Although I hate decorating and swore that once we had the house complete I never wanted to decorate again – ever, this year has seen some painting. In late spring we repainted the summer house which needed a new coat after four years. We went bold and instead of soft blue and cream we went for deep ‘Barleywood Blue’. It is a bit striking but it gave us courage when it came to the really big job – the house.

Since we called the house ‘The Green House’ we had to go green! We painted it about 5 years ago in what was supposed to be sage green but we were never very happy with it. Strangely, anything looking like green as opposed to being called green, is hard to obtain. When we painted the house there were areas that we just could not reach and, being five years older, we decided we would get someone to do the job for us this time. Luckily a friend down the road knew of someone and, having completed her house, he popped round and turned up last week to start the job (there are a few bits still to complete including the chimney which I can’t imagine he can reach). Him being a professional and wanting to keep him sweet we bought Dulux Weathershield, as instructed, and the colour we chose was ‘Phoenix Park’, a ‘custom colour’. The few people we showed were shocked because it looks dark on the charts. A bold decision. But we felt we should go bold and, apart from anything else, we thought it might not show the algae and it would be rewarding for the painter – he could at least see where he had painted!

So now, with most of it done, we are very pleased.

I think it fits into the landscape much better than the pale colour. It might seem a bit dark in winter but it looks good with the black and is unashamedly green.

Elsewhere in the garden, rose ‘Honey Dijon’ is in bloom. It is a strange rose and definitely not to everyone’s taste, and the colour varies with the weather, often having pink flushes. Most of the roses were moved this spring because they were not very happy and they all seem to be thriving in their new home. We are very dry at the moment though and I think the intense and almost coppery colour is down to heat and drought.

And elsewhere, another little surprise is the appearance of two yellow-leaved nasturtiums. I have never seen one before and it is odd that two, self sown seedlings, have come up together. They seem a bit weak and there are no flowers yet but I will look after them and see what they do. The only nasturtiums I sowed this year were some pink ones to add to the garden population because I have none pop up in pink. I am praying that, if these survive and actually flower the blooms are red or orange and not pink – that would be too much to swallow even with my current pre-occupation with bold colours.

dulux weather shield phoenix park, dulux weathershield phoenix park, rose honey dijon