Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Choosing Colors

[PattyMara Gourley (pattymara]

Dear List, 
Liz's post, as usual, resonates with what is happening here at Tierra
Nueva (central CA coast).  Our reserves call for painting the wood trim
and accent colors on our common house and individual homes this year, our
fifth year in residence.  When painting contractors were called in to
give us estimates, the figures came in waaaaaay over the reserved funds. 
Why?  Because the reserve maintenance costs are calculated for plain
vanilla condo projects which usually are painted in one (usually vanilla)
color.  Contractors (painting contractors, not the mercenaries in Iraq)
come in and spray the whole kit and caboodle.  We have 4 different colors
on each house (stucco, 2 dark/bold trim colors, eaves color) recommended
by a team of members with advice from our architects.  We recommended a
color palette of 3 trim colors (dark blue, purple and dark
turquoise...all gorgeous rich hues).  We had no trouble consensing the
colors and they are often commented upon by visitors.  

Ahem.  This is the part that echoes Liz's post.  Our beautiful bold
colors faded unevenly, with the southern exposures, of course, fading
more quickly.  The estimates to repaint are high because of the labor
involved in all those colors.  And the labor costs are rising anyway. 
What we may have to do in the present, is bite the bullet and repaint the
bold colors for now (which will be paid for by a rise in HOA dues) and
five years down the road when the reserves call for repainting the
stucco, veer onto another color palette of just ONE color to help keep
the costs of future maintenance sustainable.  Bummer huh?

I always appreciate Chris ScottHanson's wisdom...but would add that to
trust your architects' color suggestions only if they have multi-family
housing projects (preferably cohousing) under their belt....which should
lead them to take into consideration the costs of maintenance down the
road.  Our architects had no such experience, and gave us advice based on
their experience in designing custom-built, one of a kind showplaces for
very affluent clients.  Oops.  Live and learn, eh?

Please consider this a cautionary tale when you choose colors.  Be
prepared for maintenance costs in the future.

Patty Mara Gourley, Tierra Nueva, central CA coast
where we are swooning from the taste of the succulent strawberries grown
on the neighboring farm, which is now pesticide-free after a couple of
years of avid activism to change the farm from deadly methyl bromide
fumigation to a more life supporting option.  When the new farm stand
opened a month ago, and I purchased my first basket of berries I walked
through the fields, overcome with emotion (OK, I was sobbing).  Eating
those first berries was a transcendent spiritual experience.  Chant after
me:  yuuuum, yuuuum, yuuuummmmmmm.


On Mon, 03 May 2004 08:03:31 -0700 Elizabeth Stevenson
<tamgoddess [at] comcast.net> writes:
> Make sure the colors are appropriate for your environment. Dark or 
> bold
> colors fade  much more quickly and require more toxic stuff to 
> create. They
> aren't appropriate for a hot climate, and we are stuck with ours, 
> since
> there are a few people who think it would ruin the architectural 
> integrity
> of our community to change, and would block it. We had to repaint 
> only 5
> years into living here, and it should have been ten. We will 
> continue to
> have to paint more frequently, (although the first paint job was the 
> worst)
> and it is reflected in our dues.
> 
> -- 
> Liz Stevenson
> Southside Park Cohousing
> Sacramento, California
> tamgoddess [at] comcast.net

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