Nothing is better than getting the call from a happy customer who wants you to paint more of their house. Last year we got to transform the interior of this Surey home (that happens to be in my neighbourhood) from dark and greeny beige walls and ceilings to a beautiful airy beach inspired home. It was one of my favourite projects of the year and the homeowners, Sue and Rich were a dream to work with.

We are thrilled to be coming back to paint the exterior this summer.

When we were painting the interior last year, Sue and Rich had bought a new front door. Sue is a fiery Irish redhead and back home in Ireland, bright coloured front doors are how you distinguish your home amongst rows of brick and stone brownstones.

We painted their front door a lovely yellow (Benjamin Moore Concord Ivory HC-12). We knew then that when we eventually painted the house we were going to change the exterior colour of the house but we still needed something that would work with the existing brown siding. I love the brown and soft yellow combination.

Last fall though the exterior of this house underwent a different kind of transformation. Sue’s brother Roger Horan is a talented landscape artist and he came out from Ontario to install an alpine garden in the front yard.

I watched the entire project unfold as I walked my daughter to school every day. It started with the delivery of a large stone feeding trough that came from Sue’s mother’s garden. Roger brought out an assortment of alpine plants from Ontario. More local deliveries of plants, trees and shrubs; a couple of deliveries of dirt and gravel and a whole lot of manpower.

I had never seen an alpine garden before so I was amazed at the size of these shrubs and the diversity of colour and foliage in the plants. It reminds me of the rock gardens my grandfather used to design and build back in England.

But while this lovely alpine garden gives this house the inaugural spot of being the first “Nice” house featured in my Not So Nice in My Neighbourhood series, it does leave me with a dilemma. What colour to paint the house?

So I am taking it to my readers for your input. What colour would you paint this house to work with the yellow door, a stunning garden and fit in with the neighbourhood?

I’m thinking a lovely greeny blue like Benjamin Moore Templeton Gray or maybe even Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray? What do you think?