Earlier in August we stained and painted the Ross and Jan Shoger residence overlooking the Carleton Arboretum at 201 Oak Street. It was designed by Bob Warren and Sewall Mathre of SMSQ Architects. Bob Warren Studied at Taliesin. Note the cantalivered deck. There are quite a few Frank Lloyd Wright elements, such as the “hidden” front door. It is worth a walk to see the house.

Before painting we washed the house with a special non-toxic formula to remove some mildew. We also scraped off loose paint at the windows and removed loose window putty. Two different primers were used according to the condition of the substrate.

Jan, Ross, and I met several times to discuss color.

As an artist Jan is very particular about color. She wanted to warm up the feel of the rough vertical Cedar, which had always been a charcoal color. I was concerned about being able to cover the charcoal without applying a heavy film: It was important to me to use a penetrating oil stain rather than going to the easier, popular solid color latex stains. Jan and Ross were also open to the possibility that some of the old color might still peek through the new stain. We settled on Cabot Semi-Solid Stain in “Oak Brown.”

The new brown is nicely accented by the warm red and gold panels on the walk-out side facing the Arboretum. The light blue trim gives the home a friendly Northfield/Scandinavian feel.