roses.  Next, I painted the toolshed -- well, truth to tell, I started that project a week or so earlier.  You see, the shed, way in the back corner, was dirty and had peeling paint and junk piled up against it and weeds growing around it -- and you couldn't see any of that due to the large shrubs blocking the view.

Last fall, though, I decided to rip out several shrubs to open up the space and make room for the new arbor.  The shed was now exposed -- you can kind of see how ugly it looked in these photos:

In earlier weekends, I had pulled the weeds, cleared away the junk, scrubbed off the dirt, and scraped off the peeling paint.  Then I found old paint tins inside the shed from previous projects -- two shades of blue, a sage green, and a pale yellow.  I slapped it on the side of the shed as background colors, and whenever I had any left over, threw it on the front of the shed until I ran out.

Here's the front:

On Sunday I got out the acrylic paints left over from various mural painting projects and added a few details to the side, trying to keep it very simple (so that it wouldn't take very long!), and wound up with this:

Definitely an improvement, though I'm thinking it needs a boat, or a flock of pelicans in flight or both.  Or maybe a woman walking a dachshund along the path?

And here is the long view of the back yard now, as seen from the porch:

Truman and I continued "relaxing" on Sunday afternoon by going to Shoreview Park for a walk/hike down to Hidden Lake.   It was blissfully uncrowded and we enjoyed basking in the sunshine for quite some time.  A lovely weekend all round!