Little Pink Houses for You and Me

Dave and I officially live in a pink house.

Why pink? I looked at a lot of “exterior paint ranch house inspo” pics on Pinterest. None of the houses looked like ours. There was not a board for “plantation style houses in Hilo.” Our house is single wall construction. There are at least 2 different kinds of siding. There are random horizontal covered conduits and vertical covered conduits. There are several different kinds of windows and doors. So, I was not finding a perfect match.

My favorite houses on Pinterest were pink. Pink with white trim and grey doors. Pink with green vines. Pink with teal doors. So, after a lot of debate and knowing that some people would hate a pink house. I decided that I did not care what other people thought. Dave was fine with it, so I chose pink. I decided not to add any contrasting colors. Our house, although vintage, looks very modern because of the shape and all the windows. So, the trim is the same color as the house.

The paint crew started on January 30. They had a week of great weather followed by 6 days of wind and approximately 9 inches of rain.

As expected, they found some rotten wood under the peeling paint. I found a carpenter on the “Hilo Happenings” Facebook group. After several days of prep, Benjamin Moore’s Pacific Grove Pink was sprayed onto the house.

During the paint job, my friends from Nebraska visited. Their trip was pretty much ruined because of a storm. In Oahu everything was shut down. Although, they did get to see Pearl Harbor. Maui really got slammed by the storm, and their resort lost power.

We had a great time on the Big Island. I explained that it always rains in Hilo, which it did. We took them to see: Hilo’s black sand beach, sea turtles, Japanese garden, waterfalls, thrift shop, farmer’s market, and lava tubes. They hung out on our lanai, which truly is one of the best places on the planet. We took them to Volcanoes National Park, the Punalu’u Bakery, and Buddha’s Cup Coffee Farm tour (the best!!!).

The day after my friends left, the painters wrapped our lanai in plastic and drenched the walls, ceiling, and railing in pink. The house looks so good. Before it was a dark, oppressive gray. Now it is light and bright.

Today it is still raining off and on. There is more sun than clouds. The paint gun is humming. The screens are being painted and are going back up.

Cue up your John Cougar Mellencamp, check out these before and after pics, and come see this little pink house for yourself.