Over the past few weeks, we had a few heat waves — with several days at about 110 degrees — so it derailed my schedule to complete the staining of our garden shed over a weekend. Instead, we stained over the course of a week or so, doing early morning sessions and stopping around 10 or 11, when the sun got too strong. We used the natural shade of Penofin Verde, an environmental wood stain with Brazilian Rosewood oil, for all of the siding and trim, and I think it looks great! It brings out the texture and knots of the cedar, and has brightened up the wood overall.

I’d obsessed over the color for the trim of the French doors and windows — pondering shades of yellow and sage green — and ended up mixing mustard yellow and snow white milk paint to create what I hoped to be a chalky yellow with a bit of pop. But it ended up being way too muted — almost invisible against the siding — and halfway through painting the first door, I realized I’d made a mistake and should have mixed in a brighter yellow.

I do like the consistency and quality of milk paint, though, which creates a sort of vintage, distressed look, but overall I’m underwhelmed by what I did. It’s totally fine for now, but I’ll refresh and repaint the trim sometime in the future!