A blooming lovely paint job

By Lindy Laird

Northern Advocate·

1 Feb, 2017 01:00 AM2 mins to read

Brigid Sinclair's house is flowering under her paint brush. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangarei resident Brigid Sinclair woke up one day and thought, 'I'm going to paint the house', and she's done a blooming lovely job of it so far.

If houses could sing, this little bungalow in Morningside would surely be in full celebratory voice about the makeover it has been getting this summer, with colourful flowers and plants climbing up the walls.

Ms Sinclair admitted the house painting is ''an organic process and, like a garden, might never be finished''.

There is no single plan for the artwork, just a theme and the owner's joi de vie.

''I'm happy when I'm being creative,'' Ms Sinclair said.

''People have been so nice about it. I've had such a of positive comments.''

That's been a relief, she said, as she was initially worried people might find the paint job offensive.

Now, few pedestrians go past without stopping for a chat as she works on the house, and motorists toot their car horns and wave as they pass.

Her garden is also a riot of colour, the flowers and shrubs bursting with life in what was a hard-surfaced, bare front yard when Ms Sinclair moved in only a year ago.

''That's Northland's growing conditions for you,'' she said.

Surprisingly, her car parked beside the house is just a single colour, albeit sporting a hand painted sign across the back: 'A Choired Taste''.

Ms Sinclair is a choir director with wide experience in Auckland and other centres, working with professional and community organisations.

But in Whangarei, she started A Choired Taste, an informal, open group based on her conviction anyone can sing and everyone should experience singing in a group simply for the sheer joy and reward it brings.

''Forget everything you believe or might have been told about not being able to sing. It's not true. There is something really beautiful about singing out loud with other people and anyone can do it well.''

Meanwhile, her creative streak has been turning heads from far as well as near.

She's tickled pink the mural-style paint job on her modest little house has pulled in positive responses on social media across the globe, as it does from passers-by.

''I just hope the nearest neighbours aren't looking out their windows and going 'oh no!','' she said.