Decisions decisions...

With such wonky weather, as unpredictable and wide swings as my heart rate and blood pressure, my goal today (and tomorrow) was to work on the steps and the railing of the back porch.  It was soooooooooooo STINKING HOT last week.  Even painting whilst sitting down, I would not have been able to endure it.  We have now, unseasonably, dipped back down into a cold spell.  That means I had to lug all the plants back off the front porch and pile them atop the deacon's bench.  But it also means I had a priming/painting window.

My goal was to prime the sides and face of the back steps.  To achieve that, I planned ahead by digging away the mulch on either side to expose the bottom of the boards a few days ago in order to help that part dry out.

As you can see, I achieved my goal and a bit more.  I went ahead and primed the balusters, save for the ones that need to be replaced because they bowed.  There are five that need replacing, if you ask me.  Firewood Man believes that only four are bowed and that my eyesight is malfunctioning.  The latter is true most days, but in slapping on the primer, I do believe the bowing of the fifth one is more apparent.

I plan to pain the sides and facing of the steps the house red.  Now, if you remember, Lowe's messed up the matching of the house red, so I used it as primer and base coats because I have so little of the original paint left. In the photo, because we had not made a decision about covering the fascia board, it is painted only with the wrong color.  The wood below it is the right color.

I plan to paint two coats of the bad red and then, hopefully, squeeze a top coat out of the last bit of the original can.  I will make a second attempt at matching the paint, having very carefully painted three coats of the correct color on a blank index card for the machine.  However, I would like to try and use the original paint if I can.  Otherwise, I will feel compelled to paint a coat of the newly matched paint on the boards beneath the porch so that everything is matching.  And, obviously, I do NOT want to paint anything more than what is absolutely necessary.

Today's session showed me just how much weaker I am than last fall.  I struggled to hold on to the paint brush about three quarters way through the job.  That tells me I should not have any problem painting the railing in stages because I will have no choice.  Now, I will say that upstairs I rolled the balusters, save for the tippy tops and bottoms.  I used the brush on the stairs balusters.  So, perhaps using my small roller will make the job a bit easier for me when it comes to priming.

The painting window is only open tomorrow and Thursday, according to our forecast.  Then comes more STINKING HOT weather and then some rain.  Next Tuesday and Wednesday also look to be good painting weather.  So, I hope that tomorrow I can finish the steps, but not the hand railing.  Then, on Thursday, I would like to tackle a bit of the back porch railing, preferably the one nearest the rocking chair so I can stop looking at the now weather-worn primer.

My plan tomorrow, since it is the reschedule of the computer lesson, is to wake up in time to paint a coat before the lesson and then get in two coats after the lesson.  Since I will only be doing the sides and face of the steps, this should be possible.

My question is this:  What do you think of painting the posts of the porch the house red??

My Interior Designer mother is totally against the idea, but I am not bound by her opinion.  I have two thoughts about doing so:  1) If I paint the posts the house red color, it will fit because all of the wood is painted red and only the railing will be white.  I like that idea.  2)  If I leave the posts white, the porch will sort of visually "float" against the back of the house.  I like that idea, too.

I am at a loss of what to do.  The reason I am struggling with the question tonight is that I will be making my paint brush red tomorrow.  Then, it will be white for a long while.  I am not interested in the work of getting all the red out for the white and then again later to paint the posts red.  In other words, I want the decision made by tomorrow, even though I can always go back and paint the posts red at any time.

White or red?

Red or white?  [Ignore the poor Photoshop work on this test image.]