We Have A WINNER (drum roll, please....)

And our winner iiiiiiiiiiiis ...

Miss United States!!!!!

Whoooooo-hooooo!  Wait ... WTF???

If you recall, we were deciding between these four options:

It might occur to you right about now to click over to the original post to check out the comments section and see just who exactly voted for this option.  Let me save you the trouble: just one of you identified Miss USA as being a viable option.  Overall, it was Miss Britain who was chosen unanimously by the voters, followed by Japan.  Denmark was popular also, but everyone acknowledged that it just wasn't realistic: the length of the post (which I was hoping was adjustable, but isn't) and the colour (which I could spray paint, but don't want to) made it an impractical choice.  Stylish as hell, though.

Anyway, recognizing that Miss Britain was by far the most popular choice and that you basically wanted me to purchase pretty much any option BUT Miss United States, we decided (after much debate) to go with Miss United States anyway, and not just because we're crazy or contrary.

You see, one of the things I find maddening about our little house is its lack of any defining characteristics.  Though clearly a '50's build, it has none of the architectural detail or charm of its mid-century modern counterparts, and charm is exactly what we're aiming for.  So after many (many) hours of discussion, Daryn and I decided to be faithful to the period and make a conscious effort to instill our mid-century bungalow with mid-century details.  Starting with the exterior light.

While Miss Britain is definitely a beautiful light, we opted to go with Miss USA because its design is reminiscent of classic '50's pendant lamps.  In doing some internet research on the era, I came across images like these:

images via here, here, here, here, here and here

The look and feel of Miss United States fits right in, don't you think?  Combined with a spare but curvy mailbox (painted black) and modern font house numbers, we think the new pendant will go a long way to reconnecting our little bungalow with its mid-century roots.  In two weeks (when it arrives) we'll know for sure!  And I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because it's too late to turn back now ... we're stuck with it.

Along the same lines, we're also planning to update the paint scheme on the house.  My grandfather had a passionate (or pragmatic; I'm not sure which) love of grey-based, rusty red.  All the trim on the house, drainage spouts, the front porch and the side door (and, at one time, the back porch too) is painted in the same weathered, bland rusty hue, which does nothing to compliment or improve the facade of the house.  So along with everything else on our to-do list, we're also considering changing up the exterior colour scheme in the summer time, which means the debate starts now.

I can't seem to get any traction with Daryn about painting the brick, which is my first inclination (everybody, settle down. He didn't bite. The brick stays "as is"), so I turned to the Historic Collection at Sherwin-Williams for inspiration.  The 'Suburban Modern' collection is dedicated to the bright, sunny colour palettes of the 1950's, and is the best I've found in terms of historical accuracy for both interiors and exteriors.  The two palettes I'm considering are these:

via here

The main colours (in this case, the "wall" colours) are the closest I could find to the colour of our brick, seen here:

I actually think the Caribbean Coral is the best match, but I find both palettes acceptable.  The trim, drainage spouts, side door and siding (which is currently white, and not seen in this photo) would be painted in the "trim" colour, either Avocado or New Colonial Yellow.  I'd like to remove the screen door and replace it with one that has a fully screened face, rather than the current 2/3's, and both the screen door and the front door will be painted in the "accent" colour (Super White or Fairfax Brown).  I actually think the Fairfax Brown would be the better choice.

The porch will also get a little love in the process, but I'd like to resurface the concrete in black to coordinate with the accessories (light, house numbers and mailbox) as well as with the roof.

Here's a look again, side-by-side:

So that's it!  That's the whole plan, of which Miss USA is just one small but important element.  It'll be two weeks or so before we receive the pendant, so hopefully between now and then we'll get the house numbers and mailbox up.  Stay tuned later this month for the big reveal!

On another, completely unrelated note, you might notice a few changes on the site today, notably the header (which I'm still struggling with a little bit) and the post font.  I love the streamlined look of the new template but worry that the text might be too small?  If you have any trouble reading it, let me know.  I can keep fiddling with it to get it just right if need be.  Otherwise, nothing about the layout or content has changed, so no worries there. OH! Except that I did indeed discover the limits of Google Blogger + picture storage, so I've trimmed down the Event-Full! page and sent all the photos to Flickr.  Beyond that, though, it's same-old, same-old.

Talk tomorrow, peeps!