How to Choose Exterior Paint Colors
By a Dayton's Bluff neighbor with 24 years in decorating field.
Not an April Fool-It's Spring!!
Do you want to improve the way the outside of your house looks? If you're a do-it-yourself type person, painting all or parts of your house is one of the least expensive ways to accomplish this. People often get hung up on what paint color to choose and don't paint at all. With so many paint colors to choose from, how is a person to ever decide? I hope this article will make choosing paint colors easier.
So, where do you start? Start by looking at the houses on both sides of your home. You want to choose colors that won't clash with your neighbors homes and colors that won't offend your neighbors. Also, think about the view from across the street. After all, your neighbors across the street will have to look at your home a lot more than you will. Good fences make good neighbors and great paint color can help too. Florescent colors generally do not look good on homes. On the other hand most people don't want their homes to look flat and boring either. Choose colors that complement homes on either side of your home, but still allow your home to look great and to stand out a bit.
So what color house do you want? It's often helpful to go to a neighborhood known for their great homes. Just to mention, there are some great paint jobs in our Dayton's Bluff neighborhood. Take photos of all the houses with paint colors that you find appealing. Simply copy the color scheme you like best. Another great place to get ideas for exterior paint colors is your local paint store. Here you can pick up exterior paint brochures with preselected siding, trim and accent colors schemes. These were chosen by the “experts” and generally should look good. If you want historically correct colors, most paint stores have brochures for that too. Just make sure you choose colors you really like. Choose the main color first, than the trim color and lastly your accent color.
Another cue as to what color paint to use is your roof color. For example, if your roof is brown, choose warm colored paints. Choose a color that will coordinate with your roof color. If your home has brick or stone, take your color cues from these. For example, red brick/deep red paint, gray stone/ lighter gray paint than the stone. Again it may be helpful to look at other peoples homes for good combinations.
Remember to highlight any decorative trims/ornamentation on your home by painting it an accent color. Another example, if your house is light gray with white trim, paint ornamentation burgundy. A white house? Paint the shutters and front door dark green. If your home has no ornamentation you could paint the aluminum window frames the accent color to add interest. Dark colors look good on aluminum frames and add lots of interest. Just be sure to light sand the aluminum first.
It's very important to prepare your home for the paint. Scrape off any loose paint. A pressure washer works well to get off the dirt and grunge. A pressure washer can be rented by the hour. Let your house dry in the sun for a few days before you paint, if you pressure wash. Than it's time to prime any exposed wood. Primer can be tinted to match new exterior paint color.
According to Consumer Reports 5/4/2009 (tested 58 exterior paints and stains) revealed that “big box brand paints sold at Walmart (Kilz) and Lowe's (Valspar) performed as well or better than several more expensive brands.” Choose semi-gloss for main color and gloss paint for window trims, doors, columns and fascia.
Don't forget to look online for paint color ideas. Most paint companies have very helpful websites. Some will let you download a picture of your home and try out different colors.(http://colorjive.com/home.action) Sounds like fun to me!
If you can't afford to paint your home, than maybe just paint the front door a great color. Sometimes painting your shutters a new color is all that's needed. You can get free interior and exterior paint at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection site on Empire Drive in St. Paul.
Following are some great paint combinations: Have fun! Even a simple home can look stunning!
Siding Trim Accent
Light Gray White Wine
Tan White Black
Sage Green...........Cream....................Eggplant
Light Gray White Charcoal
Tan Ivory Plum
Light Yellow White Charcoal
Rust Beige Dark Turquoise
Gold Cream Rust
Charcoal Blue Antique White Burgundy
White Gold Charcoal
Sage Cream Brick Red
Light Gray............Charcoal Blue........Clay
Tan Brown Black
Greige* Ivory Charcoal
Brick red Light Gray Charcoal
Charcoal Beige Rust
*a mixture of gray and beige
Dayton’s Bluff During World War Two
by Steve Trimble
Since Memorial Day is observed in May, I thought this month’s column should examine what was going on in our neighborhood during the Second World War. Another reason for this offering is the fact that I am currently doing research on the era for an upcoming article in Ramsey County History. So if any of you were in the community at the time or had relatives who lived here, I’d love to hear your stories or see photos. I can be reached at 651-774-2096 or by email at steve.trimble@gmail.com.
The sense that war was imminent began before the attack on Pearl Harbor. People were concerned with the German and Japanese invasions they followed in the newspaper and other media. There was plenty of debate over whether the United States should become involved and, by October, 1940, a military draft had already been instituted and some neighborhood residents were already in the armed forces.
In the late summer and early fall of 1940 military matters were brought up when the workers at Seeger Refrigerator went out on strike. The company, for those who aren’t familiar with it, was located on the Arcade Street site now occupied by Rainbow and a few other businesses. Seeger, one of the largest employers on the East Side, later merged with another concern and became Whirlpool.
Very little has been written about this labor-management conflict, but it turns out to have been the largest strike in St. Paul since the 1920’s. The older contract had expired in June, 1940 and negotiations over wages continued until the 1,500 members of the Refrigerator Workers, Local 20459 voted to walk off their jobs in September and set up picket lines.
There had been meetings with a federal labor conciliator and even Governor Stassen became involved. The military matter that arouse was the need to finish a order that Seegers had to produce a large number of refrigeration units for the United States Army. Management suggested that the strike was hindering the preparedness plans, that were going on.
The strikers countered the idea that they were hurting the nation’s military buildup. They even offered to allow a skeleton force of workers to return and work on the Army cabinets to “counteract assertions that the strike is impeding national defense.” The offer was not accepted and eventually the strike was settled, but not until late October. As is usually the case, a compromise was reached ad the workers did get a raise, but it was somewhat less than they had been asking.
The war came home to America and the neighborhood on December 7, 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Interestingly, there was not much mention of the turn of military matters for the next two issues of the local newspaper. Instead, a late December issue of the Booster was filled with local events and a sizeable array of holiday parties and church services. There was a report on penny bingo at the Bluff playground and what was playing at the area movie theaters. St. John’s was holding its annual Christmas party in the school’s Guild Room at Fifth and Forest.
Two issues later, the paper published a letter from Walter Hammergren, who was stationed in Hawaii. That had been sent to his parents two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. “I’m perfectly well and am fairly safe…I don’t know what to say as all our letters will be censored from now on…I can’t say an awful lot about what is happening out here,” he said. “You people back there can’t begin to realize just what it is actually like to be in an air raid under fire. I think I aged ten years in the last three days. Our morale is strong, and we all feel that we will win…. I promise to take care of myself and when this is all over I’ll come home safe and sound…Don’t worry about my Christmas present; I will be home to get it next year… Your loving son, Walter.”
Shortly after the onset of the war, Harding High School, then located at the northeast corner of Third and Earl, began pitching in with ways to help the war effort. The first project announced in The Beacon, the school newspaper, was a government-sponsored effort to have students in science classes build model airplanes. Replicas of allied and enemy aircraft were needed to improve recognition, and gunnery practice. This particular activity, it was announced, was only for boys. Female students were encouraged to make patriotic posters in art class and items needed by the Red Cross in home economics. One of their early projects was making up “utility kits” for soldiers. They included a diary, pencils, knifes, combs, post cards, paper and envelopes, shaving cream, playing cards and a sewing case.
A group of Harding students were appointed in March, 1942 to be part of a “War Council” to oversee the various defense projects of various clubs and to help plan new war duties for the school. They soon decided on four major projects that would be pushed. The first was creation of a “Service Flag” that would list the names of all “Hardingites” who were in the armed services. The next was selling of defense stamps in all of the classes. The third was the collection of all sorts of waste paper-including lunch bags that would be baled into bundles with a machine loaned to them by a local business. Finally, They urged students to participation in scrap metal drives.
It was not only students who participated in scrap drives. Area residents brought in metal, tires and other items made of rubber, newspapers and participated in a recycling effort that makes what we do today look fairly insignificant. They were affected by the rationing of a variety of things such as sugar, chocolate, meat and gasoline. Eddie Velat, owner of the Radio Theater on East Seventh, told the Booster that in July women would get in for free if they bring in any old aluminum pot or pan that could be used by the U. S. defense program.
Quite a few families had multiple members in the military. In 1943, one was headed up by Mrs. Eliason of 1069 Hudson Road. The paper called her “Dayton’s Bluff’s No. 1 War Mother.” Three of her sons, Clarence, Lawrence and Harold-better known locally as Pug, Monk, and Shorty-had all left their jobs at a South St. Paul packing plant and were now in the Army. Don, a fourth son, had also signed up but his entry was deferred until his graduation from Macalester.
Two of the large neighborhood employers quickly shifted their work force into war activities, but each took a somewhat different approach. When the war began the manufacture of refrigerators ceased and by 1942 Seeger began to produce military goods. Their assembly line began to manufacture stainless steel “ammunition chutes,” which fed projectiles into guns, metal boxes used to store ammunition belts for machine guns. They also worked on bomb racks for airplanes, parachute flares, bazooka nozzles, precision aircraft parts and huge coolers used by the U. S. Navy. To keep up, they worked around the clock in three shifts.
The Second World War brought a bit of a crisis to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, the original name of 3M. The company had to quickly adapt its existing product line. Unlike Seeger, which shifted to totally new products, 3M built on their traditional adhesives and abrasives and the company came up with a hundred kinds of tape designed specifically for use during the war.
Masking tape, for instance, was essential while painting ships, planes and tanks. Many adhesives-some old, some newly developed-- were used on airplanes and ships. One of the new products was “Safety Walk,” a granulated coated sheeting material that made walking on wet ship decks and airplane wings safer. Reflected sheeting that was used on life boat paddles to help search planes find downed fliers and navy personnel.
As most people know, the need for employees brought many women into the workforce. The St. Paul war work emergency committee was looking for thousands of workers in early 1945. Almost 2,000 Minnesota Mining employees had gone into the armed services and the plant was scrambling to fill their places. The company announced that it was increasing its production of abrasives and adhesives and needed 80 men and 120 more women ”to operate rolling, punching and slitting machines.” They would be paid during training.
There were over 250 Hamm’s employees in the armed forces. Over one hundred women were now working there, especially in the ice plant and bottling house “and they are doing a highly satisfying job.” Almost everyone of them is a wife of a service man, “but of course they will be replaced by the service man, but of course they will be replaced by the boys in the service when they return.” Incidentally, the brewery received contracts to produce millions of cans of beer to send overseas.
Harding High School activities began reflecting the soon-to-end war. In December, 1944 two Japanese Americans came to the school. They spoke about the relocations, life in the interment camps. Miss Olka Selke brought contemporary issues into her English courses, having students hold debates on military conscription, conscientious objectors, democracy in high school and post-war employment for soldiers.
As the war moved towards an end, there were predictions for the following years. Seegers was looking forward to being able to produce for the civilian market. “Frozen fresh foods at your fingertips all year. A dream? Not at all,” a March, 1945 magazine said. “When the war is won, Seeger Refrigerator Co. will make your dream a reality. Yes, you’ll be serving your family summer-fresh foods… in a ‘Seeger Freezer” storage cabinet”.
A 3M company publication in May, 1945 commented on the steady growth in employment and production during the war period. “This growth has been due in a large measure to the fact that 3M products were urgently needed by war industries.” They then correctly predicted that “most of these products have peacetime uses as well, and we are making definite plans for expansion following the war.”
Finally, the neighborhood newspaper looked to a future era of prosperity. “During the four years of war, America was deprived of most of its needs for normal civilian life,” an article in late December of 1945 said. But now “factories will be running at top speed for many years to catch up with the times” and “home building… to meet modern demands will take years to accomplish.”
And the paper was right. The post-war era and the 1950’s were times of prosperity for most people. Seegers, 3M, Hamm’s and other businesses expanded and people could find good, stable jobs that let families live comfortably with only one person working. But that’s another story. And don’t forget- if you or someone you know can add to our knowledge of our community in the war years, please contact me.
Race To the Top???!!!
Oh, come on, Mr. President! What a singularly unapt metaphor you have chosen for the process of state grant writing to improve education. I have been pleased to learn that you and Education Secretary Arne Duncan believe that the focus of education in the United States needs to be broader and to include such aspects as physical education, music and the arts. I am encouraged to learn you understand that standardized tests are not the only means of assessing student achievement. As a teacher who was initially licensed by an alternative process, I embrace alternate paths to teaching if they are carefully thought out and consider both subject matter and pedagogy,the art and science of teaching. I am sure that all of who are concerned with education need to closely scrutinize what good teaching is and how every teacher can become more adept or be helped to find a different career. This said, however, one of the few positive aspects of your predecessor’s education plan was its title, “No Child Left Behind” (purloined from the Children’s Defense Fund though it was), which implied all of us working for all children and posited all children achieving. “Race To the Top” to the contrary implies a desperate competition with one or a few winners and many, many more losers - not a way I want to imagine education for any society, much less our own.
So what’s wrong with the uncritical acceptance of competition, with promoting winning? Much more than I can easily describe within the limits of this article, but two basic themes occur to me. The first of these is that competition embraced uncritically damages the development of children in too many ways and with devastating effects. The second is that competition is the wrong focus. On this “big blue marble” we need to educate our kids to have the knowledge and skills to be world class cooperators and collaborators.
It is obvious that we need every child, here and around the world to achieve all of her or his human potential. We need all of the smarts of which human beings are capable to solve the multitude of problems we face and to a large degree have created - vast inequities between the “haves” and the “have nots,” war, terrorism, crime, the increasingly perilous fate of the earth as a decent home for all of us in the near and far future. To solve our problems and create a sustainable habitat for humankind, every child must have sound command of the tools of communication including speaking, reading, writing, and math. But we must also remember that these are tools, the means to many ends, but not primarily ends in themselves. We forget to ask ourselves what knowledge and attributes are essential for every one of us and therefore essential to the education of every child as distinguished from the knowledge and attributes some, but not all, members of society must have. I celebrate and am in awe of the skill and knowledge of the teenaged girl I heard on National Public Radio describing her ideas for interplanetary travel using the force of magnetic attraction to achieve flight with very low amounts of fuel. I do not need to have the specific knowledge she has just as she may not need my knowledge of John Donne’s sermons. Perhaps we should be asking what we need from education to enable all of us to lead productive lives as citizens and acknowledge that, especially in this era of the explosion of information, none of us will know everything.
The evidence is that competition hinders rather than promotes the kind of education we need to give to all children. It comes at a high price. Winning implies to kids that some of them are better than others. Adults do a poor job of helping kids understand what winning really means: at one moment in time you had more skill, luck, information, a better breakfast, a happier home life, whatever, than the person you surpassed. It has nothing whatever to do with your inherent human value.
The belief that their value lies in winning hurts children. It raises their stress levels which over time damages their brains and their ability to use their neocortexes to learn. If you have witnessed the sadness of a preschooler or young elementary age child over losing a “game,” you know that the pain is real. If you have witnessed a grandmother using a marked card to avoid losing a game of Old Maid (yes, I know it’s a yucky name) to her three year old grandchild, you understand that the passage of years doesn’t in itself heal earlier wounds from losing.
The stress young children feel over games may seen insignificant to many adults, but the stress and anxiety of striving to be “the best” academically has many educators worrying about childhood “burnout” not only in junior and senior high school, but as early as fourth grade. Alfie Kohn, author of NO CONTEST: The Case against Competition, who more than any popular author I know has read the educational research on multiple topics, argues that competition does not lead to the solid learning we want for children. He reminds us that intrinsic interest in a subject motivates learners more than any artificial reward including being “Number One.” He also asserts that “task involvement” predicts higher achievement than “ego involvement does.” Children who believe their human value rests on being better at something than other children are often reluctant to try something they may “fail at” or they may become trapped in self-defeating perfectionism. Children who compete against others instead of reaching for the most they can achieve are not reaching their own potential. Children who see themselves as unsuccessful competitors give up and drop out. And those who define their worth in being “the best” are in danger of losing themselves when they meet competitors who can “beat” them at their own games.
Not only does competition impede cognitive learning. It damages children morally and socially. The poet T.S. Eliot once wrote “the game enforces cheats” Children certainly seem to think this is true. In a 2006 study of 36,122 highschool students by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles, 59% of them agreed that successful people do what they have to do to win even if others consider it cheating.” The effect of pushing kids to be better than their peers and to see others as potential obstacles to their own success can lead to envy and contempt, alienation, aggression and poor relationships. Educational competition may contribute to defining one’s self-worth by surpassing others, but the problem doesn’t stay at school. It contributes to defining oneself by having more or newer or better stuff or being the most friended on Facebook.
For children who see themselves as losers the consequence can be horrific. Personalities can become so damaged that kids can’t stand up for what they know is right and loose the ability to make friends based on good shared values. Some of them self-medicate with risky behavior, smoking, drinking, drug use or pursue self-destructive ways of trying to fit into their peer groups.
The confusion about the meaning and value of competition isn’t limited to children in our society (one of the reasons we all need to think seriously about this issue). At the season finale of American Idol in May 2008, Simon Cowell advised contestants, “You have got to hate your opponent.” Reacting to his statement, Susan Newman, author of The Book of No, says, “Kids shouldn’t be taught to hate their competitors. They need to learn how to cooperate and support one another because team players are the people who succeed in the real world.”
In June look for more here on the need to help children become skilled collaborators.