One good (or bad-depending on your perspective) thing about South Florida is there is absolutely no wrong  color to paint your house. I am suspicious our house was painted a color called ‘Chowder” we found in the garage, the paint color in the bucket could only be described as fluorescent. Seemingly the years and tropical sun have turned it to a more reasonable Pumpkin Creme that I actually like.

We lived in the northern suburbs of Atlanta for almost twenty years. Five, four and a door was the typical house. Five windows upstairs, four down and a front door. Mostly painted Khaki with Cream trim, unless it was Grey with Cream trim. Sometimes the houses were built of brick, this causes much trepidation among the ladies about flower colors and if it clashes with the house colors. I cannot confess to ever being offended by Red Impatiens planted near a red brick house. However, many people are.

We relocated to the Treasure Coast in an area with no Homeowners Association. I am really enjoying the creativity of the general public. Colors, mailboxes and ‘entry features’ are no longer super homogenized into brown and safe. We have a blueprint blue house with Red Poncianas and Ixoras planted in front and a sort of Hawaiian theme house next door, mermaids adorn another nearby and some people on the water have a buoy they paint with cartoon characters during different seasons. All of this I really enjoy, the one thing that freaks me out is the orange house with orange plants in front. It is just way too much orange. This is a Ranch house with a red brick foundation, burnt orange siding and a foundation planting of Orange Crotons. Whoa, maybe somebody is a Florida Gator that really just went too far.